Game theory foundations: a free beginner course
Game theory foundations in plain English: payoffs, dominant moves, Nash equilibrium, game trees, threats and repeated games, learned by playing them.
About this course
Game theory is the study of decisions where your result depends on what someone else does. This course teaches the core toolkit in plain English, with no maths beyond adding up: how to turn a messy situation into a payoff matrix or a game tree, and how to predict what sensible people will do next.
Every lesson starts with a game you play, then names the idea behind it. You will find a Nash equilibrium by tapping cells, split pirate treasure by thinking backwards, and play a price war against a rival who remembers what you did yesterday.
Who it's for: Anyone who negotiates, buys, sells or competes for a living and wants a sharper way to think about the other side. No background needed.
What you'll be able to do
- Spot a strategic situation and turn the story into a payoff matrix or a game tree
- Solve simple games with dominance, Nash equilibrium and backward induction
- Tell a credible threat from an empty one, and predict which the other side will carry out
- Explain why co-operation and collusion survive in repeated games, and what breaks them
Syllabus: 10 lessons
The language of games
Module 1Why incentives bite back
The story goes that in colonial Delhi, the British authorities wanted fewer cobras on the streets. So they paid a cash reward for every dead cobra people brought in.
Reading a payoff matrix
When two players each have a few options, we can show every outcome in one table called a payoff matrix.
Solving simple games
Module 2Dominant strategies and the prisoner's dilemma
Sometimes one of your options beats the others whatever the other player does. That's a dominant strategy.
Nash equilibrium
Most games don't have a dominant strategy. To predict what happens, we look for a Nash equilibrium: a set of moves where no player would gain by changing their move on their own.
How far ahead do others think?
Here's a game played in classrooms, labs and newspapers. Everyone picks a whole number from 0 to 100. The winner is whoever is closest to two-thirds of the average of all the numbers picked.
When there's more than one answer
In the last lesson, the data-format game had two equilibria. Many games do. Theory tells you it will be one of them, but not which one.
Moves in turn
Module 3Game trees and backward induction
So far everyone moved at the same time. When moves happen one after another and each player sees what came before, draw a game tree: the first mover at the top, a branch for each move, and…
The pirates' treasure
Five pirates, numbered 1 to 5 by rank, share 100 gold bars. Pirate 1 proposes a split, and every pirate still alive votes on it.
Credible and empty threats
A threat only matters if, when the moment comes, carrying it out is the other side's best move. Otherwise it's empty (economists say "not credible"). The same goes for promises.
Games that repeat
Module 4Meeting again: repeated games and collusion
In the cafés game, charging £2 was dominant. But real cafés set prices every day, and tomorrow's rival remembers what you did today.
Final assessment and certificate
Ten questions on fresh scenarios. Score 7 or more and your certificate is issued straight away.
Questions
How long does the course take?
About 2.1 hours: 10 lessons totalling 114 minutes, plus a 10-minute final assessment. It's self-paced, so you can stop after any lesson and pick up where you left off.
Do I get a certificate?
Yes. Pass the 10-question final assessment (7 out of 10) and you get a certificate of completion with your name and a verification ID. You can retake the assessment as often as you like.
Is it really free?
Yes. The whole course, the assessment and the certificate are free. You only need to register with your name and email.
Do I need to know any maths?
No. Everything is explained in plain English with small, worked numbers. If you can compare two prices, you can do this course.
How is it taught?
Every lesson is interactive: you play a game, make a choice or move a slider first, then the idea behind it is explained. There are no videos to sit through.