Every shopper has a secret most-they'll-pay, offer high for profit, read whether they accept, counter or walk, and narrow in on their number before they leave.
Customers step up one at a time, each an archetype with a hidden top price for the item they want. You name a price: too high and they walk, just right and you pocket the margin. Their reaction, accept, counter, or scoff, narrows the inferred range, so each offer is also information. Bank enough profit each week to pay the loan shark, who raises the rate every time you do.
Counter Culture is about pricing, negotiation and reading willingness-to-pay, the heart of how deals get made.
Naming a price to each customer, knowing each has a hidden maximum, is first-degree price discrimination — charging what each buyer will bear.
Presenting customers as archetypes is the original concession.
Perfect discrimination captures the entire surplus and is nearly impossible in practice, because willingness to pay cannot be observed. Archetypes stand in for the signals sellers actually use, which is why the real-world versions are coupons, student pricing and haggling rather than mind-reading.
Counter Culture is an original free browser game about pricing, negotiation and reading willingness-to-pay, where each haggle is a little deduction puzzle. Built in-house for PlayPendium.