It is no more necessary to understand the intricate details of game theory to gain from the vast sweep of its insights than it is imperative to fully grasp the grammar of the English language to appreciate its many delights. Indeed, in language as in science, an overemphasis on technique may actually strain the naturalness of idiom, nuance and syntax. However, most if not all books on game theory are in breach of this basic principle. Hence, it is time to rescue game theory from the game theorists!

This book attempts to make the reader comfortable with the language and methods of game theory through an immersion in its practical applications. The applications fall into three major categories: business, politics and international relations. Also included is a wide miscellany of topics, including the serving patterns of Roger Federer, the fate of the hapless spy (far removed from the glamour portrayed in Bond movies!), the auction of cricketers and the all-important question: Are our children really smarter than we are? Many of the applications were written as part of a fortnightly column for the Mint, a leading financial daily of India. Hopefully, they will stand the test of time as essays in and of themselves, essays whose insight stands sharpened by the use of game theory.

A significant feature of this book is that introductory chapters on the concepts used in the applications precede the chapters dealing with the applications themselves. Exercises (dubbed ‘brain games’) to develop the reader's understanding and ability to apply the concepts are suggested at the end of selected chapters. Many of the conceptual as well as application-oriented chapters draw on research papers and other source material [Page xii]from a rich game-theoretic literature. References to these papers are provided as footnotes throughout the text. Some of the concepts used in the book have been newly developed in the course of trying to provide game-theoretic explanations for various phenomena. These include the game of pseudo-brinkmanship used to explain the rupture of the political coalition in Bihar in 2017, the paradox of asymmetric nuclear stand-offs invoked in the case of the US–North Korea tensions and the real possibility of strategic voting in favour of the smallest party used to analyse the prospects of the Third Front in the 2019 election in India.

The chapters are largely self-contained and concise, on average 1,200 words in length. The reader can choose to read the book from start to finish, or pick up any conceptual chapter and read the following application chapters, or read any chapter at will. There are certain topics which are repeatedly covered using different game-theoretic tools. These include the US–North Korea stand-off, the Reliance Jio–Airtel battle for the Indian telecom market, the role of smaller parties in an electoral democracy, and the economics of Internet auctions. The index will help the reader to read all chapters on the same topic in one go, if that is what is desired.

The approach to game theory adopted in this book was born in the hurly burly of the marketplace. It was forged to the beat of a fortnightly deadline for a column on the op-ed pages of a national daily. Through my experience, I have come to believe that game theory must be viewed as part of an exercise in persuasion, an exercise that involves other tools such as storytelling, marshalling of facts and statistical analysis.1 Its role is to tease out a thread or two from the tangled skein of phenomena, not to unveil the entire tapestry of an eternal, unchanging truth. It is a game that calls for a combination of literary skill and logical facility.

[Page xiii]If this book is able to persuade you on an issue or two—through literary flourish and logical rigour alike—draw you into a world where one can be sceptical about intentions but never about incentives and convince you that game theory is an essential element of the rhetoric of social science, its purpose will have been abundantly served.[Page xiv]