http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gametheory.

asp
Game theory is the study of human conflict and cooperation
within a competitive situation. In some respects, game theory is
the science of strategy, or at least the optimal decision-making of
independent and competing actors in a strategic setting.
Game theory creates a language and formal structure of analysis for
making logical decisions in competitive environments. The term game
can be misleading. Even though game theory applies to recreational
games, the concept of game simply means any interactive situation in
which independent actors share more-or-less formal rules and
consequences.
The formal application of game theory requires knowledge of the following
details: the identity of independent actors, their preferences, what they
know, which strategic acts they are allowed to make, and how each
decision influences the outcome of the game. Depending on the model,
various other requirements or assumptions may be necessary. Finally,
each independent actor is assumed to be rational.
Game theory has a wide range of applications, including
psychology, evolutionary biology, war, politics, economics and
business. Despite its many advances, game theory is still a young
and developing science.

http://www.cdam.lse.ac.uk/Reports/Files/cdam-2001-09.pdf
Game theory is the formal study of conflict and cooperation. Game
theoretic concepts apply whenever the actions of several agents
are interdependent. These agents may be individuals, groups,
firms, or any combination of these. The concepts of game theory
provide a language to formulate, structure, analyze, and
understand strategic scenarios.
Game theory is the formal study of decision-making where several
players must make choices that potentially affect the interests of
the other players.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/game-theory.html
Set of concepts aimed at decision making in situations of competition and
conflict (as well as of cooperation and interdependence) under specified
rules. Game theory employs games of strategy (such as chess) but not of
chance (such as rolling a dice). A strategic game represents a situation
where two or more participants are faced with choices of action, by which
each may gain or lose, depending on what others choose to do or not to
do. The final outcome of a game, therefore, is determined jointly by the
strategies chosen by all participants. These are also situations of
uncertainty because no participant knows for sure what the other
participants are going to decide.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/game-theory
A mathematical method of making decisions in which a competitiv
esituation is analyzed to determine the optimal course of action f
or aninterested party. Game theory is often used in political, econ
omic, andmilitary planning.
One of the principal aims of game theory is to determine the optimum
strategy for dealing with a given situation or confrontation. This can
involve such goals as maximizing one's gains, maximizing the probability
that a specific goal can be reached, minimizing one's risks or losses, or
inflicting the greatest possible damage on adversaries.
https://www.cs.umd.edu/~nau/cmsc421/game-theory.pdf

http://www.enggjournals.com/ijcse/doc/IJCSE10-02-09-031.pdf
CONCLUSION In this paper I studied the different types of games
and their technique of optimization using examples and
theoretical concepts. Using Graphical and Linear Programming
Methods to optimize two person zero-sum games one of the
conclusion that can be drawn is that since graphical methods are
applicable to only games where at least one of the players has
only two strategies. This hinders the use of graphical methods in
applications and real life problems since hardly any game involves
players with limited strategy. On the other hand every game can
be represented as a Linear Program and hence can be optimized
as a linear programming problem of maximization or
minimization. The presence of the dual of a Linear Programming
Problem facilitates the use of linear programming since using one
objective function and solving for it the objective of the other
player can also be found. From an algorithmic point of view linear
programming is more feasible compared to graphical methods
since it is modular in nature and works step by step.

At the start of this literature review, the topic of game theory was
introduced, with the origins of game theory, applications through to the
types of games that exist.
Then the literature review went on to discuss how optimal strategies and
payoffs were determined. The solutions that the discussed were of a
graphical and algebraic nature and examples were shown. Following on,
linear programming was discussed stating what linear programming was,
by providing an example. A method of linear programming, called simplex
method was discussed in depth as it is a method for working out optimal
solutions for players strategies. An example using simplex method was
also shown, and went through step by step discussing, how players
optimal strategies and payoffs were determined.
A comparison can be made between the solutions available in determining
optimal strategies and payoffs, in two person zero-sum matrix games. The
solutions of games with saddle point are simple to solve, as are two by two
matrix games with no saddle points. However 2*N and M*2 (and
effectively M*N) matrix games are not so simple to solve as with the
graphical method, there is no algorithm presently available.
Although there is no algorithm available to compute optimal strategies
and payoffs in N*M matrix games, linear programming is an avenue that
can be explored, as the simplex method can be applied to determine
optimal strategies and payoffs in N*M matrix games.