🎓 Ages 15–18 · Grades 9–12 · Game Theory

NashForge

Every strategic situation has a logic to it. Here you read a real game, predict what rational players will do, and see the reasoning worked out — no jargon, no lectures, nothing sent anywhere.

The Strategy Lab ★ the main event

Read a real game — a prisoner’s dilemma, a price war, a stag hunt, matching pennies, a market-entry decision — predict what game theory says will happen, then see the worked-out answer and why. A pure engine solves each game, so the reasoning is exact.

Open the Strategy Lab →

Who you’ll meet

Not mascots — everyday strategists, each one showing a single game-theory idea in action. You’ll run into them in the Strategy Lab.

  • Dahlia — plays the best move regardless of the opponent (a dominant strategy)
  • Elena — finds the stable point neither side wants to leave (Nash equilibrium)
  • Cai — chooses the mutual-best cooperative move
  • Dex — takes the tempting individual defect — the prisoner’s dilemma
  • Tao — mirrors your last move across rounds, building reputation (tit-for-tat)
  • Remy — randomizes to stay unpredictable (a mixed strategy)
  • Zara — reads whether the pie is fixed (zero-sum) or can grow
  • Ines — reasons from the end of the game back to now (backward induction)
  • Auggie — designs the rules so honesty is the best policy (mechanism design)
  • Thalia — the mentor — sets a strategic goal, plays, and guides reflection

Check what you know

Sixteen short kits — from "what is a game?" to mixed strategies, backward induction, and mechanism design — anchored to AP Microeconomics game theory. Hints when you want them; your progress stays on this device.

1. What Is a Game? Game theory foundations — players, strategies, payoffs · 25 questions 2. Dominant Strategies Strictly and weakly dominant and dominated strategies · 25 questions 3. The Prisoner's Dilemma The PD; individual vs collective outcome · 25 questions 4. Nash Equilibrium Best response; the stable point · 25 questions 5. Pure vs Mixed Strategies Mixed strategies; randomize to be unexploitable · 25 questions 6. Zero-Sum vs Non-Zero-Sum Fixed vs growing pie · 25 questions 7. Coordination & Focal Points Coordination games; focal points · 25 questions 8. Repeated Games & Reputation Repeated games; tit-for-tat; reputation · 25 questions 9. Game Trees Extensive form; sequential moves · 25 questions 10. Backward Induction Subgame-perfect; reason from the end · 25 questions 11. Commitment & Credible Threats Credible threats & commitment · 25 questions 12. Bargaining & Fairness Bargaining; ultimatum; fairness · 25 questions 13. Auctions & Bidding Auction formats; bidding strategy · 25 questions 14. Mechanism Design Designing rules so honesty pays; incentive compatibility · 25 questions 15. Collective Action Common-pool / public-goods dilemmas · 25 questions 16. Real-World Strategy Capstone Apply strategy to real cases (climate/pricing/misinformation) · 25 questions

How it works

NashForge is written to trust you — it’s about the reasoning, not memorizing terms, and a wrong prediction is just a place to learn. Your progress is saved only on this device: no accounts, nothing sent anywhere.