Why do some games seem to be universal while others have a particular connection to the culture of the people playing them? Around the World in 80 Games is about the mathematics of chance, game theory, gamification, gaming strategies and computer games. Traversing the globe, Marcus du Sautoy looks at the genesis of games new and old, explores how to invent a good game and explains the fascination of a popular lockdown game. From the secrets of whist to hopscotch, Scrabble to Wordle. The most simple games endure: board games, card games and dice games have captivated us for centuries and the acclaimed mathematician and author of The Creativity Code (among many others) will once again bring mathematics to the fore with insight and aplomb in Around the World in 80 Games.

The Handbook of Experimental Game Theory offers a comprehensive analysis of the field, discussing foundational topics that are at the core of applied game theory. It highlights the nuances that scientific experiments have delivered to our understanding of strategic interactions among decision makers. Leading experts explore methodological considerations and games of complete and incomplete information to offer new directions for research in experimental game theory. Chapters demonstrate transformative behavioral research focused on classic topics in game theory such as cooperation and coordination games. Taking a scientific approach to the study of game theory, this innovative Handbook provides an insight into laboratory and field experiments that test game theoretic propositions and suggests new ways of modeling strategic behavior. It takes a forward-thinking position, addressing the challenges inherent in innovations surrounding the measurement of strategic behavior using experimental methods. This Handbook will prove to be a valuable resource for scholars and students who are looking to gain a broader understanding of experimental game theory and how to contribute to its advancement. It will also be of particular interest to researchers in experimental and behavioral economics.

Economic theory and philosophy have discussed concepts of fairness, but the criteria of fairness are in each case absolute: a situation is either fair or it is not. This book draws on these literatures to propose two criteria of relative fairness, and a hierarchical rule for the priority of application of these criteria, with a view to comparison of practicable alternatives in public policy. A veil-of-ignorance device of representation of rational fairness is used to argue that these criteria are normatively relevant. Applications to intergenerational fairness, fairness among regions in the context of migration, externalities and Pigovian taxes, to fair prices and wages, and to relative fairness in the status of racial and caste groups are sketched. The book is designed with real world public policy practice. Scholars with an interest in the economic evaluation of public policy will find this compelling book essential reading.

Bestselling author and worst-drawing artist Ben Orlin expands his oeuvre with this interactive collection of mathematical games. With 70-plus games, each taking a minute to learn and a lifetime to master, this treasure trove will delight, educate, and entertain. From beloved math popularizer Ben Orlin comes a masterfully compiled collection of dozens of playable mathematical games. This ultimate game chest draws on mathematical curios, childhood classics, and soon-to-be classics, each hand-chosen to be (1) fun, (2) thought-provoking, and (3) easy to play. With just paper, pens, and the occasional handful of coins, you and a partner can enjoy hours of fun-and hours of challenge. Orlin's sly humor, expansive knowledge, and so-bad-they're-good drawings show us how simple rules summon our best thinking. Games include: * Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe * Sprouts * Battleship * Quantum Go Fish * Dots and Boxes * Black Hole * Order and Chaos * Sequencium * Paper Boxing * Prophecies * Arpeggios * Banker * Francoprussian Labyrinth * Cats and Dogs * And many more.

What is the origin of game preferences and payoffs, how are they aggregated and what are the implications of interdependent preferences? What is the importance of information for building game models? How can game models be used to analyse empirical cases? At the cutting edge of current modelling in international relations using non-cooperative game theory, this collection of original contributions from political scientists and economists explores some of the fundamental assumptions of game theory modelling. It includes a theory of game payoff formation, a theory of preference aggregation, thorough discussions of the effects of interdependence between preferences upon various game structures, in-depth analyses of the impact of incomplete information upon dynamic games of negotiation, and a study using differential games. Numerous illustrations, case studies and comparative case studies show the relevance of the theoretical debate. The chapters are organised to allow readers with a limited knowledge of game theory to develop their understanding of the fundamental issues. Containing theoretical discussion of the basic game theory assumptions - as well as means of going beyond them - Game Theory and International Relations will be welcomed by all those interested in the empirical application of game theory models in international relations.

Building on the success of the first edition, Game Theory and Public Policy, Second Edition provides a critical, selective review of key concepts in game theory with a view to their applications in public policy. The author further suggests modifications for some of the models (chiefly in cooperative game theory) to improve their applicability to economics and public policy. Roger McCain makes use of the analytical tools of game theory for the pragmatic purpose of identifying problems and exploring potential solutions, providing a toolkit for the analysis of public policy allowing for a clearer understanding of the public policy enterprise itself. His critical review of major topics from both cooperative and non-cooperative game theory includes less-known ideas and constructive proposals for new approaches. This revised edition features a new second half that focuses on biform games, combining cooperative and non-cooperative decisions in a simple and natural way to provide a working model of externalities that can be applied to issues such as monopoly policy and labor market policies. Drawing on comparatively well understood models in cooperative game theory and the author's own research on mathematical models of biform games, this unique approach and treatment of game theory, updated and expanded to stay on the cutting edge, will be a useful resource for students and scholars of economics and public policy, as well as for policymakers themselves.

