VerifyTreeGameStrategy
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VerifyTreeGameStrategy
verifies that the strategy profile strat is a subgame perfect equilibrium for the tree game tgame.
Details

- A strategy is a subgame perfect equilibrium if no action or allocation is available that makes one individual better off without making another worse off.
- VerifyTreeGameStrategy is typically used to verify if a given tree game strategy is a subgame perfect equilibrium.
Examples
open allclose allBasic Examples (3)Summary of the most common use cases
Find if a strategy is a subgame perfect equilibrium in the Revolution game:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-bj5fkw

Find if a given strategy is a subgame perfect equilibrium in the Tree Matching Pennies game:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-dniats

Find if a given strategy is a subgame perfect equilibrium:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-m0j2ao

Scope (2)Survey of the scope of standard use cases
Verify the optimal strategy given by FindTreeGameStrategies in the Escalation game:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-cilqft


https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-80794

In some cases, tree games may have infinitely many subgame perfect equilibria:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-hcsksg

Player's B {1} optimal decision has infinitely many solutions:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-h7jtdt


https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-wy9u8


https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-jbor68

Applications (3)Sample problems that can be solved with this function
Social Games (2)
The centipede game has two players who alternate in making decisions. At each turn, a player can choose between going "down" and ending the game or going "across" and continuing it (except at the last node where going "across" also ends the game). The longer the game goes on, the higher the total utility. However, a player who ends the game early will get a larger share of what utility there is. Here is one formulation of the problem:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-bkv58j


https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-c1su4n

Verify the game strategy where all choices are {0,1} besides the first two actions:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-epilbm

This can be understood by the fact the subgame perfect equilibrium is verified by only changing a single move. Thus, by maintaining the first two optimal actions, any such strategy is a subgame perfect equilibrium:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-jyr6yk

The tree game version of the Matching Pennies game is a game where each of two people chooses either Head or Tail. If the choices differ, person 1 pays person 2 a dollar; if they are the same, person 2 pays person 1 a dollar. Generate a tree game for the Matching Pennies game:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-dg7la

Find the formula of a subgame perfect equilibrium:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-dzpgq9

You may now find any number of subgame perfect equilibria:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-easdm1

Recreational Games (1)
Rock Paper Scissors is a zero-sum game, where either one player wins and the other loses, or there is a tie. Consider the tree version of this game, where the second player can choose an action considering the action of the first player:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-gps999

Verify that the game strategy of the second player is always optimal whatever the strategy of the first player is. Since the conditions obtained below are true in the case of probability, it is the case that the game strategy of the second player is always optimal whatever the strategy of the first player is. Thus, the first player is at a disadvantage by playing first:

https://wolfram.com/xid/0rch6pht020pnw9pa47yo-ce1rx

Wolfram Research (2025), VerifyTreeGameStrategy, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html.
Text
Wolfram Research (2025), VerifyTreeGameStrategy, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html.
Wolfram Research (2025), VerifyTreeGameStrategy, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html.
CMS
Wolfram Language. 2025. "VerifyTreeGameStrategy." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html.
Wolfram Language. 2025. "VerifyTreeGameStrategy." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (2025). VerifyTreeGameStrategy. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html
Wolfram Language. (2025). VerifyTreeGameStrategy. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_verifytreegamestrategy, author="Wolfram Research", title="{VerifyTreeGameStrategy}", year="2025", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html}", note=[Accessed: 18-March-2025
]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_verifytreegamestrategy, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={VerifyTreeGameStrategy}, year={2025}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VerifyTreeGameStrategy.html}, note=[Accessed: 18-March-2025
]}