Parent Game
This is called the parent game as the players can be imagined to be two parents (either human or animal) raising an offspring which carries half of each of their genes. It has been extensively studied in the biological and economics literature.
If player A invests a and player B invests b (0≤a, b≤1), the payoffs are P(a,b) to A and P(b,a) to B. But A goes first so that B knows A’s investment before he has to choose his. What should each player do to maximize his or her own payoff? In the first session, we work with the algebraic formula for P(x,y). In the second we work with its contour diagram seen at the right.
There is some sophisticated structure here and both activities test the students’ capacity for clear, organized thinking. There is a fun story behind this game based on the reproductive behaviour of ants.