ONAG, as the book is commonly known, is one of those rare publications
that sprang to life in a moment of creative energy and has remained
influential for over a quarter of a century. Originally written to
define the relation between the theories of transfinite numbers and
mathematical games, the resulting work is a mathematically sophisticated
but eminently enjoyable guide to game theory. By defining numbers as the
strengths of positions in certain games, the author arrives at a new
class, the surreal numbers, that includes both real numbers and ordinal
numbers. These surreal numbers are applied in the author's mathematical
analysis of game strategies. The additions to the Second Edition present
recent developments in the area of mathematical game theory, with a
concentration on surreal numbers and the additive theory of partizan
games.