Battle of the Sexes

It's George and Martha's anniversary. They want to be together and agreed to meet after work at the movies. The trouble is no decision was made about which movie to see. The phones are out, so they can't communicate. George really wants to see Planet of the Apes, but Martha wants to see Wuthering Heights. George and Martha must decide independently, should they both show up at the theater playing Wuthering Heights?

Here's a typical playoff matrix for Battle of the Sexes:

Payoffs

B

FALSE

TRUE

A

FALSE

3/2

1/1

TRUE

0/0

2/3

The 3/2 entry says that if George (= A) and Martha (= B) both decide not to go to Wuthering Heights, but go to Planet of the Apes instead (go to WH? = FALSE),  then George receives 3 points because he gets to be with Martha and gets to see the movie he wants to see. Martha only receives 2 points. She gets to be with George, but must endure Planet of the Apes.

Of course Battle of the Sexes is played out every time two collaborators must choose between cake and eating it too.