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arXiv · 2510.02984

Reach together: How populations win repeated games

Nathalie Bertrand·Patricia Bouyer·Luc Lapointe·Corto Mascle
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Abstract

In repeated games, players choose actions concurrently at each step. We consider a parameterized setting of repeated games in which the players form a population of an arbitrary size. Their utility functions encode a reachability objective. The problem is whether there exists a uniform coalition strategy for the players so that they are sure to win independently of the population size. We use algebraic tools to show that the problem can be solved in polynomial space. First we exhibit a finite semigroup whose elements summarize strategies over a finite interval of population sizes. Then, we characterize the existence of winning strategies by the existence of particular elements in this semigroup. Finally, we provide a matching complexity lower bound, to conclude that repeated population games with reachability objectives are PSPACE-complete.

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Nathalie Bertrand, Patricia Bouyer, Luc Lapointe, Corto Mascle. 2025-10-03. Reach together: How populations win repeated games. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02984

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