Set-theoretic equivalence of extensive-form games (Q1189672)

A new game-form, the set-theoretic form, is introduced and it is shown that a set-theoretic form can be associated with every extensive form. The map from extensive forms to set-theoretic forms is not one-to-one and this fact is used to define a notion of equivalence for extensive games. A transformation for extensive forms is then defined, called the interchange of contiguous simultaneous moves, and it is shown that it is possible to move from one game to any other game in the same equivalence class by using this transformation a finite number of times and without ever leaving the equivalence class. This transformation is a generalization of Thompson's ``interchange of decision nodes''. Thus given an extensive game \(G\) there is a different extensive game \(G'\) that is equivalent \(G\) if and only if there are moves in \(G\) that are simultaneous and the difference between \(G\) and \(G'\) lies exactly in the fact that (some of) these moves are taken in a different temporal order in the two games.