Trust games in experimental economics extend the dictator game one step by having the reward that the dictator can (unilaterally) split between herself and a partner partially decided by an initial gift from that partner.

The initial move is from the dictator's partner, who must decide how much of her initial endowment to trust with him (in the hopes of receiving some of it back). Normally, she is encouraged to give something to the dictator through a specification in the game's rules that his endowment will be increased by a factor from the researchers.

The experiments rarely end in the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium of "no trust."

Game theory