The selections are written on slips of paper and handed over to the judge, who opens both and announces the result for that play of the game, a particular row and column, and the number corresponding to that location. For instance, if Ron chose row one and Charles column two, the result would be b. Sometimes the game will consist of a number of plays, the appropriate payoff being made each time. In other cases, such as warfare, there may only be one play to end the game. The character of the particular game being played depends crucially on the relative value of the numbers in the matrix.
Some games are rather boring.
Charles will soon quit if he can even be convinced to play in the first place. Of course, if the game is a war, Charles may have no choice. Now if Ron consistently plays the first row, Charles will eventually settle on the second column and Ron will lose his shirt. But if Charles begins to play the second column consistently, Ron can switch to the second row and begin winning again. Under such circumstances, both players will usually adopt some strategy that plays first one row or column and then another.