Explores the history, business, and technology of video games, including social, political, and economic motivations Facilitates learning with clear objectives, key terms, illustrative timelines, color images, tables and graphs Highlights the technical specifications and key titles of all major game consoles, handhelds, personal computers, and mobile platforms Reinforces material with market summaries, reviews of breakthroughs and trends, as well as end-of-chapter activities and quizzes New content in every chapter, from the PC-98, MSX, Amstrad, and ZX Spectrum to expanded coverage on mobile gaming, virtual reality, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5

Game theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It s the art of anticipating your opponent s next moves, knowing full well that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve simple common sense, much is counterintuitive, and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using a diverse array of rich case studies from pop culture, TV, movies, sports, politics, and history the authors show how nearly every business and personal interaction has a game-theory component to it. Mastering game theory will make you more successful in business and life, and this lively book is the key to that mastery."

Mathematical Puzzle Tales from Mount Olympus uses fascinating tales from Greek Mythology as the background for introducing mathematics puzzles to the general public. A background in high school mathematics will be ample preparation for using this book, and it should appeal to anyone who enjoys puzzles and recreational mathematics. Features: Combines the arts and science, and emphasizes the fact that mathematics straddles both domains. Great resource for students preparing for mathematics competitions, and the trainers of such students.

Building on the pioneering work by the Nobel Memorial Laureate, John Nash, Professor Thomson has brought together a broad selection of seminal articles which analyse and discuss bargaining and the theory of cooperative games. Beginning with a distinguished collection of papers discussing the origins of game theory, this volume systematically explores its development as a tool to illuminate economic behaviour. It includes the work of highly accomplished academics whose discoveries over the years have shaped the direction of this subject. With his insightful introduction, the editor has ensured that this indispensable book is suitable for anyone with an interest in cooperative gaming.

Extremum Seeking through Delays and PDEs, the first book on the topic, expands the scope of applicability of the extremum seeking method, from static and finite-dimensional systems to infinite-dimensional systems. Readers will find: Numerous algorithms for model-free real-time optimization are developed and their convergence guaranteed. Extensions from single-player optimization to noncooperative games, under delays and pdes, are provided. The delays and pdes are compensated in the control designs using the pde backstepping approach, and stability is ensured using infinite-dimensional versions of averaging theory. Accessible and powerful tools for analysis. This book is intended for control engineers in all disciplines (electrical, mechanical, aerospace, chemical), mathematicians, physicists, biologists, and economists. It is appropriate for graduate students, researchers, and industrial users.

Explores the history, business, and technology of video games, including social, political, and economic motivations Facilitates learning with clear objectives, key terms, illustrative timelines, color images, tables and graphs Highlights the technical specifications and key titles of all major game consoles, handhelds, personal computers, and mobile platforms Reinforces material with market summaries, reviews of breakthroughs and trends, as well as end-of-chapter activities and quizzes New content in every chapter, from the PC-98, MSX, Amstrad, and ZX Spectrum to expanded coverage on mobile gaming, virtual reality, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5

This original new book offers a comprehensive and engaging perspective on the theory of vertical differentiation. It enables the reader to grasp the key concepts and effects that product quality has both on firms' behaviour and market structure, and the ways in which this relationship has evolved. With contributions from prominent figures in the field, the book investigates a number of important topics, such as the choice of the optimal product range, profit sharing, the existence of equilibrium in duopoly games, positional effects attached to status goods, international trade, collusion, advertising and the dynamics of capital accumulation for quality improvement and product innovation. Using both static and dynamic approaches, these aspects are assessed in relation to the manifold issues of regulation, competition policy and trade policy. Product differentiation and its influence on consumer behaviour and the performance of firms is a core topic in the existing literature in the fields of industrial organization, international trade and economic growth. This book will be an essential read for researchers, students and professional scholars working in these areas, especially those with an interest in antitrust regulation.

Individuals, firms, governments and nations behave strategically, for good and bad. Over the last few decades, game theory has been constructed and progressively refined to become the major tool used by social scientists to understand, predict and regulate strategic interaction among agents who often have conflicting interests. In the surprisingly anodyne jargon of the theory, they play games'. This book offers an introduction to the basic tools of game theory and an overview of a number of applications to real-world cases, covering the areas of economics, politics and international relations. Each chapter is accompanied by some suggestions about further reading.

