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We consider two-person zero-sum stochastic mean payoff games with perfect information, or BWR-games, given by a digraph $G = (V, E)$, with local rewards $r: E \to \ZZ$, and three types of positions: black $V_B$, white $V_W$, and random…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2017-03-27 Endre Boros , Khaled Elbassioni , Vladimir Gurvich , Kazuhisa Makino

A single-player game of Memory is played with $n$ distinct pairs of cards, with the cards in each pair bearing identical pictures. The cards are laid face-down. A move consists of revealing two cards, chosen adaptively. If these cards…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2018-01-29 Amit Chakrabarti , Yining Chen

We consider a class of infinite-state stochastic games generated by stateless pushdown automata (or, equivalently, 1-exit recursive state machines), where the winning objective is specified by a regular set of target configurations and a…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2011-05-11 Tomáš Brázdil , Václav Brožek , Antonín Kučera , Jan Obdržálek

This paper is concerned with games of infinite duration played over potentially infinite graphs. Recently, Ohlmann (LICS 2022) presented a characterisation of objectives admitting optimal positional strategies, by means of universal graphs:…

Formal Languages and Automata Theory · Computer Science 2025-03-26 Antonio Casares , Pierre Ohlmann

For decades, two-player (antagonistic) games on graphs have been a framework of choice for many important problems in theoretical computer science. A notorious one is controller synthesis, which can be rephrased through the game-theoretic…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-22 Patricia Bouyer , Stéphane Le Roux , Youssouf Oualhadj , Mickael Randour , Pierre Vandenhove

Simple stochastic games are turn-based 2.5-player games with a reachability objective. The basic question asks whether one player can ensure reaching a given target with at least a given probability. A natural extension is games with a…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2021-02-02 Pranav Ashok , Krishnendu Chatterjee , Jan Kretinsky , Maximilian Weininger , Tobias Winkler

We consider concurrent games played on graphs. At every round of the game, each player simultaneously and independently selects a move; the moves jointly determine the transition to a successor state. Two basic objectives are the safety…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2008-12-18 Krishnendu Chatterjee , Luca de Alfaro , Thomas A. Henzinger

Adversarial training, a special case of multi-objective optimization, is an increasingly prevalent machine learning technique: some of its most notable applications include GAN-based generative modeling and self-play techniques in…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-03-17 Gauthier Gidel , David Balduzzi , Wojciech Marian Czarnecki , Marta Garnelo , Yoram Bachrach

We consider 2-player games played on a finite state space for infinite rounds. The games are concurrent: in each round, the two players choose their moves simultaneously; the current state and the moves determine the successor. We consider…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2013-06-21 Krishnendu Chatterjee

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

In the Penney-Ante game, Player I chooses a head/tail string of a predetermined length $n\ge3$. Player II, upon seeing Player I's choice, chooses another head/tail string of the same length. A coin is then tossed repeatedly and the player…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-07-16 Reed Phillips , A. J. Hildebrand

The semi-random graph process is a single player game in which the player is initially presented an empty graph on $n$ vertices. In each round, a vertex $u$ is presented to the player independently and uniformly at random. The player then…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-07-11 Paweł Prałat , Harjas Singh

We study the problem of characterizing optimal learning algorithms for playing repeated games against an adversary with unknown payoffs. In this problem, the first player (called the learner) commits to a learning algorithm against a second…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-02-16 Eshwar Ram Arunachaleswaran , Natalie Collina , Jon Schneider

This paper studies the optimistic variant of Fictitious Play for learning in two-player zero-sum games. While it is known that Optimistic FTRL -- a regularized algorithm with a bounded stepsize parameter -- obtains constant regret in this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-15 John Lazarsfeld , Georgios Piliouras , Ryann Sim , Stratis Skoulakis

In games with imperfect recall, players may forget the sequence of decisions they made in the past. When players also forget whether they have already encountered their current decision point, they are said to be absent-minded. Solving…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-02-20 Hugo Gimbert , Soumyajit Paul , B. Srivathsan

We present two zero-sum games modeling situations where one player attacks (or hides in) a finite dimensional nonempty compact set, and the other tries to prevent the attack (or find him). The first game, called patrolling game, corresponds…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-07-03 Tristan Garrec

This paper considers a time-varying game with $N$ players. Every time slot, players observe their own random events and then take a control action. The events and control actions affect the individual utilities earned by each player. The…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2014-02-04 Michael J. Neely

In this paper, we study turn-based quantitative multiplayer non zero-sum games played on finite graphs with both reachability and safety objectives. In this framework a player with a reachability objective aims at reaching his own goal as…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2012-05-23 Thomas Brihaye , Véronique Bruyère , Julie De Pril

Two-player zero-sum "graph games" are a central model, which proceeds as follows. A token is placed on a vertex of a graph, and the two players move it to produce an infinite "play", which determines the winner or payoff of the game.…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-11-28 Guy Avni , Ismael Jecker , Djordje Zikelic

In two-player zero-sum stochastic games, where two competing players make decisions under uncertainty, a pair of optimal strategies is traditionally described by Nash equilibrium and computed under the assumption that the players have…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-07-30 Yagiz Savas , Mohamadreza Ahmadi , Takashi Tanaka , Ufuk Topcu