El-Farol-Bar-Problem

The El Farol bar problem is a problem in game theory and there is a special case of a minority game. It was erected in 1994 by Brian Arthur. This was a bar in Santa Fe ( New Mexico) godfather.

The problem is as follows: - always the same size - the population of a particular place wants every Thursday night in the El Farol bar is El Farol However, the rather small and it's no fun to spend the evening there when it is crowded. Measured in figures, this leads to the following condition:

• If less than 60 % of the population go to El Farol, these spend in the bar a more pleasant evening than at home.
• However, if more than 60 % of the population go to El Farol, it would have been nice for them to have remained at home.

All residents must be at the same time to decide whether they want to go to El Farol or not. You can not wait for the decision of the other and make their own depend on it.

The importance of the problem is that no matter what ( deterministic) method a person uses to decide whether to go to El Farol or not, will fail this method if everyone is using it. If everyone uses the same method, the El Farol will be empty if the method provides the result that the El Farol is crowded and vice versa.

There are variations of the problem, where the people are allowed to communicate, but do not have to tell the truth before they make their decision.