Game Theory

There is a great deal of information about game theory available on the web. This list concentrates on sites that offer interactive simulations, and on sites that have relevance to biology.

Evolutionarily stable strategies: from hawk-dove to sequential assessment. From Gerald Wilkinson and Anthony Di Fiore at the University of Maryland. Mostly cryptic lecture notes; not fleshed out, but still worth looking at.

Hofstra University: Finite Mathematics & Applied Calculus Resource Page; Stefan Waner and Steven R. Costenoble
Summary of a chapter on game theory

Hofstra University, same authors.
Detailed, math-heavy description of game theory, with examples, some of them interactive. Quiz to test your understanding.

Hofstra University
"JavaScript utility for game theory (up to five strategies for the row and column player). It is also designed to play against you (using the optimal mixed strategy most of the time...)"

Game Theory Net
"A resource for educators and students of game theory"
Includes links to interactive exercises.

Hawk - Dove game
James Ryan at Hobart and William Smith Colleges
An applet that lets you enter payoff values into the matrix, then it tells you what the ESS is.

"Strategy and Conflict: An Introductory Sketch of Game Theory"
Roger A McCain (professor at Drexel University, but web page not officially under their aegis)
Essentially a book in html form, this is a detailed and well-written exposition of game theory, with an emphasis on economics. Good for background reading.

Goodnight Software
Keith Flewellen Goodnight at Southern Methodist University
"Programs for population genetic and relatedness calculations, and education in evolution and behavioral ecology."

Page for downloading the "ESS" program, from the class EEB 5327 at the University of Minnesota. Written by Brian P. Farm for Dr. Craig Packer, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota.
User's Manual for the ESS Computer Program

NYU, Prof. David H. A. Fitch, Department of Biology
Optimal Models web site, serving as an introduction to Game Theory
Includes difficult, sophisticated problems and answers. At the end of the page, a short list of online simulations is provided. Very high-quality content.

"Serendip is a gathering place for people who suspect that life's instructions are always ambiguous and incomplete. Originating in interactions among neurobiologists, computer scientists, business people, and educators, Serendip is both an expanding forum and a continually developing set of resources to explore and support intellectual and social change in education, in social organization... and in how one makes sense of life."
Bryn Mawr's "Serendip" includes an online Prisoner's Dilemma game.
Fun, and well-constructed. Well worth a visit.

"Welcome to Principia Cybernetica Web. Principia Cybernetica tries to tackle age-old philosophical questions with the help of the most recent cybernetic theories and technologies. This is the website of the Principia Cybernetica Project (PCP), an international organization. The Project aims to develop a complete philosophy or "world-view", based on the principles of evolutionary cybernetics, and supported by collaborative computer technologies."
Includes an online "Prisoner's Dilemma" Author: F. Heylighen

Male Reproductive Strategies by Barry Sinervo and Yoni Brandt
Detailed exposition of the topic. Includes link to online "scissor-paper-rock" game.

"A Simple Game: Hawks and Doves. Synopsis: Here you will have a chance to apply what you have learned about games and their solution to a classic two strategy game -- Hawks and Doves."
By Kenneth N. Prestwich of the College of the Holy Cross.
Includes an online simulation.

Evolution of Cooperative Behavior
"Can cooperative behavior emerge from groups of selfish individuals? Here you can use a popular puzzle called the Prisoner's Dilemma Game to examine how cooperation might arise and evolve in animal groups."
Very nice, beautifully set up and explained.

"The EACH project: evolution of altruistic and cooperative habits. The EACH project was founded at the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling at Tufts University. Our goal is to explore complexity in evolution through multi-agent modeling (aka object-based parallel or agent-based modeling)."

"Economics meets evolution" a short exposition of game theory, from Brodie at Indiana University.

Lee Dugatkin, University of Louisville: Powerpoint slides on Hawk-Dove.

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