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In this paper we introduce polytopal stochastic games, an extension of two-player, zero-sum, turn-based stochastic games, in which we may have uncertainty over the transition probabilities. In these games the uncertainty over the…
Peg solitaire is classically a one-player game played on a grid board containing pegs. The goal of the game is to have a single peg remaining on the board by sequentially jumping with a peg over an adjacent peg onto an empty cell while…
We propose a class of cooperative games, called d Partitioned Compbinatorial Optimization Games (PCOGs). The input of PCOG consists of a set of agents and a combinatorial structure (typically a graph) with a fixed optimization goal on this…
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",…
We study a combinatorial game derived from a problem in the German National Mathematics Competition. In this game, two players take turns removing numbers from a finite set of natural numbers, aiming to satisfy a certain divisibility…
We study an ensemble of individuals playing the two games of the so-called Parrondo paradox. In our study, players are allowed to choose the game to be played by the whole ensemble in each turn. The choice cannot conform to the preferences…
In here, I present a series of combinatorial equalities derived using a graph based approach. Different nodes in the graphs are visited following probabilistic dynamics of a moving dot. The results are presented in such a way that the…
This thesis is basically devoted to matroids -- fundamental structure of combinatorial optimization -- though some of our results concern simplicial complexes, or Euclidean spaces. We study old and new problems for these structures, with…
We study the value of unique games as a graph-theoretic parameter. This is obtained by labeling edges with permutations. We describe the classical value of a game as well as give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an…
We introduce the notion of linearly representable games. Broadly speaking, these are TU games that can be described by as many parameters as the number of players, like weighted voting games, airport games, or bankruptcy games. We show that…
Past efforts to classify impartial three-player combinatorial games (the theories of Li and Straffin) have made various restrictive assumptions about the rationality of one's opponents and the formation and behavior of coalitions. One may…
In an investigation of the applications of Combinatorial Game Theory to chess, we construct novel mutual Zugzwang positions, explain an otherwise mysterious pawn endgame from "A Guide to Chess Endings" (Euwe and Hooper), show positions…
We discuss the prominent role played by bilateral symmetry and modified Pascal triangles in self twin games, a subset of constant sum homogeneous weighted majority games. We show that bilateral symmetry of the free representations…
We start with the well-known game below: Two players hold a sheet of paper to their forehead on which a positive integer is written. The numbers are consecutive and each player can only see the number of the other one. In each time step,…
Placement games are a subclass of combinatorial games which are played on graphs. We will demonstrate that one can construct simplicial complexes corresponding to a placement game, and this game could be considered as a game played on these…
We define the class of "simple recursive games". A simple recursive game is defined as a simple stochastic game (a notion due to Anne Condon), except that we allow arbitrary real payoffs but disallow moves of chance. We study the complexity…
We study the recursive structure of P-positions in the chocolate game $C_{m,m}$, an impartial game played on an $m \times m$ chocolate bar. We show that the set of P-positions exhibits self-similar patterns that can be described and…
This paper proposes a framework and solution concept for repeated coalitional behavior. We model history-dependent schemes that deter coalitions from blocking using continuation promises and punishments. We evaluate the effectiveness of…
Stochastic games are an important class of problems that generalize Markov decision processes to game theoretic scenarios. We consider finite state two-player zero-sum stochastic games over an infinite time horizon with discounted rewards.…
Negotiations, a model of concurrency with multi party negotiation as primitive, have been recently introduced in arXiv:1307.2145, arXiv:1403.4958. We initiate the study of games for this model. We study coalition problems: can a given…