Mixed Strategies

Why randomness can be smart

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Mixed strategies randomize to stay unpredictable.
• In a mixed equilibrium, each player makes the other indifferent between their options.
• In zero-sum games, minimax lets each side guarantee the game’s value.

Steps

1. Rock, paper, scissors
2. Make your opponent indifferent
3. Penalty kicks
4. See the equilibrium
5. Rock’s share
6. Zero-sum