In game theory, the centipede game, first introduced by Robert Rosenthal in 1981, is an extensive form game in which two players take turns choosing either to take a slightly larger share of an increasing pot, or to pass the pot to the other player. The payoffs are arranged so that if one passes the pot to one's opponent and the opponent takes the pot on the next round, one receives slightly less than if one had taken the pot on this round, but after an additional switch the potential payoff will be higher. Therefore, although at each round a player has an incentive to take the pot, it would be better for them to wait. Although the traditional centipede game had a limit of 100 rounds (hence the name), any game with this structure but a different number of rounds is called a centipede game.
The unique subgame perfect equilibrium (and every Nash equilibrium) of these games results in the first player taking the pot on the first round of the game; however, in empirical tests, relatively few players do so, and as a result, achieve a higher payoff than in the subgame perfect and Nash equilibria. These results are taken to show that subgame perfect equilibria and Nash equilibria fail to predict human play in some circumstances. The Centipede game is commonly used in introductory game theory courses and texts to highlight the concept of backward induction and the iterated elimination of dominated strategies, which show a standard way of providing a solution to the game.
In game theory, the centipedegame, first introduced by Robert Rosenthal in 1981, is an extensive form game in which two players take turns choosing either...
that in some classic games, such as the centipedegame, guess 2/3 of the average game, and the dictator game, people regularly do not play Nash equilibria...
Rubinstein: A Course in Game Theory (1994). McKelvey, R. and T. Palfrey (1992) "An experimental study of the centipedegame," Econometrica 60(4), 803-836...
higher-level players. In the centipedegame, two players take turns choosing either to expand a slowly increasing pot, or to end the game and keep a larger fraction...
form of a probability puzzle, based nominally on the American television game show Let's Make a Deal and named after its original host, Monty Hall. The...
will be hanged tomorrow, but you do not know that. Bottle Imp paradox Centipedegame, the Nash equilibrium of which uses a similar mechanism as its proof...
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American video game programmer and educator. Bailey, along with Ed Logg in 1981, developed Atari, Inc.'s arcade video gameCentipede. Dona Bailey was...
the game of chess; that is, one by which one of the players (White or Black) can always force a victory, or either can force a draw (see solved game). It...
threat to suicidally follow suit is not credible. Centipedegame Dynamic inconsistency Glossary of game theory Minimax theorem Retrograde analysis Solution...
mathematics, that examines the conditions under which one or the other player of a game has a winning strategy, and the consequences of the existence of such strategies...
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learning models in one of the most celebrated paradoxes in game theory known as the centipedegame. Edward Chamberlin is thought to have conducted "not only...
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