Well, because games contain many of the ingredients common to all conflicts, and they are relatively amenable to description and to study. (Location 193)
Thus we come to believe it is significant. to count the number of sets of opposing interests around the table, rather than the bodies. (Location 321)
This is one of the fundamental distinctions in Game Theory, namely, the number of persons—distinct sets of interests—that are present in the game. The form of analysis and the entire character of the situation depend on this number. There are three values, for the number of persons, which have special significance: one, two, and more-than-two. (Location 328)
It is important to know whether or not the sum of the payoffs, counting winnings as positive and losses as negative, to all players is zero. If it is, the game is known as a zero-sum game. If it is not, the game is known (mathematicians are not very imaginative at times) as a non-zero-sum game. (Location 369)
A strategy. is a plan so complete that it cannot be upset by enemy action or Nature; for everything that the enemy or Nature may choose to do, together with a set of possible actions for yourself, is just part of the description of the strategy. (Location 388)
So the strategy of Game Theory differs in two important respects from the conventional meaning: It must be utterly complete, and it may be utterly bad; for nothing is required of it except completeness. (Location 390)
We are now able to mention still another criterion according to which games may be classified for study, namely, the number of strategies available to each player. (Location 394)
In general, the proper technique is to weight the numbers according to the odds which favor their appearances. (Location 586)
Generally, when the larger of the row minima is equal to the smaller of the column maxima, the game is said to have a saddle-point; and the players should stick to the strategies which intersect at the saddle-point. (Location 647)
A pure strategy is one of the numbered strategies which you stick to for a play of the game: the grand strategy governs your choice of pure strategies. (Location 667)
Moreover, the method we use for finding mixed strategies will usually give false results if applied to a game having a saddle-point. (Location 741)
The play of a game is not effected by adding a constant to all payoffs or by multiplying all payoffs by a positive constant. (Location 774)
The philosophy obviously is (and we hope you will adopt it) that most anything may turn out to be just a game. (Location 788)