This second edition of Lessons in Play reorganizes the presentation of the popular original text in combinatorial game theory to make it even more widely accessible. Starting with a focus on the essential concepts and applications, it then moves on to more technical material. Still written in a textbook style with supporting evidence and proofs, the authors add many more exercises and examples and implement a two-step approach for some aspects of the material involving an initial introduction, examples, and basic results to be followed later by more detail and abstract results. Features Employs a widely accessible style to the explanation of combinatorial game theory Contains multiple case studies Expands further directions and applications of the field Includes a complete rewrite of CGSuite material

Congruences are ubiquitous in computer science, engineering, mathematics, and related areas. Developing techniques for finding (the number of) solutions of congruences is an important problem. But there are many scenarios in which we are interested in only a subset of the solutions; in other words, there are some restrictions. What do we know about these restricted congruences, their solutions, and applications? This book introduces the tools that are needed when working on restricted congruences and then systematically studies a variety of restricted congruences. Restricted Congruences in Computing defines several types of restricted congruence, obtains explicit formulae for the number of their solutions using a wide range of tools and techniques, and discusses their applications in cryptography, information security, information theory, coding theory, string theory, quantum field theory, parallel computing, artificial intelligence, computational biology, discrete mathematics, number theory, and more. This is the first book devoted to restricted congruences and their applications. It will be of interest to graduate students and researchers across computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics.

The rise of game theory has made bargaining one of the core issues in economic theory. Written at a theoretical and conceptual level, this book develops a framework for the analysis of bargaining processes. The framework focuses on the dynamic of the bargaining process, which is in contrast to much previous theoretical work on the subject, and most notably to the approaches stemming from game theory. Chapters include: decision-making and expectations in theories of bargaining; decision-making and expectations in a game theory model; limitations of the environment concept; game theory as a basis for a theory of bargaining; the decision/expectation/adjustment approach; the adjustment process; direct interdependence and the consistency of decisions.

Game theory now provides the theoretical underpinning for a multitude of courses in economics worldwide. The speed of these developments has been remarkable and they have constituted something of a revolution. Indeed, the basic tenets of game theory have now begun to colonize other social sciences and its proponents have been unified in claiming its natural basis as a rational theory of society.
But the technical demands of the subject and the lack of clarity of many commentators' explanations have been a problem for many. This second edition of Shaun Hargreaves-Heap and Yanis Varoufakis's classic text strips away the mystique and lets the student make his or her own mind up. This new edition:
* lays bear the philosophy behind game theory and explains all its major concepts
* conducts a clear explanation and careful analysis of all the main 'games', such as repeated games and the prisoner's dilemma, as well as less well-trodden topics such as experimental games and issues of rationality
* introduces and analyses new areas of game theory such as "evolutionary games" and "Psychological games"
Retaining the most popular features from the original edition, this latest version offers improved pedagogy, new questions for discussion, new chapters on the latest developments as well as a host of new examples. A new generation of students of game theory will grow to appreciate this superb text whilst fans of the first edition will eagerly devour this long-awaited update.

Game theory is rapidly becoming one of the cornerstones of the social sciences. The articles gathered here chart the intellectual history of game theory from its place in the Enlightenment tradition, through the explosion of literature in the late 1970s, to issues of current and emerging debates. This extensively indexed set will be a valuable reference tool to researchers in sociology and politics, as well as economics.

The game of Dots-and-Boxes, the popular game in which two players take turns connecting an array of dots to form squares, or "boxes" has long been considered merely a child's game. In this book, however, the author reveals the surprising complexity of the game, along with advanced strategies that will allow the reader to win at any level of gameplay desired. This book is an essential guide to the game of Dots-and-Boxes and its mathematical underpinnings. Chapters of strategy are interspersed with dozens of sample problems and their solutions. Furthermore, the strategies can be applied to several other games, such as Strings-and-Coins and Nimstring.

