Incomplete Information, Unawareness, and Psychological Games
July 6 – July 17, 2026
Maastricht University
Register for the course: The registration deadline is June 1, 2026. To register, first pay the registration fee of 120 euros (see below), then make a picture or screenshot of your bank transfer, and subsequently fill in the registration form.
In the registration form, you need to upload this picture or screenshot as a proof that you have paid the registration fee.
With the registration fee you obtain, amongst other things, a copy of the textbook “From Decision Theory to Game Theory: Reasoning About the Decisions of Others” by Andrés Perea, on which the course is based.
Register early: We can only allow 30 students to the course. So please be early with your registration. The first 30 students who register will be able to follow the course.
Registration fee: The registration fee is 120 euros. Please transfer 120 euros, mentioning “Order number 45290000024N EGT course” and your name, to:
Maastricht University
IBAN: NL05 INGB 0657 6187 05, SWIFT (or BIC) code: INGBNL2A
Bank address: ING Bank, Oost-Brabant BB, Schimmelt 36, 5611 ZX Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Beneficiary address: Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
Please mention clearly “Order number 45290000024N EGT course” and your name. Otherwise we cannot trace your payment! The fee has to be paid before June 1st, 2026.
Without the payment of the course fee, your registration is not complete.
For the course fee of 120 euros you will get: a copy of the book that is used for the course, coffee, tea and cookies during the breaks, a lunch after the city walk on Saturday, and an enjoyable course.
About this course: The EPICENTER, our research center on Epistemic Game Theory at Maastricht University, offers this two-week intensive course as an introduction to the blooming field of Epistemic Game Theory. This field takes a new, fresh approach to game theory, and studies how people reason in game theoretic situations before they eventually make a choice. More precisely, it explores how we reason about the minds of others before we make a choice. Hence, the reasoning of people like you and me is at the center stage of epistemic game theory.
In this course, we focus on games with incomplete information, games with unawareness, and psychological games. In games with incomplete information, a player may be uncertain about the utility functions of some of his opponents. In a game with unawareness, a player may be unaware of some of the choices that his opponents can make. In a psychological game, the preferences of a player may depend on what he believes that the opponent believes about his choice.
For each of these games, we explore the central reasoning concept of common belief in rationality, and see what happens if we assume correct or symmetric beliefs.
Last year’s course was based on a different book: “Epistemic Game Theory: Reasoning and Choice” by Andrés Perea, and covered different topics. To follow this year’s course, it is not necessary to have followed the previous edition. In fact, you should be able to follow this year’s course without having any prior knowledge about game theory. The course is completely self-contained.
Audience: The course is primarily meant for advanced bachelor students, master students and PhD students all over the world, but researchers are also very welcome.
Instructors The instructors for this course are Christian Bach (University of Reading, UK), Ákos Balázs (Corvinus University at Budapest, Hungary), Rubén Becerril (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de Mexico), Niels Mourmans (Central Bureau of Statistics, Netherlands), Andrés Perea (Maastricht University, Netherlands) and Joep van Sloun (Maastricht University, The Netherlands) — all members of our EPICENTER. For more information about the instructors, click here
Literature: The course will be based on the new textbook “From Decision Theory to Game Theory: Reasoning about the Decisions of Others” by Andrés Perea. The book is published by Cambridge University Press in 2025.
There is no need to buy the book. You will receive a copy of this book at the beginning of the course.
Organization of the course: The course stretches over 10 days, of which the last day consists of a written exam. Typically, a day consists of two theory lectures and one exercise session, where the two theory lectures cover one chapter from the book “From Decision Theory to Game Theory: Reasoning about the Decisions of Others”. In the exercise sessions we will discuss some problems from the book which you should prepare the day before. On the last Thursday, we will discuss the exam from 2024. Your grade will be based on the exam. To pass the exam, you must score at least a 5.5 out of 10. But you are also free to participate without taking the exam.
Certificate: If you attend at least 20 out of 24 sessions, you will receive an official certificate stating that you successfully followed the course. The certificate also states that the workload of this course corresponds to 6.5 ECTS. If you successfully take the exam, by scoring at least a 5.5 out of 10, you will receive a special certificate which states that you also took the exam. At your home university, this should normally be sufficient to obtain 6.5 ECTS for following the course.
Housing: If you would like to rent a room in Maastricht at a reasonable price during these two weeks, please visit: https://www.maastrichthousing.com/ . They offer rooms / apartments at a very reasonable price per day. On their website, indicate that you are a summer school student.
Previous editions: If you want to see some pictures from previous editions, and want to know which students participated and where they came from, please click here
Questions? If you have further questions, please send an E-mail to Andrés Perea at: course@epicenter.name
Location
The course takes place at Maastricht University
Building of the School of Business and Economics
Tongersestraat 53, Maastricht
Room A1.22
Schedule for the course
