Focal point (game theory)

Okay, kiddo, imagine you are playing a game with your friends, maybe like hide and seek. In this game, you can choose any hiding spot in the park, but you want to make sure you hide somewhere that your friends will be able to find you.

Now, imagine that your friends are also thinking about where you might hide, and they all have different ideas. But there is one spot in the park that everyone knows is really good for hiding, like a big tree with lots of branches or a secret little path that's hard to see.

This spot is what we call the "focal point" in game theory. It's the spot that everyone naturally thinks of or expects, and it can be a really powerful thing in games or other situations where people are trying to coordinate or make decisions.

In our hide and seek game, if you choose the focal point spot as your hiding spot, you're pretty much guaranteed that your friends will find you. But if you choose a spot that's different from what everyone else is thinking, they might have a harder time finding you (which could be good or bad depending on what you're trying to do!).

The idea of a focal point comes up in lots of other situations, too. For example, if a group of people is trying to decide where to meet up in a city, they might all naturally think of a famous landmark like the Eiffel Tower. This would be the focal point that everyone can easily find and recognize.

So, in basic terms, a focal point is an important point that everyone naturally thinks of or recognizes in a game or any other kind of situation where people are trying to coordinate or make decisions.