Related papers: David Gale's subset take-away game
A vertex $u$ in a graph $G$ totally dominates a vertex $v$ if $u$ is adjacent to $v$ in $G$. A total dominating set of $G$ is a set $S$ of vertices of $G$ such that every vertex of $G$ is totally dominated by a vertex in $S$. The indicated…
We study the computational complexity of the popular board game backgammon. We show that deciding whether a player can win from a given board configuration is NP-Hard, PSPACE-Hard, and EXPTIME-Hard under different settings of known and…
In a graph $G$, a set $D\subseteq V(G)$ is called 2-dominating set if each vertex not in $D$ has at least two neighbors in $D$. The 2-domination number $\gamma_2(G)$ is the minimum cardinality of such a set $D$. We give a method for the…
In 1953 Gale noticed that for every n-person game in extensive form with perfect information modeled by a rooted treesome special Nash equilibrium in pure strategies can be found by an algorithm of successive elimination of leaves, which is…
We consider combinatorial avoidance and achievement games based on graph Ramsey theory: The players take turns in coloring still uncolored edges of a graph G, each player being assigned a distinct color, choosing one edge per move. In…
The minority game is a simple congestion game in which the players' main goal is to choose among two options the one that is adopted by the smallest number of players. We characterize the set of Nash equilibria and the limiting behavior of…
The game of Cat Herding is one in which cat and herder players alternate turns, with the evasive cat moving along non-trivial paths between vertices, and the herder deleting single edges from the graph. Eventually the cat cannot move, and…
We present a causality-based algorithm for solving two-player reachability games represented by logical constraints. These games are a useful formalism to model a wide array of problems arising, e.g., in program synthesis. Our technique for…
A zero-one matrix $A$ contains another zero-one matrix $P$ if some submatrix of $A$ can be transformed to $P$ by changing some ones to zeros. $A$ avoids $P$ if $A$ does not contain $P$. The Pattern Avoidance Game is played by two players.…
We consider a Cops-and-Robber game played on the subsets of an $n$-set. The robber starts at the full set; the cops start at the empty set. On each turn, the robber moves down one level by discarding an element, and each cop moves up one…
Partial order reductions have been successfully applied to model checking of concurrent systems and practical applications of the technique show nontrivial reduction in the size of the explored state space. We present a theory of partial…
In this paper we study a variant of the solitaire game Lights-Out, where the player's goal is to turn off a grid of lights. This variant is a two-player impartial game where the goal is to make the final valid move. This version is playable…
Many interactions result in a socially suboptimal equilibrium, or in a non-equilibrium state, from which arriving at an equilibrium through simple dynamics can be impossible of too long. Aiming to achieve a certain equilibrium, we persuade,…
We study a simple motion differential game of many pursuers and one evader in the plane. We give a nonempty closed convex set in the plane, and the pursuers and evader move on this set. They cannot leave this set during the game. Control…
This paper provides sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions for two-person zero-sum games with inf/sup-compact payoff functions and with possibly noncompact decision sets for both players. Payoff functions may be unbounded, and…
We prove PSPACE-completeness of two classic types of Chess problems when generalized to n-by-n boards. A "retrograde" problem asks whether it is possible for a position to be reached from a natural starting position, i.e., whether the…
There is a common belief that humans and many animals follow transitive inference (choosing A over C on the basis of knowing that A is better than B and B is better than C). Transitivity seems to be the essence of rational choice. We…
In this paper, we introduce a graph coloring game called the Edge-Distinguishing Game (EDGe). The edge-distinguishing chromatic number of a graph is used to determine the moves each player can make. We determine which player has a winning…
We study a two-player game played on undirected graphs called {\sc Trail Trap}, which is a variant of a game known as {\sc Partizan Edge Geography}. One player starts by choosing any edge and moving a token from one endpoint to the other;…
We define an all-small ruleset, Bipass, within the framework of normal-play combinatorial games. A game is played on finite strips of black and white stones. Stones of different colors are swapped provided they do not bypass one of their…