在博弈论，如果博弈的收益只依赖于选手所选择的策略而不依赖于进行博弈的选手，这类博弈称为对称博弈。例如，在囚徒困境的博弈中，囚徒都选择认罪的结果为都判刑5年，都选择不认罪的结果为都判刑1年，一个选择认罪一个不认罪的结果分别为判刑10年与释放。在这个博弈中，囚徒最终判刑的年数只要他选择认罪与否有关，而与他的身份无关，这就是一个对称博弈。用表格表示如下。

In game theory, a symmetric game is a game where the payoffs for playing a particular strategy depend only on the other strategies employed, not on who is playing them. If one can change the identities of the players without changing the payoff to the strategies, then a game is symmetric. Symmetry can come in different varieties. Ordinally symmetric games are games that are symmetric with respect to the ordinal structure of the payoffs. A game is quantitatively symmetric if and only if it is symmetric with respect to the exact payoffs.