Summary
Asymmetric information describes a game state in which different players know different things about the situation. One player may know where units are hidden, what cards are in hand, what route is safe, or which resources are available, while another player has to infer or discover that information.
In practice, asymmetric information is one of the main ways games create tension, scouting behaviour, bluffing, and uncertainty. Bjork and Holopainen treat it as a structural consequence of information-hiding patterns such as fog-of-war and hidden hands, rather than as a special genre feature (Björk & Holopainen, Patterns in Game Design, see source-patterns-in-game-design).
Key ideas
- Perfect information means all players can see the full relevant state of the game, as in chess.
- Asymmetric information means some relevant state is hidden, delayed, or only partially available.
- Asymmetry can come from hidden units, hidden cards, incomplete maps, invisible actions, delayed signalling, or private resources.
- It is valuable because it creates roles for reconnaissance, inference, deception, and risk management.
In practice
Common design levers:
- Hide unit positions or movement history
- Give some players stronger scouting tools than others
- Reveal terrain but not active threats
- Use private information to create bluffing and prediction
Related
fog-of-war | reconnaissance | stealth | randomness-in-games | game-theory-fundamentals | meaningful-decisions