What are extensive-form games?

An extensive-form game is like a story where people make choices one after another, and each choice affects what happens next.

Imagine you're playing a game with your friend in the park. You have a bag of candy, and you get to decide whether to share it or keep it all for yourself. But here's the twist: your friend gets to decide after you make your choice, so they can choose to be happy or upset based on what you did.

This kind of game is called an extensive-form game because it shows the order of decisions, like a story that unfolds step by step. Each person in the game has their own set of choices, and the outcome depends on all those choices together.

Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure book. You pick a path, then your friend picks one too, maybe they laugh or cry depending on what you chose. Each decision leads to a new page in the story, showing all the possible things that could happen next.

In this way, extensive-form games help us understand how decisions are made when people take turns choosing, just like in a fun game with friends!