A new bound for the Maker-Breaker triangle game (Q2143405)

For natural numbers \(n\) and \(q\), the \((n,q)\) triangle game is a maker-breaker game played on a complete graph. The maker takes one edge per turn with the goal of creating a triangle while the breaker takes \(q\) edges per turn with the goal of preventing such a creation. In previous works, certain bounds have been found for \(q\) such that given \(n\), the breaker will win for every \(q\) greater than or equal to the bound. This paper takes a whole new approach to bounding by creating and utilizing a potential function to allow the breaker to make more informed edge choices. This pays off as the bound gets reduced from \(1.958 \sqrt n\) to about \(1.633 \sqrt n\).