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We analyze the computational complexity of the video game "CELESTE" and prove that solving a generalized level in it is NP-Complete. Further, we also show how, upon introducing a small change in the game mechanics (adding a new game…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2022-12-02 Zeeshan Ahmed , Alapan Chaudhuri , Kunwar Shaanjeet Singh Grover , Ashwin Rao , Kushagra Garg , Pulak Malhotra

Many popular puzzle and matching games have been analyzed through the lens of computational complexity. Prominent examples include Sudoku, Candy Crush, and Flood-It. A common theme among these widely played games is that their generalized…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2026-03-03 Linus Klocker , Simon D. Fink

Temporal graphs extend ordinary graphs with discrete time that affects the availability of edges. We consider solving games played on temporal graphs where one player aims to explore the graph, i.e., visit all vertices. The complexity…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-06-16 Pete Austin , Nicolas Mazzocchi , Sougata Bose , Patrick Totzke

We prove PSPACE-completeness of several reversible, fully deterministic systems. At the core, we develop a framework for such proofs (building on a result of Tsukiji and Hagiwara and a framework for motion planning through gadgets), showing…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2022-07-18 Erik D. Demaine , Robert A. Hearn , Dylan Hendrickson , Jayson Lynch

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

We study the optimization problem faced by a perfectly informed principal in a Bayesian game, who reveals information to the players about the state of nature to obtain a desirable equilibrium. This signaling problem is the natural design…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2016-11-01 Umang Bhaskar , Yu Cheng , Young Kun Ko , Chaitanya Swamy

Strong placement games (SP-games) are a class of combinatorial games whose structure allows one to describe the game via simplicial complexes. A natural question is whether well-known invariants of combinatorial games, such as "game value",…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-02-12 Sara Faridi , Svenja Huntemann , Richard J. Nowakowski

We study three problems related to the computational complexity of the popular game Minesweeper. The first is consistency: given a set of clues, is there any arrangement of mines that satisfies it? This problem has been known to be…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2024-04-24 MIT Hardness Group , Della Hendrickson , Andy Tockman

Motivated by the controller placement problems in software-defined networks and the fair division principles of classical "cake cutting", we investigate the following two-player zero-sum game. In our model, a defender places a limited…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2026-05-19 Grzegorz Gutowski , Konstanty Junosza-Szaniawski , Antonio Lauerbach , Alexander Wolff

We study multiplayer quantitative reachability games played on a finite directed graph, where the objective of each player is to reach his target set of vertices as quickly as possible. Instead of the well-known notion of Nash equilibrium…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-22 Thomas Brihaye , Véronique Bruyère , Aline Goeminne , Jean-François Raskin , Marie van den Bogaard

Numerous popular abstract strategy games ranging from Hex and Havannah to Lines of Action belong to the class of connection games. Still, very few complexity results on such games have been obtained since Hex was proved PSPACE-complete in…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2014-03-27 Edouard Bonnet , Florian Jamain , Abdallah Saffidine

We study the complexity of solving two-player infinite duration games played on a fixed finite graph, where the control of a node is not predetermined but rather assigned randomly. In classic random-turn games, control of each node is…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-01-13 Sarvin Bahmani , Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen , Soumyajit Paul , Sven Schewe , Friedrich Slivovsky , Qiyi Tang , Dominik Wojtczak , Shufang Zhu

We study the problem of transforming one list (vertex) coloring of a graph into another list coloring by changing only one vertex color assignment at a time, while at all times maintaining a list coloring, given a list of allowed colors for…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2016-01-20 Tatsuhiko Hatanaka , Takehiro Ito , Xiao Zhou

We introduce achievement positional games, a convention for positional games which encompasses the Maker-Maker and Maker-Breaker conventions. We consider two hypergraphs, one red and one blue, on the same vertex set. Two players, Left and…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2026-03-20 Florian Galliot , Jonas Sénizergues

The study of SAT and its variants has provided numerous NP-complete problems, from which most NP-hardness results were derived. Due to the NP-hardness of SAT, adding constraints to either specify a more precise NP-complete problem or to…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2024-11-19 Nacim Oijid

A $k$-subcoloring of a graph is a partition of the vertex set into at most $k$ cluster graphs, that is, graphs with no induced $P_3$. 2-subcoloring is known to be NP-complete for comparability graphs and three subclasses of planar graphs,…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2017-02-07 Pascal Ochem

Pebble games are single-player games on DAGs involving placing and moving pebbles on nodes of the graph according to a certain set of rules. The goal is to pebble a set of target nodes using a minimum number of pebbles. In this paper, we…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2018-07-16 Erik D. Demaine , Quanquan C. Liu

The connected domination game is a variation of the domination game where the played vertices must form a connected subgraph at all stages of the game. In this paper we prove that deciding whether the game connected domination number is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-06-02 Vesna Iršič Chenoweth

We study the problem of deciding the winner of reachability switching games for zero-, one-, and two-player variants. Switching games provide a deterministic analogue of stochastic games. We show that the zero-player case is NL-hard, the…

Formal Languages and Automata Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-22 John Fearnley , Martin Gairing , Matthias Mnich , Rahul Savani

We show that the Minesweeper game is PP-hard, when the object is to locate all mines with the highest probability. When the probability of locating all mines may be infinitesimal, the Minesweeper game is even PSPACE-complete. In our…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2012-04-23 Michiel de Bondt