NECTAR

Nash Equilibriam CompuTation Algorithms and Resources

Game Theory provides a rich mathematical Value Proposition Features of NECTAR:

framework for analyzing strategic interactions of NECTAR is designed to serve the computational 1. NECTAR includes implementation of all well
rational and intelligent players. needs of game theory researchers and known algorithms such as mini-max algorithm,
Analysis of strategic form games involves practitioners who apply game theory and Lemke-Howson algorithm, Mangasarian
computing certain equilibrium points. mechanism design to solve their design problems. algorithm, Govindan and Wilson algorithm,
and algorithms based on search methods, mixed
These equilibrium points, notably Nash equilibria, Currently game theoretic modeling and analysis is integer programming, sequence forms, correlated
are fixed points of certain correspondence key to numerous applications in e-Commerce, equilibrium, etc.
mappings derived from the payoff matrices. network economics, internet auctions, grid
2. Use of Design Patterns: Best practices DPs such
NECTAR (Nash Equilibriam CompuTation computing, network computing, supply chain
as Factory method, Singleton, Command,
Algorithms and Resources), is a software management, multi agent systems, etc.
Facade, Mediator, and Adapter etc., are used for
environment for computing Nash equilibria and NECTAR.
other equilibrium points in games.
3. NECTAR uses ingenious data structures and
Game Optimization
employs highly optimized code.
Strategic Form Game: G=(N,(Si)iN,(ui)iN), Generators Solver
where N = {1,2,,n} is set of players, Si is strategy set for player i (CPLEX)
and ui is utility function for player i. Complexity of Computing Nash Equilibria
Two Person Games
Dominant Strategy Equilibrium: It is a strategy profile, consisting Zero sum games: Nash equilibrium (called saddle
of one strategy per each player, in which it is the best response
N points) computation is polynomial time.
for each player to play according to the prescribed strategy
E Algorithms General sum normal form games: Determining
irrespective of the strategies played by the other players.
C
Formally, the strategy profile s = (s1, s2 , . . . , sn) is said to be a whether there exists a Nash equilibrium with certain
T
dominant strategy equilibrium of G if, properties is NP-hard.
A
ui(si,s-i) ui(si,s-i), siSi, s-iS-i , i = 1, 2, . . . , n
R n-Person Games
Nash Equilibrium: It is a strategy profile, consisting of one Graphical
I Games
It is polynomial to compute pure strategy Nash
strategy per each player, in which it is the best response for each User equilibrium in symmetric congestion games.
N
player to play according to the prescribed strategy while others Interface
are playing according to the given strategy profile. In short, any
T Counting number of Nash equilibria is #P-hard.
E Determining whether pure strategy Nash
player is not better off by unilateral deviation. Formally, the
R
strategy profile s = (s1, s2 , . . . , sn) is said to be a Nash
F
equilibrium exists is NP-hard.
equilibrium of G if,
A It is NP-hard to determine whether there are
ui(si,s-i) ui(si,s-i), siSi, i = 1, 2, . . . , n NECTAR
C more than one Nash equilibria.
Preprocessing
E In general, computing Nash equilibrium is
Some Milestones in Nash Equilibrium Computation NECTAR Polynomial Parity Argument (Directed), PPAD.
1.John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern (1928):
Proved mini-max theorem, useful for the computation of Comparison with Gambit and other Tools
Architecture Diagram of NECTAR
equilibrium points in 2-person zero sum games. NECTAR is implemented in Java, which provides
2. J. Nash (1950): Showed the existence of a strategic platform independence. Most other tools including
equilibrium for non-cooperative games. Gambit are implemented in C++.
3. C.E. Lemke and J.T. Howson (1964): Developed an NECTARs design is highly extensible due to solid use of
efficient scheme for computing a Nash equilibrium point design patterns and this enables new algorithms and
for bi-matrix games. variations to be included in flexible way.
4. L. Mangasarian (1964): Designed an algorithm for
computing all Nash equilibria of two-person games. NECTAR: Current Status and Future Evolution
5. R.J. Aumann (1974): Correlated equilibrium of games. NECTAR is continuously evolving with inclusion of
new algorithms and enhancement of existing code.
6. S. Govindan and R. Wilson (2003): Global Newton
Method to compute Nash equilibria in n-person games. We are currently implementing computation of
7. R. Porter, E. Nudelman, and Y. Shoham (2004): Simple cooperative game solution concepts such as core,
search methods for computing a sample Nash Shapley value, bargaining set, kernel, nucleolus, etc.
equilibrium in 2-player and n-player normal form games. NECTAR will be enhanced with a mechanism
8. T. Sandholm, A. Gilpin, and V. Conitzer (2005): Mixed design suite to aid the design of auctions and market
integer programming method to find Nash equilibrium. Tool Snapshot protocols.

REFEENCES:
6. R. Porter, E. Nudelman, and Y. Shoham. Simple search methods for finding a Nash equilibrium.
1. J.F. Nash, Non-Cooperative Games, Annals of Mathematics 54, pages 286-295, 1951. In Proceedings of the Nineteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pages 664669, 2004.
2. C.E. Lemke and J.T. Howson, Jr. Equilibrium points of bi-matrix games. Journal of the 7. T. Sandholm, A. Gilpin, and V. Conitzer. Mixed-integer programming methods for finding Nash equilibria. In Proceedings of the
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 12(2):413423, 1964. Twentieth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pages 495501, 2005.
3. O.L. Mangasarian. Equilibrium points of bi-matrix games. Journal of the Society for 8. R.J. Aumann, Subjectivity and correlation in randomized strategies. Journal of Mathematical Economics,
Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 12(4):778780, December 1964. Volume 1, pages 67-96, 1974.
4. S. Govindan and R. Wilson. A global Newton method to compute Nash equilibria. Journal 9. B. Von Stengel. Computing equilibria for two-person games. Technical report, London School of
of Economic Theory, 110(1):6586, 2003. Economics, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland, 1999.
5. R. McKelvey and A. McLennan, "Computation of equilibria in finite games", In Handbook of 10. M Kalyan Chakarvarthy. NECTAR: Nash Equilibrium Computation Algorithms and Resources. ME Thesis, Dept. of Computer
Computational Economics. 1996 Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 2006.

Students Involved: Sujit Gujar and Rama Suri Narayanam

Institute : Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Department : Computer Science and Automation
Professor : Y Narahari
http://lcm.csa.iisc.ernet.in