On the eve of his official retirement from YouTube, Game Theorist creator Matthew Patrick, better known as MatPat, walked down into his basement where he’s edited and uploaded nearly 3,000 videos on ...

The mobile version of YouTube is becoming infamous in some circles for the abundance of strangely similar mobile game ads. Not only can they be annoying, but the fake ads and trailers rarely bear any ...

Before Five Nights at Freddy’s changed everything, there was another contender for the Game Theory spotlight: Slenderman. In this what-if retrospective, we crack open the “lost” episode that never ...

Imagine you had a friend who gave different answers to the same question, depending on how you asked it. “What’s the capital of Peru?” would get one answer, and “Is Lima the capital of Peru?” would ...

Playing with Reality: How Games Shape Our World. By Kelly Clancy. Riverhead Books; 368 pages; $30. Allen Lane; £25 In 1824 Prince Wilhelm of Prussia asked for a demonstration of an elaborate game he ...

As we approach the fantasy playoffs, it’s a good time to revisit the ideas of Optimality and Game Theory. In Optimality, you’re always striving for the best possible outcome at the least possible cost ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine you had a friend who gave different answers to the same question, depending on how you asked it. “What’s the capital of Peru?” ...