Data Structures for Deviation Payoffs

Bryce Wiedenbeck (Davidson College), Erik Brinkman (Independent Researcher)

Abstract

We present new data structures for representing symmetric normalform games. These data structures are optimized for efficiently computing the expected utility of each unilateral pure-strategy deviation from a symmetric mixed-strategy profile. The cumulative effect of numerous incremental innovations is a dramatic speedup in the computation of symmetric mixed-strategy Nash equilibria, making it practical to represent and solve games with dozens to hundreds of players. These data structures naturally extend to rolesymmetric and action-graph games with similar benefits.