A Class of N-Player Colonel Blotto Games with Multidimensional Private Information

Abstract

In this paper, we study N-player Colonel Blotto games with incomplete information about battlefield valuations. Such games arise in job markets, research and development, electoral competition, security analysis, and conflict resolution. For M ≥ N + 1 battlefields, we identify a Bayes-Nash equilibrium in which the resource allocation to a given battlefield is strictly monotone in the valuation of that battlefield. We also explore extensions such as heterogeneous budgets, the case M ≤ N, full-support type distributions, and network games.

Keywords: Colonel Blotto games, private information, Bayes-Nash equilibrium, generalized Dirichlet distributions, networks

JEL Classification: C72, D72, D82