# An open reproducible framework for the study of the iterated prisoner's dilemma

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.00896 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.00896/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 4 Apr 2016.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Evolutionary Dynamics of Cooperation in Next-Generation LLM Agent Systems: A Cross-Provider Empirical Extension](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.29874/) (2026)
- [Not a Monolith: Lab-Level Divergence in the Cooperative Equilibria of Chinese Frontier LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.10262/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The Axelrod library is an open source Python package that allows for reproducible game theoretic research into the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. This area of research began in the 1980s but suffers from a lack of documentation and test code. The goal of the library is to provide such a resource, with facilities for the design of new strategies and interactions between them, as well as conducting tournaments and ecological simulations for populations of strategies. With a growing collection of 139 strategies, the library is a also a platform for an original tournament that, in itself, is of interest to the game theoretic community. This paper describes the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, the Axelrod library and its development, and insights gained from some novel research.