Game riron no uraguchi nyumon (An Unconventional Guide to Game Theory - Learning Strategic Thinking through Board Games)

This introductory book aims to help beginners grasp the “essence” of game theory by centering on the gaming experience.
 
Game theory is a fundamental theory at the core of today's social sciences, analyzing what happens when multiple actors (individuals, companies, nations, etc.) each aim to maximize their own payoff. It is particularly widely used in microeconomics, my specialty.
 
In game theory, hardly any advanced mathematical knowledge is required. Nonetheless, when teaching in universities, I often find many students stumbling at the initial understanding. Why might this be? To understand game theory, you need both an objective analyst's perspective to oversee the whole game and a player's perspective aiming to maximize their own payoff. Despite the need for both perspectives, I feel that the hindrance to understanding lies in the fact that independent study through textbooks or lectures only provides an analyst's perspective. In classes or textbooks, learners' viewpoints remain analytical, unable to imagine the player's feelings. The models explained in textbooks are like board game instructions. But just as it is hard for board game beginners to imagine what a player should do by reading instructions alone, it is challenging to understand game theory models by reading textbooks.
 
As many board game enthusiasts would agree, the best way to understand a game that is to try playing it. Even for beginners, if they experience the models that come up in a game theory textbook as a player, they will understand various things. In class, the “game” handled as a subject is often actually played as an “economic experiment”. As a self-study book, this book aims to let readers grasp the “essence” of various game theory concepts by using board games that readers are likely to have played as a subject.
 
To be honest, I think it is impossible to explain all the standard concepts of game theory using popular board games. You should use a conventional textbook when studying game theory. If you are a UTokyo student, I further encourage you to take game-theory courses taught in our department.  However, I believe that by reading this book, you can grasp the image and supplement the sense that cannot be acquired in conventional textbook and classes, while enjoying board games. In this sense, I believe that this textbook would be helpful in your learning.
 

(Written by NODA Shunya, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Economics / 2023)