Solving a Restaurant Conflict Using Game Theory
Pasta, Pizza, Waffles, Seafood, Steak: the opportunities for a next meal are always inexhaustible. Pair this with a group of friends and you should expect an hour of debate to take place before a decision is made.
But, with the known preferences of one’s friends, is it possible to shorten this decision time?
Prashant Mudgal in his article “Food Selection with Game Theory” tackles how to use game theory to resolve the restaurant conflict.
A Nash equilibrium is said to exist when neither player can benefit by changing their strategy. In applying it to this situation, the strategies would be the cuisines chosen by the players.
So, to find the optimal strategy or Nash equilibrium, we first create a payoff matrix.
As seen above, each player has rated the available cuisines, indirectly choosing their strategies.
On scanning the chart, one would think that the dominant strategy would be either Chinese or Italian based on the sum of the payoffs, and most likely Italian based on their individual ratings.
And, by plotting the matrix on a scatter plot, this is shown. A relationship is obtained, and a point of compromise is established. This point lies within the Chinese and Italian payoffs!
So, through the application of game theory, using preferences and payoffs, it is relatively easier to choose where to eat next!
Source: https://towardsdatascience.com/food-selection-with-game-theory-e06c8d064604