{Example stolen from Albert Cohen)

Two girls, Player 1 and Player 2, are attempting to win the affection of a young man, so they plan an evening for their sweetheart (simultaneously). There are three choices:

• A cheap but fun date at a sports bar,
• an evening where the lady wears a sexy dress and they go to the opera,
• or the lady ignores him and doesn't call.

The game is such that the man generally prefers Player 1 to Player 2, as evidenced by the payoffs given in the bi-matrix below, he prefers the sexy dress and opera, has hardly any interest in sports, but is partially intrigued if one or both of the ladies ignores him. The payoff consists of the young man spending his ≤ 8 hours of leisure time the next day sleeping* shopping with them (separately), and so the payoff is in hours:

What will happen from a game theoretic perspective and what do you think will be the outcome of an experimental analysis? [VERIFY]

Impetus by Jacqueline Mackie Paisley Passey

related items:
The Economics of Faking Orgasm
The Economics of Strategic Virginity Loss
Romance in the Information Age


*I guess the utility function wouldn't be well-behaved.