Chanciness: Towards a Characterization of Chance in Games

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Erdmann, Jakob¹

Affiliations: Jena, Germany

Note: [1] Lehrstuhl für Mathematische Optimierung, Institut für Angewandte Mathematik, Fakultät für Mathematik und Informatik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, 07737 Jena, Germany. Email: jakob.erdmann@gmail.com

Abstract: The distinction between games of chance and games of skill is not well-defined at present. We introduce the concept of chanciness for non-deterministic two-player zero-sum games with sequential moves and perfect information. Chanciness quantifies how strongly a game is influenced by chance events. We demonstrate that the relative influence of chance on game outcomes varies with the skill of the playing agents. Therefore, we assign a chanciness value to the combination of a game and a specific set of players. The effective computability of chanciness is demonstrated for exemplary games.

DOI: 10.3233/ICG-2009-32402

Journal: ICGA Journal, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 187-205, 2009