Economics Challenge Series 2025 – Results Challenge 1: Game Theory

Hi Everyone,

It is time to reveal the results for the 2025 Economics Challenge Series. All six challenges have been posted. Below are the links to these challenges.

The challenge series has become an annual event held in July and August. The challenge series normally consists of seven challenges. This year because of some time constraints, it has been reduced to just 6.

The purpose of the challenge series is to enable participants to use their knowledge of basic economic concepts to help them to win. Concepts include demand and supply, game theory, expected value, and location theory.

The challenge series is set up to reward participation. The first 15 participants are upvoted, and the prize increases by 4 Hive Power with each participant until a maximum of 60 Hive Power is reached. There is also a prize for the overall winner. This prize increases by 1 Hive Power and can reach a maximum of 80 Hive Power. Potentially, a lot of Hive Power could be given away.

You can read about the challenge series in any of the challenge posts.

What is the Game Theory Challenge?

For the benefit of those who did not enter this challenge, here is a brief explanation of how the game works.

Participants were required to choose 5 out of 11 boxes. Each box was assigned a value. The value of the box is equally shared amongst the participants who selected it (e.g., if a box has a value of 40 and 8 participants select that box, each participant obtains a value of 5). The sum of the values of the selected boxes, after being adjusted for sharing, is the participant's score.

This challenge has several win conditions. These conditions are as follows:

The participant who obtains the highest value wins the challenge if no other participants obtain that same value.
If more than one participant shares the highest value, the participant with the lowest value wins if no other participants obtain that same value.
If more than one participant shares the highest value and if more than one participant shares the lowest value, the first and second participants to enter the challenge will be joint winners of the challenge and will share the prize equally. This will occur regardless of the value they obtained from the boxes.

Responses to the challenge were made in the comments section of the challenge post. The total prize for this challenge could reach as high as 60 Hive Power. The number of participants determines the value of the prize. For every entry, the prize is increased by 4 Hive Power until a value of 60 Hive Power is reached. The winner will receive the full value of the prize. The winner of this challenge will also be given 40 points. The points from these challenges will be tallied at the end of the Challenge Series to determine the overall winner.

The format of the required entry is explained in detail in the challenge itself.

For a more detailed explanation, you can access the challenge post using the following link.

Results of the Game Theory Challenge

Table 1 contains the selections made by all the participants for this challenge, the values of each box after sharing, each participant’s score, and the winner of the challenge.

Table 1: Results of the Challenge

Note: winner in green font.

This year we have an outright winner. @micheal87 managed to obtain the highest value. Since 15 participants entered, @micheal87 wins the maximum 60 Hive Power.

Challenge Tips and Analysis

There are many ways of approaching this challenge. It is difficult, as we cannot control the behaviour of other participants. Entering later enables a participant to observe many of the other participants’ actions. However, it is possible that a winning strategy will not be available for a participant entering late.

In the case of this challenge, a new final participant could have made a late entry and won. This is because it is possible to obtain a higher score than @micheal. The new participant (Player X) could have selected boxes 1, 3, 6, 10, and 11. See table below.

The only difference from @micheal’s selection is Box 1 instead of Box 7.

If only one player has the highest score, look for a combination that beats it. If two players have the highest score, look for a combination that beats them. If that’s not possible, look for a combination that generates the lowest score. If that is not possible, it is advisable to wait for other participants to enter who could change the scores through their choices.

The Sapien Loop Series

I am writing a trilogy of books titled Sapien Loop. The first in the series is Sapien Loop: End of an Era and the second is Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time. I published both of these books as ebooks on Amazon, and I have posted completed chapters to my @captainhive account. I anticipate publishing the third book in early 2027. I expect to title this book Sapien Loop: Worlds Collide. In 2025, I plan to write short stories about some of the characters and their adventures. I will post these to my @captainhive over the course of the year.

Brief Summary of Sapien Loop: End of an Era

This story is based on the fictional planet Sapia and its sole country, Sapey. Sapey is portrayed as a form of utopia for all its citizens. No poverty. No war. Almost no crime. Opportunities for all.

This was enough for most citizens, but not all. In one of the small regions, some of the citizens had become discontent. They felt something important was missing in their lives. Their discontent did not go unnoticed. Some of the Sapey elite wanted to weaponise this discontent to gain more power. This created more chaos than they anticipated. This led to further widespread social unrest.

On top of the chaos, ambition and greed provoked another enemy. This enemy was on a mission to settle both new and old scores.

Brief Summary of Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time

This story is based six years after the original story. The Downs Region is still suffering from a serious health crisis caused by the contaminated water. The main characters are desperately trying to find a cure for the illness that has been caused by the water.

One of the main characters has discovered frozen humanoids in hidden chambers. It appears they have been frozen for a long time. These chambers connect to a vast network of tunnels. While exploring the tunnels, one of the frozen humanoids disappears. It appears he has been stolen.

The story takes a step back in time to tell the story of the frozen humanoids. How and why were they frozen? This part of the story also explains the fall of ancient Sapey and the birth of the Sapiens. Can those from the past be able to coexist with those from the present?