Chicken game

I have used chicken game to describe nuclear or trade tensions, as these tensions do harm both sides. One property of chicken game is that it does not have a Nash Equilibrium of pure strategy, which means there is not any best strategy for the players in the game. When players do not have a guidance, they can play any strategy as long as it is not obviously the worst strategy; however, mixtures of some strategies by the players in the game can create the worst outcomes that the game is able to deliver.

We should avoid entering a chicken game in the first place, since there is no best outcome and players can all suffer losses. However, there are circumstances where we are forced to enter a chicken game. Under such circumstance, we need to provide information that we will play till the last for our opponents and we also need to make the information credible and be believed by the opponents, so the opponents may withdraw themselves from the game or no enter in the first place.

However, when all players have the same idea, such strategy will have a disastrous outcome. That’s why I think it is wise not to enter such game in the first place.