Many experiments have shown the human brain generally has very serious problems dealing with probability and chance. A greater understanding of probability can help develop the intuition necessary to approach risk with the ability to make more informed (and better) decisions. The first four chapters offer the standard content for an introductory probability course, albeit presented in a much different way and order. The chapters afterward include some discussion of different games, different "ideas" that relate to the law of large numbers, and many more mathematical topics not typically seen in such a book. The use of games is meant to make the book (and course) feel like fun! Since many of the early games discussed are casino games, the study of those games, along with an understanding of the material in later chapters, should remind you that gambling is a bad idea; you should think of placing bets in a casino as paying for entertainment. Winning can, obviously, be a fun reward, but should not ever be expected. Changes for the Second Edition: New chapter on Game Theory New chapter on Sports Mathematics The chapter on Blackjack, which was Chapter 4 in the first edition, appears later in the book. Reorganization has been done to improve the flow of topics and learning. New sections on Arkham Horror, Uno, and Scrabble have been added. Even more exercises were added! The goal for this textbook is to complement the inquiry-based learning movement. In my mind, concepts and ideas will stick with the reader more when they are motivated in an interesting way. Here, we use questions about various games (not just casino games) to motivate the mathematics, and I would say that the writing emphasizes a "just-in-time" mathematics approach. Topics are presented mathematically as questions about the games themselves are posed. Table of Contents Preface 1. Mathematics and Probability 2. Roulette and Craps: Expected Value 3. Counting: Poker Hands 4. More Dice: Counting and Combinations, and Statistics 5. Game Theory: Poker Bluffing and Other Games 6. Probability/Stochastic Matrices: Board Game Movement 7. Sports Mathematics: Probability Meets Athletics 8. Blackjack: Previous Methods Revisited 9. A Mix of Other Games 10. Betting Systems: Can You Beat the System? 11. Potpourri: Assorted Adventures in Probability Appendices Tables Answers and Selected Solutions Bibliography Biography Dr. David G. Taylor is a professor of mathematics and an associate dean for academic affairs at Roanoke College in southwest Virginia. He attended Lebanon Valley College for his B.S. in computer science and mathematics and went to the University of Virginia for his Ph.D. While his graduate school focus was on studying infinite dimensional Lie algebras, he started studying the mathematics of various games in order to have a more undergraduate-friendly research agenda. Work done with two Roanoke College students, Heather Cook and Jonathan Marino, appears in this book! Currently he owns over 100 different board games and enjoys using probability in his decision-making while playing most of those games. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, cooking, coding, playing his board games, and spending time with his six-year-old dog Lilly.

Key environmental issues, such as biodiversity and climate change, have in recent years become more pressing than ever. Where the critical papers in the early 1990s explained the difficulties of cooperation in tackling transboundary environmental problems, later works have analyzed the various alternatives, and increased our understanding of various institutional designs and negotiation protocols' impact on the success of cooperation. This collection brings together the most important articles on the game theoretic analysis of international environmental cooperation to both confront the cooperative and non-cooperative approaches to this, and demonstrate the diversity of methods used to analyze international environmental agreements.

Features Provides a uniquely historical perspective on the mathematical underpinnings of a comprehensive list of games Suitable for a broad audience of differing mathematical levels. Anyone with a passion for games, game theory, and mathematics will enjoy this book, whether they be students, academics, or game enthusiasts Covers a wide selection of topics at a level that can be appreciated on a historical, recreational, and mathematical level.

This book offers a unique and insightful econometric evaluation of the policies used to fight transnational terrorism between 1990 and 2014. It uses the tools of modern economics, game theory and structural econometrics to analyze the roles of foreign aid, educational capital, and military intervention. Jean-Paul Azam and Veronique Thelen analyze panel data over 25 years across 124 countries. They prove that foreign aid plays a key role in inducing recipient governments to protect the donors' political and economic interests within their sphere of influence. Demonstrating that countries endowed with better educational capital export fewer terrorist attacks, they also illustrate that, in contrast, military intervention is counter-productive in abating terrorism. Recognizing the strides taken by the Obama administration to increase the role of foreign aid and reduce the use of military interventions, this book shows the significant impact this has had in reducing the number of transnational terrorist attacks per source country, and suggests further developments in this vein. Practical and timely, this book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of economics and political science, as well as those working on the wider issue of terrorism. Presenting a series of new findings, the book will also appeal to international policy makers and government officials.

Congruences are ubiquitous in computer science, engineering, mathematics, and related areas. Developing techniques for finding (the number of) solutions of congruences is an important problem. But there are many scenarios in which we are interested in only a subset of the solutions; in other words, there are some restrictions. What do we know about these restricted congruences, their solutions, and applications? This book introduces the tools that are needed when working on restricted congruences and then systematically studies a variety of restricted congruences. Restricted Congruences in Computing defines several types of restricted congruence, obtains explicit formulae for the number of their solutions using a wide range of tools and techniques, and discusses their applications in cryptography, information security, information theory, coding theory, string theory, quantum field theory, parallel computing, artificial intelligence, computational biology, discrete mathematics, number theory, and more. This is the first book devoted to restricted congruences and their applications. It will be of interest to graduate students and researchers across computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics.