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We prove that the classic falling-block video game Tetris (both survival and board clearing) remains NP-complete even when restricted to 8 columns, or to 4 rows, settling open problems posed over 15 years ago [BDH+04]. Our reduction is from…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2020-10-01 Sualeh Asif , Michael Coulombe , Erik D. Demaine , Martin L. Demaine , Adam Hesterberg , Jayson Lynch , Mihir Singhal

We show that it is coNP-complete to decide whether a given proof structure of pomset logic is a correct proof net, using the graph-theoretic used in a previous paper of ours (arXiv:1901.10247).

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2023-01-24 Lê Thành Dũng Nguyên

We study the problem of computing stationary Nash equilibria in discounted perfect information stochastic games from the viewpoint of computational complexity. For two-player games we prove the problem to be in PPAD, which together with a…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-10-14 Kristoffer Arnsfelt Hansen , Xinhao Nie

We prove PSPACE-completeness of all but one problem in a large space of pulling-block problems where the goal is for the agent to reach a target destination. The problems are parameterized by whether pulling is optional, the number of…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2023-11-16 Hayashi Ani , Sualeh Asif , Erik D. Demaine , Jenny Diomidova , Dylan Hendrickson , Jayson Lynch , Sarah Scheffler , Adam Suhl

We study the guarded negation fragment of transitive closure logic (GNTC). We show that the satisfiability problem for GNTC is 2ExpTime-complete, by establishing the following reductions: (i) a polynomial-time reduction from the…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2026-05-20 Diego Figueira , Santiago Figueira , Yoshiki Nakamura

We treat the boundary of the union of blocks in the Jenga game as a surface with a polyhedral structure and consider its genus. We generalize the game and determine the maximum genus of the generalized game.

History and Overview · Mathematics 2018-09-03 Rika Akiyama , Nozomi Abe , Hajime Fujita , Yukie Inaba , Mari Hataoka , Shiori Ito , Satomi Seita

This work shows new results on the complexity of games Jelly-No and Hanano with various constraints on the size of the board and number of colours. Hanano and Jelly-No are one-player, 2D side-view puzzle games with a dynamic board…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2026-04-14 Owen Crabtree , Valia Mitsou

Many problems in compositional synthesis and verification of multi-agent systems -- such as rational verification and assume-guarantee verification in probabilistic systems -- reduce to reasoning about two-player multi-objective stochastic…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-02-16 Moritz Graf , Anthony Lin , Rupak Majumdar

Akari, Takuzu, Kakuro and KenKen are logic games similar to Sudoku. In Akari, a labyrinth on a grid has to be lit by placing lanterns, respecting various constraints. In Takuzu a grid has to be filled with 0's and 1's, while respecting…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2016-06-06 Xavier Bultel , Jannik Dreier , Jean-Guillaume Dumas , Pascal Lafourcade

A classical problem in phylogenetic tree analysis is to decide whether there is a phylogenetic tree $T$ that contains all information of a given collection $\cP$ of phylogenetic trees. If the answer is "yes" we say that $\cP$ is compatible…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2010-06-29 Stefan Grünewald

We answer, in the affirmative, the following question proposed by Mike Steel as a $100 challenge: "Is the following problem NP-hard? Given a ternary phylogenetic X-tree T and a collection Q of quartet subtrees on X, is T the only tree that…

Populations and Evolution · Quantitative Biology 2010-11-29 Michel Habib , Juraj Stacho

In this article, we discuss the question of whether P equals NP, we do not follow the line of research of many researchers, which is to try to find such a problem Q, and the problem Q belongs to the class of NP-complete, if the problem Q is…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2024-03-26 Jian-Gang Tang

We analyze the Sprague-Grundy functions for a class of almost disjoint selective compound games played on Nim heaps. Surprisingly, we find that these functions behave chaotically for smaller Sprague-Grundy values of each component game yet…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-02-27 Calvin Beideman , Matthew Bowen , Necati Alp Muyesser

A query game is a pair of a set $Q$ of queries and a set $\mathcal{F}$ of functions, or codewords $f:Q\rightarrow \mathbb{Z}.$ We think of this as a two-player game. One player, Codemaker, picks a hidden codeword $f\in \mathcal{F}$. The…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-07-11 Anders Martinsson

We study the computational complexity of "public goods games on networks". In this model, each vertex in a graph is an agent that needs to take a binary decision of whether to "produce a good" or not. Each agent's utility depends on the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-07-12 Matan Gilboa , Noam Nisan

We report on the presence of families of exact solutions for a complex scalar field that behaves according to the rules of discrete $Z_N$ symmetry. Since the family of models is exactly solved, the results appear to be of interest to…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2025-12-30 D. Bazeia , R. Menezes , G. S. Santiago

Geometric embedding of graphs in a point set in the plane is a well known problem. In this paper, the complexity of a variant of this problem, where the point set is bounded by a simple polygon, is considered. Given a point set in the plane…

Computational Geometry · Computer Science 2009-08-28 Alireza Bagheri , Mohammadreza Razzazi

In this paper, we study the cooperative card game, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine from the viewpoint of algorithmic combinatorial game theory. The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, is a game based on traditional trick-taking card games,…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2021-10-27 Frederick Reiber

In the popular computer game of Tetris, the player is given a sequence of tetromino pieces and must pack them into a rectangular gameboard initially occupied by a given configuration of filled squares; any completely filled row of the…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2007-05-23 Erik D. Demaine , Susan Hohenberger , David Liben-Nowell

The problem of searching a polygonal region for an unpredictably moving intruder by a set of stationary guards, each carrying an orientable laser, is known as the Searchlight Scheduling Problem. Determining the computational complexity of…

Computational Geometry · Computer Science 2015-03-20 Giovanni Viglietta