Maker-Breaker domination game on trees when Staller wins

In the Maker-Breaker domination game played on a graph $G$, Dominator's goal is to select a dominating set and Staller's goal is to claim a closed neighborhood of some vertex. We study the cases when Staller can win the game. If Dominator (resp., Staller) starts the game, then $\gamma_{\rm SMB}(G)$ (resp., $\gamma_{\rm SMB}'(G)$) denotes the minimum number of moves Staller needs to win. For every positive integer $k$, trees $T$ with $\gamma_{\rm SMB}'(T)=k$ are characterized. Applying hypergraphs, a general upper bound on $\gamma_{\rm SMB}'$ is proved. Let $S = S(n_1,\dots, n_\ell)$ be the subdivided star obtained from the star with $n$ edges by subdividing its edges $n_1-1, \ldots, n_\ell-1$ times, respectively. Then $\gamma_{\rm SMB}'(S)$ is determined in all the cases except when $\ell\ge 4$ and each $n_i$ is even. The simplest formula is obtained when there are are at least two odd $n_i$s. If $n_1$ and $n_2$ are the two smallest such numbers, then $\gamma_{\rm SMB}'(S(n_1,\dots, n_\ell))=\lceil \log_2(n_1+n_2+1)\rceil$. For caterpillars, exact formulas for $\gamma_{\rm SMB}$ and for $\gamma_{\rm SMB}'$ are established

How fast can Dominator win in the Maker--Breaker domination game?

We study the Maker--Breaker domination games played by two players, Dominator and Staller. We give a structural characterization for graphs with Maker--Breaker domination number equal to the domination number. Specifically, we show how fast Dominator can win in the game on $P_2 \square P_n$, for $n\geq 1$

Maker-Breaker domination number

The Maker-Breaker domination game is played on a graph $G$ by Dominator and Staller. The players alternatively select a vertex of $G$ that was not yet chosen in the course of the game. Dominator wins if at some point the vertices he has chosen form a dominating set. Staller wins if Dominator cannot form a dominating set. In this paper we introduce the Maker-Breaker domination number $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ of $G$ as the minimum number of moves of Dominator to win the game provided that he has a winning strategy and is the first to play. If Staller plays first, then the corresponding invariant is denoted $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(G)$. Comparing the two invariants it turns out that they behave much differently than the related game domination numbers. The invariant $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ is also compared with the domination number. Using the Erd\H{o}s-Selfridge Criterion a large class of graphs $G$ is found for which $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G) > \gamma(G)$ holds. Residual graphs are introduced and used to bound/determine $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ and $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(G)$. Using residual graphs, $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(T)$ and $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(T)$ are determined for an arbitrary tree. The invariants are also obtained for cycles and bounded for union of graphs. A list of open problems and directions for further investigations is given.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Maker-Breaker total domination game

Maker-Breaker total domination game in graphs is introduced as a natural counterpart to the Maker-Breaker domination game recently studied by Duch\^ene, Gledel, Parreau, and Renault. Both games are instances of the combinatorial Maker-Breaker games. The Maker-Breaker total domination game is played on a graph $G$ by two players who alternately take turns choosing vertices of $G$. The first player, Dominator, selects a vertex in order to totally dominate $G$ while the other player, Staller, forbids a vertex to Dominator in order to prevent him to reach his goal. It is shown that there are infinitely many connected cubic graphs in which Staller wins and that no minimum degree condition is sufficient to guarantee that Dominator wins when Staller starts the game. An amalgamation lemma is established and used to determine the outcome of the game played on grids. Cacti are also classified with respect to the outcome of the game. A connection between the game and hypergraphs is established. It is proved that the game is PSPACE-complete on split and bipartite graphs. Several problems and questions are also posed.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure

The Maker-Maker domination game in forests

We study the Maker-Maker version of the domination game introduced in 2018 by Duch\^ene et al. Given a graph, two players alternately claim vertices. The first player to claim a dominating set of the graph wins. As the Maker-Breaker version, this game is PSPACE-complete on split and bipartite graphs. Our main result is a linear time algorithm to solve this game in forests. We also give a characterization of the cycles where the first player has a winning strategy

Avoider-Enforcer Game is NP-hard

In an Avoider-Enforcer game, we are given a hypergraph. Avoider and Enforcer alternate in claiming an unclaimed vertex, until all the vertices of the hypergraph are claimed. Enforcer wins if Avoider claims all vertices of an edge; Avoider wins otherwise. We show that it is NP-hard to decide if Avoider has a winning strategy

Avoidance Games Are PSPACE-Complete

Avoidance games are games in which two players claim vertices of a hypergraph and try to avoid some structures. These games are studied since the introduction of the game of SIM in 1968, but only few complexity results are known on them. In 2001, Slany proved some partial results on Avoider-Avoider games complexity, and in 2017 Bonnet et al. proved that short Avoider-Enforcer games are Co-W[1]-hard. More recently, in 2022, Miltzow and Stojakovi\'c proved that these games are NP-hard. As these games corresponds to the mis\`ere version of the well-known Maker-Breaker games, introduced in 1963 and proven PSPACE-complete in 1978, one could expect these games to be PSPACE-complete too, but the question remained open since then. We prove here that both Avoider-Avoider and Avoider-Enforcer conventions are PSPACE-complete, and as a consequence of it that some particular Avoider-Enforcer games also are

Maker-Breaker total domination games on cubic graphs

We study Maker-Breaker total domination game played by two players, Dominator and Staller on the connected cubic graphs. Staller (playing the role of Maker) wins if she manages to claim an open neighbourhood of a vertex. Dominator wins otherwise (i.e. if he can claim a total dominating set of a graph). For certain graphs on $n\geq 6$ vertices, we give the characterization on those which are Dominator's win and those which are Staller's win