Game Theory Glossary of Terms

1. Bayesian Game: A game in which players have incomplete information about other players, such as their payoffs or strategies, and must form beliefs based on probability.
2. Best Response: The strategy that yields the highest payoff for a player, given the strategies chosen by other players.
3. Coalition: A group of players who cooperate and coordinate their strategies to achieve a better outcome.
4. Cooperative Game: A game where players can form binding agreements and negotiate collective strategies.
5. Dominant Strategy: A strategy that results in a better payoff for a player regardless of what the other players do.
6. Dominated Strategy: A strategy that results in a worse payoff for a player compared to another strategy, no matter what the other players do.
7. Equilibrium: A situation in a game where no player has an incentive to unilaterally change their strategy.
8. Extensive Form Game: A representation of a game that specifies the order of play, possible actions, and information available to players at each decision point.
9. Game Tree: A graphical representation of an extensive form game, showing the possible moves and their outcomes.
10. Imperfect Information: A situation in a game where players do not have complete information about the previous actions or payoffs of other players.
11. Incomplete Information: A situation in a game where players lack knowledge about some aspects of the game, such as other players' payoffs or strategies.
12. Mixed Strategy: A strategy in which a player chooses among possible moves according to a probability distribution.
13. Nash Equilibrium: A set of strategies in which no player can benefit by unilaterally changing their strategy, given the strategies chosen by other players.
14. Non-Cooperative Game: A game where players make decisions independently and binding agreements are not possible.
15. Pareto Efficiency: An allocation of resources is Pareto efficient if no player can be made better off without making at least one other player worse off.
16. Payoff Matrix: A table that shows the payoffs for each player for every possible combination of strategies.
17. Prisoner's Dilemma: A standard example in game theory that shows why two rational individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interest.
18. Repeated Game: A game that is played multiple times, allowing players to adjust their strategies based on previous outcomes.
19. Sequential Game: A game where players make decisions one after another, with each player observing the previous players' actions.
20. Simultaneous Game: A game where players make decisions at the same time, without knowing the strategies chosen by the other players.
21. Subgame Perfect Equilibrium: A refinement of Nash Equilibrium for extensive form games, where the strategy chosen is optimal for every subgame of the original game.
22. Zero-Sum Game: A game in which one player's gain is exactly balanced by the losses of the other players.

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