The τ-value,The core and semiconvex games

Theτ-value for cooperativen-person games is central in this paper. Conditions are given which guarantee that theτ-value lies in the core of the game. A full-dimensional cone of semiconvex games is introduced. This cone contains the cones of convex and exact games and there is a simple formula for theτ-value for such games. The subclass of semiconvex games with constant gap function is characterized in several ways. It turns out to be an (n+1)-dimensional cone and for all games in this cone the Shapley value, the nucleolus and theτ-value coincide.     

Oddness of the number of equilibrium points: A new proof

A new proof is offered for the theorem that, in “almost all” finite games, the number of equilibrium points isfinite andodd. The proof is based on constructing a one-parameter family of games with logarithmic payoff functions, and studying the topological properties of the graph of a certain algebraic function, related to the graph of the set of equilibrium points for the games belonging to this family. In the last section of the paper, it is shown that, in the space of all games of a given size, those “exceptional” games which fail to satisfy the theorem (by having an even number or an infinity of equilibrium points) is a closed set of measure zero.     

Symmetric solutions for symmetric,constant-sum,extreme games with four values

Symmetric, constant-sum, extreme games with four values were fully characterized inRosenmüller [1977]. Symmetric solutions (or symmetric stable sets) for these games are studied. As a result, it is shown that all such games have at least one symmetric solution.     

Homogeneous games as anti step functions

In this paper the class of homogeneousn-person games “without dummies and steps” is characterized by two algebraic axioms. Each of these games induces a natural vector of lengthn, called incidence vector of the game, and vice versa. A geometrical interpretation of incidence vectors allows to construct all of these games and to enumerate them recursively with respect to the number of persons. In addition an algorithm is defined, which maps each directed game to a minimal representation of a homogeneous game. Moreover both games coincide, if the initial game is homogeneous.     

Cores of partitioning games

A generalization of assignment games, called partitioning games, is introduced. Given a finite set N of players, there is an a priori given set π of coalitions of N and only coalitions in π play an essential role. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the nonemptiness of the cores of all games with essential coalitions π are developed. These conditions appear extremely restrictive. However when N is ‘large’, there are relatively few ‘types’ of players, and members of π are ‘small’ and defined in terms of numbers of players of each type contained in subsets, then approximate cores are nonempty.     

On the core of information graph games

This paper considers a subclass of minimum cost spanning tree games, called information graph games. It is proved that the core of these games can be described by a set of at most 2n — 1 linear constraints, wheren is the number of players. Furthermore, it is proved that each information graph game has an associated concave information graph game, which has the same core as the original game. Consequently, the set of extreme core allocations of an information graph game is characterized as the set of marginal allocation vectors of its associated concave game. Finally, it is proved that all extreme core allocations of an information graph game are marginal allocation vectors of the game itself, though not all marginal allocation vectors need to be core allocations.     

Analyzing n-player impartial games

Combinatorial game theory is the study of two player perfect information games. While work has been done in the past on expanding this field to include n-player games we present a unique method which guarantees a single winner. Specifically our goal is to derive a function which, given an n-player game, is able to determine the winning player (assuming all n players play optimally). Once this is accomplished we use this function in analyzing a certain family of three player subtraction games along with a complete analysis of three player, three row Chomp. Furthermore we make use of our new function in producing alternative proofs to various well known two player Chomp games. Finally the paper presents a possible method of analyzing a two player game where one of the players plays a completely random game. As it turns out this slight twist to the rules of combinatorial game theory produces rather interesting results and is certainly worth the time to study further.     

Pure strategy Nash equilibria and the probabilistic prospects of Stackelberg players

We consider the set of all m×n bimatrix games with ordinal payoffs. We show that on the subset E of such games possessing at least one pure strategy Nash equilibrium, both players prefer the role of leader to that of follower in the corresponding Stackelberg games. This preference is in the sense of first-degree stochastic dominance by leader payoffs of follower payoffs. It follows easily that on the complement of E, the follower’s role is preferred in the same sense. Thus we see a tendency for leadership preference to obtain in the presence of multiple pure strategy Nash equilibria in the underlying game.     

Highway games on weakly cyclic graphs

A highway problem is determined by a connected graph which provides all potential entry and exit vertices and all possible edges that can be constructed between vertices, a cost function on the edges of the graph and a set of players, each in need of constructing a connection between a specific entry and exit vertex. Mosquera (2007) introduce highway problems and the corresponding cooperative cost games called highway games to address the problem of fair allocation of the construction costs in case the underlying graph is a tree. In this paper, we study the concavity and the balancedness of highway games on weakly cyclic graphs. A graph G is called highway-game concave if for each highway problem in which G is the underlying graph the corresponding highway game is concave. We show that a graph is highway-game concave if and only if it is weakly triangular. Moreover, we prove that highway games on weakly cyclic graphs are balanced.     

Solution of 3 × 3 games using graphical method

While graphical solution of 2×n games is described in all OR text books, solution of games of size 3×3 and higher sizes is obtained using simplex method only. This paper describes a method of solving games of size 3×3 graphically. The basic principle is to consider the problem as a three-dimensional model, and to convert it into plan and elevation, and thereby obtaining the solution. Each strategy is represented by a plane, and the common point where these planes intersect, is the solution point. The location of the plan of the solution point in relation to the strategies decides the probabilities with which they are to be played, and the height of the solution point gives the value of the game. Extension of this method for solving games of size 3×n is also discussed.     

Dead ends in misère play: The misère monoid of canonical numbers

We find the misère monoids of normal-play canonical-form integer and non-integer numbers. These come as consequences of more general results for the universe of dead-ending games. Left and right ends have previously been defined as games in which Left or Right, respectively, have no moves; here we define a dead left (right) end to be a left (right) end whose options are all left (right) ends, and we define a dead-ending game to be one in which all end followers are dead. We find the monoids and partial orders of dead ends, integers, and all numbers, and construct an infinite family of games that are equivalent to zero in the dead-ending universe.     

Strictly perfect equilibrium points of bimatrix games

We consider the existence of strictly perfect equilibrium points for bimatrix games. We prove that an isolated and quasi-strong equilibrium point is strictly perfect. Our result shows that in a nondegenerate bimatrix game all equilibrium points are strictly perfect. Our proof is based on the labeling theory ofShapley [1974] for bimatrix games.     

PSPACE-hardness of some combinatorial games

PSPACE-hardness of four families of win-lose-draw games' played on a digraph with blocking, capture, or annihilation rules is proved. Special cases of three of the families are shown to be PSPACE-complete: Further, the PSPACE-completeness of six families of win-lose games in which two players mark or remove nodes of digraphs according to given rules is proved. The first two families contain partizan games, the last eight impartial games. All the games have been defined previously in the literature or are slight variations of such games.     

Dominance solvable games and trees

We study social choice functions represented by Moulin's dominance solvable games. We first show that dominance solvability of games is independent of the order in which dominated strategies are deleted. This implies that the perfect equilibrium of a game with perfect information generally coincides with its solution according to dominance solvability. Then we show that a large class of d-solvable games yields the same social choice functions as those represented by games of perfect information. We show that for three alternatives and all n relatively prime to 6 there exists a method of social choice fractional elimination, which can be represented by a kingmaker tree. This covers some cases not previously covered by Moulin. We also find numerous examples.     

Average-discounted equilibria in stochastic games

In stochastic games with finite state and action spaces, we examine existence of equilibria where player 1 uses the limiting average reward and player 2 a discounted reward for the evaluations of the respective payoff sequences. By the nature of these rewards, the far future determines player 1's reward, while player 2 is rather interested in the near future. This gives rise to a natural cooperation between the players along the course of the play. First we show the existence of stationary ε-equilibria, for all ε>0, in these games. However, besides these stationary ε-equilibria, there also exist ε-equilibria, in terms of only slightly more complex ultimately stationary strategies, which are rather in the spirit of these games because, after a large stage when the discounted game is not interesting any longer, the players cooperate to guarantee the highest feasible reward to player 1. Moreover, we analyze an interesting example demonstrating that 0-equilibria do not necessarily exist in these games, not even in terms of history dependent strategies. Finally, we examine special classes of stochastic games with specific conditions on the transition and payoff structures. Several examples are given to clarify all these issues.     

On extensions of the core and the anticore of transferable utility games

We consider several related set extensions of the core and the anticore of games with transferable utility. An efficient allocation is undominated if it cannot be improved, in a specific way, by sidepayments changing the allocation or the game. The set of all such allocations is called the undominated set, and we show that it consists of finitely many polytopes with a core-like structure. One of these polytopes is the $L_1$ -center, consisting of all efficient allocations that minimize the sum of the absolute values of the excesses. The excess Pareto optimal set contains the allocations that are Pareto optimal in the set obtained by ordering the sums of the absolute values of the excesses of coalitions and the absolute values of the excesses of their complements. The $L_1$ -center is contained in the excess Pareto optimal set, which in turn is contained in the undominated set. For three-person games all these sets coincide. These three sets also coincide with the core for balanced games and with the anticore for antibalanced games. We study properties of these sets and provide characterizations in terms of balanced collections of coalitions. We also propose a single-valued selection from the excess Pareto optimal set, the min-prenucleolus, which is defined as the prenucleolus of the minimum of a game and its dual.     

Optimal strategies for equal-sum dice games

In this paper, we consider a non-cooperative two-person zero-sum matrix game, called dice game. In an (n,σ) dice game, two players can independently choose a dice from a collection of hypothetical dice having n faces and with a total of σ eyes distributed over these faces. They independently roll their dice and the player showing the highest number of eyes wins (in case of a tie, none of the players wins). The problem at hand in this paper is the characterization of all optimal strategies for these games. More precisely, we determine the (n,σ) dice games for which optimal strategies exist and derive for these games the number of optimal strategies as well as their explicit form.     

Population equilibrium with support in evolutionary matrix games

In this paper we consider symmetric bimatrix games [A, A^T]. We use a matrix operator s(A), defined as the sum of the cofactors of the given matrix A, for finding the population equilibrium and its fitness in evolutionarily matrix games with all supported strategies, and to complete Bishop-Cannings Theorem.     

Individual and group stability in neutral restrictions of hedonic games

We consider a class of coalition formation games called hedonic games, i.e., games in which the utility of a player is completely determined by the coalition that the player belongs to. We first define the class of subset-additive hedonic games and show that they have the same representation power as the class of hedonic games. We then define a restriction of subset-additive hedonic games that we call subset-neutral hedonic games and generalize a result by Bogomolnaia and Jackson (2002) by showing the existence of a Nash stable partition and an individually stable partition in such games. We also consider neutrally anonymous hedonic games and show that they form a subclass of the subset-additive hedonic games. Finally, we show the existence of a core stable partition that is also individually stable in neutrally anonymous hedonic games by exhibiting an algorithm to compute such a partition.