Questions tagged [infinite-games]

Infinite games. Combinatorial game theory for infinite two-player games of perfect information. Open games, clopen games. Determinacy. Transfinite game values. Topological games.

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67 votes
5 answers
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Decidability of chess on an infinite board

The recent question Do there exist chess positions that require exponentially many moves to reach? of Tim Chow reminds me of a problem I have been interested in. Is chess with finitely many men on an ...
Richard Stanley's user avatar
128 votes
13 answers
23k views

Checkmate in $\omega$ moves?

Is there a chess position with a finite number of pieces on the infinite chess board $\mathbb{Z}^2$ such that White to move has a forced win, but Black can stave off mate for at least $n$ moves for ...
Johan Wästlund's user avatar
25 votes
4 answers
2k views

The Chocolatier's game: can the Glutton win with a restricted form of strategy?

I have a question about the Chocolatier's game, which I had introduced in my recent answer to a question of Richard Stanley. To recap the game quickly, the Chocolatier offers up at each stage a finite ...
Joel David Hamkins's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

An infinite game possibly due to Ernst Specker

I have a vague memory of an infinite game due to Ernst Specker with the following properties: (1) It is a two-person perfect information game, where the players move alternately. (2) The possible ...
Richard Stanley's user avatar
41 votes
3 answers
4k views

A game on integers

$A$ and $B$ take turns to pick integers: $A$ picks one integer and then $B$ picks $k > 1$ integers ($k$ being fixed). A player cannot pick a number that his opponent has picked. If $A$ has $5$ ...
Haoran Chen's user avatar
24 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the complexity of the winning condition in infinite Hex? In particular, is infinite Hex a Borel game?

Consider the game of infinite Hex, where two players Red and Blue alternately place their stones on the infinite hex grid, each aiming to create a winning configuration. Red wins after infinite play, ...
Joel David Hamkins's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
723 views

Undetermined Banach-Mazur games in ZF?

This question was previously asked and bountied on MSE, with no response. This MO question is related, but is also unanswered and the comments do not appear to address this question. Given a ...
Noah Schweber's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
1k views

A game on sets of reals

A 2 player game on $\mathcal{P}(\mathbb{R})$: Players take turns playing uncountable sets of reals. Each play must be a subset of the previously played set. Player 1 wins if the intersection of all ...
Monroe Eskew's user avatar
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19 votes
3 answers
1k views

The arithmetic progression game and its variations: can you find optimal play?

Consider the arithmetic progression game, a two-player game of perfect information, in which the players take turns playing natural numbers, or finite sets of natural numbers, all distinct, and the ...
Joel David Hamkins's user avatar
12 votes
0 answers
349 views

Undetermined copy/diagonalize games without CH

This question was the motivation behind an earlier question of mine; having thought about it some more, that question seems nontrivial and the connection is actually pretty tenuous anyways, so I've ...
Noah Schweber's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
1k views

The Sudoku game: Solver-Spoiler variation

Consider the Sudoku Solver-Spoiler game, a natural variation of the Sudoku game recently appearing in the question Who wins two-player Sudoku? posted by user PyRulez. In that game, the players attempt ...
Joel David Hamkins's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
460 views

If non-empty player has a winning strategy in Banach-Mazur game BM(X), then it also has in BM(Y)?

Let $f:X\rightarrow Y$ be a continuous, open, surjection function and second player (non-empty) has a winning strategy (not important which one, say for simplicity stationery st.) in $BM(X)$. Then can ...
user117537's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
295 views

How to describe the common boundaries between regions in a infinite Sudoku?

This relates to the answer to a question "Who wins two player sudoku?" and this awesome blog. A Sudoku can be $N \times N$ where $\sqrt{N}$ is a natural number because $N \times N / \sqrt{N} \times \...
DukeZhou's user avatar
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