Related papers: To catch a falling robber

We define new graph parameters, called flip-width, that generalize treewidth, degeneracy, and generalized coloring numbers for sparse graphs, and clique-width and twin-width for dense graphs. The flip-width parameters are defined using…

A defender dispatches patrollers to circumambulate a perimeter to guard against potential attacks. The defender decides on the time points to dispatch patrollers and each patroller's direction and speed, as long as the long-run rate…

The cop number of a graph $G$ is the smallest $k$ such that $k$ cops win the game of cops and robber on $G$. We investigate the maximum cop number of geometric intersection graphs, which are graphs whose vertices are represented by…

In the gift exchange game there are n players and n wrapped gifts. When a player's number is called, that person can either choose one of the remaining wrapped gifts, or can "steal" a gift from someone who has already unwrapped it, subject…

We study versions of cop and robber pursuit-evasion games on the visibility graphs of polygons, and inside polygons with straight and curved sides. Each player has full information about the other player's location, players take turns, and…

Given a fixed graph $H$ with at least two edges and positive integers $n$ and $b$, the strict $(1 \colon b)$ Avoider-Enforcer $H$-game, played on the edge set of $K_n$, has the following rules: In each turn Avoider picks exactly one edge,…

We introduce a variant of the Localization game in which the cops only have visibility one, along with the corresponding optimization parameter, the one-visibility localization number $\zeta_1$. By developing lower bounds using…

We introduce the bodyguard problem for graphs. This is a variation of Surrounding Cops and Robber but, in this model, a smallest possible group of bodyguards must surround the president and then maintain this protection indefinitely. We…

In this paper, we study different variants of the Cops-and-Robber game with respect to cop- and robber\-/monotonicity. We study a visible and invisible robber and variants where the robber is lazy, thus can only move when the cops announce…

We consider the following distributed pursuit-evasion problem. A team of mobile agents called searchers starts at an arbitrary node of an unknown $n$-node network. Their goal is to execute a search strategy that guarantees capturing a fast…

The game of plates and olives, introduced by Nicolaescu, begins with an empty table. At each step either an empty plate is put down, an olive is put down on a plate, an olive is removed, an empty plate is removed, or the olives on two…

In this paper we analyze and model three open problems posed by Harris, Insko, Prieto-Langarica, Stoisavljevic, and Sullivan in 2020 concerning the tipsy cop and robber game on graphs. The three different scenarios we model account for…

Conway Checkers is a game played with a checker placed in each square of the lower half of an infinite checkerboard. Pieces move by jumping over an adjacent checker, removing the checker jumped over. Conway showed that it is not possible to…

We present new lower bounds that show that a polynomial number of passes are necessary for solving some fundamental graph problems in the streaming model of computation. For instance, we show that any streaming algorithm that finds a…

We consider a patrolling game on a graph recently introduced by Alpern et al. (2011) where the Patroller wins if he is at the attacked node while the attack is taking place. This paper studies the periodic patrolling game in the case that…

"Zombies and Survivor" is a variant of the well-studied game of "Cops and Robber" where the zombies (cops) can only move closer to the survivor (robber). We consider the deterministic version of the game where a zombie can choose their path…

We investigate the computational complexity of deciding whether k cops can capture a robber on a graph G. In 1995, Goldstein and Reingold conjectured that the problem is EXPTIME-complete when both G and k are part of the input; we prove…

In the $(s,d)$-spy game over a graph, introduced by Cohen et al. in 2016, one spy and $k$ guards occupy vertices of a graph and, at each turn, each guard may move along one edge and the spy may move along at most $s$ edges. The guards win…

We present a game inspired by research on the possible number of billiard ball collisions in the whole Euclidean space. One player tries to place $n$ static "balls" with zero radius (i.e., points) in a way that will minimize the total…

In an introductory paper on dollar game played on a graph, Matt Baker wrote the following: ``The total number of borrowing moves required to win the game when playing the 'borrowing binge strategy' is independent of which borrowing moves…