Kobayashi Maru scenario The " Kobayashi Maru " scenario was an infamous no - win scenario that was part of the curriculum for command - track cadet s at Starfleet Academy in the 23rd century . It was primarily used to assess a cadet ' s discipline , character and command capabilities when facing an impossible situation , as there is no ( legitimate ) strategy that will result in a successful outcome . History . In the 2250s , James T . Kirk became the first ( and only known ) cadet to ever beat the no - win scenario . After taking the test and failing twice , Kirk took the test a third time after surreptitiously reprogramming the computer to make it possible to win the scenario . Kirk was subsequently awarded a commendation for " original thinking " and later commented , wistfully , that his stunt " had the virtue of never having been tried . " Kirk also went on to defend his " cheating " by arguing that he didn ' t believe in the no - win scenario . Ironically , Kirk officially defended the test itself , suggesting a no - win scenario is one that Starfleet officer may someday face , however he would later state that he did not believe in a no - win scenario . By 2285 , in the simulated bridge , the cadet was placed in command of the on a training mission to Gamma Hydra near the Klingon Neutral Zone . The starship would receive a distress signal from the " Kobayashi Maru " , a civilian freighter that had been disabled in the zone after having struck a gravitic mine . If the cadet chose to enter the neutral zone in violation of treaties , the starship would be confronted by three Klingon battle cruiser s . The test was considered a no - win scenario because it was impossible for the cadet to simultaneously save the " Kobayashi Maru " , avoid a fight with the Klingons and escape from the neutral zone with the starship intact . A cadet ' s choice of how to handle the rescue operation gave great insight into his or her command decision - making . In March 2285 , Kirk , then an admiral serving as an instructor at the Academy , supervised Lieutenant Saavik ' s performance in the " Kobayashi Maru " scenario . Former " Enterprise " crew members Spock , Sulu , Uhura and McCoy participated as " actors " in the simulation . Saavik ' s performance was predictably dismal ; as Kirk observed to Spock , " " She destroyed the simulator room and you with it . " " Spock had never taken the " Kobayashi Maru " test , but before he died of radiation poisoning , he described his sacrifice to save the " Enterprise " as his solution to the scenario . ( ) While breaking Leonard McCoy out of a Federation prison and plotting to steal the " Enterprise " from the Spacedock in Earth orbit , Admiral Kirk contacted Commander Chekov with the coded message " " The " Kobayashi Maru " has set sail for the promised land . " " ( ) By 2293 , the term " " Kobayashi Maru " " may be a slang term for any hopeless situation in the 23rd century , at least in Starfleet culture . Leonard McCoy considered his and James T . Kirk ' s imprisonment on Rura Penthe to be a " " Kobayashi Maru " " and told Kirk as much , on their first night at the penal mine . ( ) A similar simulation was later used in the 24th century . It involved a damaged Ferengi ship as well as Romulan Warbird s , instead of a civilian freighter and Klingon battle cruisers , and was performed on the holodeck . However , according to Tuvok this version " did " have a correct solution , that being to retreat . ( ) Alternate reality . In the alternate reality , the " Kobayashi Maru " test was programmed by between 2254 and 2258 . Its purpose was to cause the cadets to " experience fear in the face of certain death " and learn to remain in control of themselves and their ship , despite that fear . In the simulation , Starfleet Command specifically ordered the to rescue the from a fleet of attacking Klingon Warbird s . In 2258 , , on his third attempt at the scenario , inserted a subroutine to make it winnable by eliminating the attacking Klingon vessels ' shields and rendering them vulnerable to a single photon torpedo strike . A hearing was called in front of the entire assembly of Starfleet cadets to determine Kirk ' s guilt but the proceedings were interrupted by a distress call from , which was under attack by the time - displaced Nero . Kirk was placed on academic suspension , until the Academy Council could rule on his case . ( ) In 2259 , one of the video feeds on Admiral Alexander Marcus was of the " Kobayashi Maru " test monitoring room . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The earliest version of the " Kobayashi Maru " scenario was in a script draft that Jack B . Sowards wrote for " Star Trek II " . In this document , the simulation was much as it is in the film ' s final version , involving the attempted rescue of the " Kobayashi Maru " and Kirk suggesting that the test might be a " no win scenario . " ( ; ) Sowards named the scenario for some former neighbors of his . Depicting the origin of the " Kobayashi Maru " test was one of multiple plot concepts that the writing staff of suggested to Brannon Braga in a memo full of " story ideas " ( the memo was dated ) . It was proposed as a one - line pitch , though the memo also included more extensively written narrative suggestions . However , the " Kobayashi Maru " idea wasn ' t produced , unlike some of the other ideas . In the audio commentary for the film " Star Trek " , writer and producer Roberto Orci states that he imagined that Spock also programmed the test in the prime reality , and that Kirk met him the same way after cheating . According to " " , the real SS " Kobayashi Maru " was lost in 2245 . Apocrypha . The " Kobayashi Maru " scenario has also appeared in novels , short stories , video games and comic books . The origin of the " Kobayashi Maru " scenario was revealed in Michael A . Martin and Andy Mangels ' novel " " set in 2155 . In it , the " Kobayashi Maru " – here a freighter carrying secret Starfleet equipment to set up a listening post near the soon - to - be - established Neutral Zone – was hit by a gravitic mine in the Gamma Hydra Sector . When came to save the " Kobayashi " " Maru " , the Romulans attempted to use a telecapture device on " Enterprise " – thus allowing them to take control of the ship by remote – and bring in three D - 5 class Klingon battle cruisers to ensure the elimination or capture of " Enterprise " . Jonathan Archer was faced with the decision of losing his ship and the survivors or sacrificing the survivors and ensuring the survival of " Enterprise " , thus the no - win scenario , as Archer had been told to protect the freighter at all costs . Systems begin to fail on " Enterprise " indicating the ship was about to be taken over and Archer reluctantly chose to retreat . Julia Ecklar ' s " The Kobayashi Maru " tells how Kirk , Pavel Chekov , Montgomery Scott and Sulu each faced the problem . In the novel , Kirk won the scenario by reprogramming the simulation so that the Klingons believed he was a famous starship captain , though he was only a cadet at the time . Chekov self - destructed his ship , taking the Klingons with him ; to his humiliation , his instructor pointed out that ejecting his crew in lifepods did not save them , due to the explosions of the four warp - drive vessels and the attending radiation . Scott tricked the simulation into overestimating the effectiveness of a theoretical attack against the Klingon ships ' overlapping shielding . Faced with proof that such attacks , although quite valid in theory , would not work in reality and that Scott knew this , Academy staff reassigned Scott from command school to Engineering ( his true love - he had used this " solution " precisely " because " of these consequences ) . Sulu , given the consequences of entry into the Zone versus the slim chance of recovering the crew of the freighter , elected not to conduct a rescue operation . Diane Carey ' s " Dreadnought ! " shows Piper almost beating the test by using a hand communicator to effectively hack the computer and make the simulation fight itself , nearly crashing every operating system in the Academy . The " " game provides the test as one of the missions in the game scenario . Imitating Kirk , the player character has the choice to reprogram the simulator and win the mission . One of the options is to make the AI - Klingons believe that the cadet protagonist is a famous captain and obey him at once . In Peter David ' s Pocket TNG novel " A Rock and a Hard Place " , Jean - Luc Picard has some misgivings about accepting a maverick officer as Will Riker ' s temporary replacement , but is astounded to be told that said officer beat the Kobayashi Maru without cheating ( according to the admiral telling Picard this , " " programmers were in mourning for a week . " " ) In the short story " ' Til Death " , part of the " The Sky ' s the Limit " anthology it ' s stated that when Will Riker took the Kobayashi Maru he ordered an EVA suit brought to the bridge so that he could fight the enemy ships by hand . This gambit did not appear to have been successful . The Pocket TNG novel " Boogeymen " depicts Wesley Crusher ' s " Kobayashi Maru " - type test . In Peter David ' s " " novel " Stone and Anvil " , cadet Mackenzie Calhoun " wins " the scenario by destroying the freighter , disabling the attacking ships in the process , escaping with his ship and crew but killing those whom he had been attempting to rescue ( he later defended his actions by claiming the scenario was clearly a trap and the freighter crew were most likely already dead - and if they " were " alive , this quick death was preferable to the treatment they would receive as prisoners . And the whole thing is probably a trap , the " Kobayashi Maru " is probably an enemy ship ) . By this time , the scenario had been upgraded with holodeck technology , enabling variations on the basic theme of a starship in trouble . In the novel " " by A . C . Crispin , Peter Kirk beats the scenario by using a knowledge of Romulan customs unanticipated by the test ' s designers , challenging their captain to ritual combat - since all other hostilities must cease during the duel , the Romulan ships can only watch as Kirk ' s ship rescues the " Kobayashi Maru " crew and escapes unharmed . Comic book stories of the Star Trek ( DC volume 2 ) series are based on Ecklar ' s scenario . Three short stories in the " Strange New Worlds " anthology series have also tackled it . In " The Bottom Line " by Andrew Morby ( SNW III ) and Shawn Michael Scott ' s " Best Tools Available " ( SNW VI ) , Cadet Nog solves it in two entirely different ( and thoroughly Ferengi ) ways . Kevin Lauderdale ' s " A Test of Character " ( SNW VII ) depicts a different solution from Ecklar ' s , one in which Kirk ' s tampering is " cheating without cheating , " since Kirk merely creates a level playing - field , where success is not guaranteed . " Star Trek Online " features a " Kobayashi Maru " - inspired mission wherein the objective is to defend a civilian transport from an increasingly difficult onslaught of enemy ships . The accolades ( achievements in STO ) for completing high - level waves directly reference James Kirk . The mission , appropriately enough , is called " No Win Scenario " .