Related papers: Necklace Games
We study the sample complexity of identifying an approximate equilibrium for two-player zero-sum $n\times 2$ matrix games. That is, in a sequence of repeated game plays, how many rounds must the two players play before reaching an…
We consider the problem of solving random parity games. We prove that parity games exibit a phase transition threshold above $d_P$, so that when the degree of the graph that defines the game has a degree $d > d_P$ then there exists a…
Nash equilibrium (NE) is a central concept in game theory. Here we prove formally a published theorem on existence of an NE in two proof assistants, Coq and Isabelle: starting from a game with finitely many outcomes, one may derive a game…
This paper addresses the problem of finding $Q_{m,t}\left(n\right)$, the number of possible ways to partition any member $n$ of the cyclic group $\mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z}$ into $t$ distinct parts. When $m$ is odd, it was previously known that…
We prove that certain problems naturally arising in knot theory are NP--hard or NP--complete. These are the problems of obtaining one diagram from another one of a link in a bounded number of Reidemeister moves, determining whether a link…
Given a graph G with positive integer weights on the vertices, and a token placed on some current vertex u, two players alternately remove a positive integer weight from u and then move the token to a new current vertex adjacent to u. When…
Given integer $n$ and $k$ such that $0 < k \leq n$ and $n$ piles of stones, two players alternate turns. By one move it is allowed to choose any $k$ piles and remove exactly one stone from each. The player who has to move but cannot is the…
We investigate a discrete search game called the Multiple Caching Game where the searcher's aim is to find all of a set of $d$ treasures hidden in $n$ locations. Allowed queries are sets of locations of size $k$, and the searcher wins if in…
Node-Kayles is a well-known impartial combinatorial game played on graphs, where players alternately select a vertex and remove it along with its neighbors. By the Sprague-Grundy theorem, every position of an impartial game corresponds to a…
We analyze the computational complexity of several new variants of edge-matching puzzles. First we analyze inequality (instead of equality) constraints between adjacent tiles, proving the problem NP-complete for strict inequalities but…
We present for every $n\ge4$ an $n$-player game in normal form with payoffs in $\{0,1,2\}$ that has a unique, fully mixed, Nash equilibrium in which all the probability weights are irradical (i.e., algebraic but not closed form expressible…
A chain is an ordering of the integers 1 to n such that adjacent pairs have sums of a particular form, such as squares, cubes, triangular numbers, pentagonal numbers, or Fibonacci numbers. For example 4 1 2 3 5 form a Fibonacci chain while…
We study Maker/Breaker games on the edges of the complete graph, as introduced by Chvatal and Erdos. We show that in the (m:b) clique game played on K_{N}, the complete graph on N vertices, Maker can achieve a K_{q} for q = (m/(log_{2}(b +…
We consider the following two-player game: Maxi and Mini start with the empty graph on $n$ vertices and take turns, always adding one additional edge to the graph such that the chromatic number is at most $k$, where $k \in \mathbb{N}$ is a…
In 1901, Bouton proved that a winning strategy of the game of Nim is given by the bitwise XOR, called the nim-sum. But, why does such a weird binary operation work? Led by this question, this paper introduces a categorical reinterpretation…
A move in the game of nim consists of taking any positive number of tokens from a single pile. Suppose we add the class of moves of taking a nonnegative number of tokens jointly from all the piles. We give a complete answer to the question…
Consider equipping an alphabet $\mathcal{A}$ with a group action that partitions the set of words into equivalence classes which we call patterns. We answer standard questions for the Penney's game on patterns and show non-transitivity for…
Nim is a well-known combinatorial game with several variants, e.g., Delete Nim and Variant Delete Nim. In Variant Delete Nim, the player deletes one of the two heaps of stones and splits the other heap on his/her turn. In this paper, we…
We study the problem of computing all Nash equilibria of a subclass of finite normal form games. With algebraic characterization of the games, we present a method for computing all its Nash equilibria. Further, we present a method for…
Zeckendorf proved that every positive integer $n$ can be written uniquely as the sum of non-adjacent Fibonacci numbers; a similar result holds for other positive linear recurrence sequences. These legal decompositions can be used to…