Auction Settings Reference

Auction Layout separates participant information, mechanism rules, sequence, eligibility, and lifecycle presentation.

Core Setup

Players per session is the same Assignment participant count. 0 means open.

Core setup keeps four information formulas available:

• Private value,
• Cost,
• Common value,
• Common signal.

The selected Auction's information model determines which formulas are active. Inactive cards remain available because changing the information model can make them relevant again.

Information Model

• Private value gives each participant a private willingness to pay. The highest bid wins.
• Private cost models procurement. The lowest bid wins.
• Common-value signal gives each participant a private signal about a shared realized value.

The information Variable fields shown in Gameplay are generated bindings. Edit their formulas in Core setup; do not treat their technical IDs as participant-facing labels.

Mechanism

Sealed Bid

Every eligible participant submits one bid during the Bidding window.

• First price settles at the winning participant's own bid.
• Second price selects the same winner but settles at the relevant next-ranked bid.

English Auction

Opening price initializes the displayed price. Minimum increment constrains the next accepted bid. Bidding window is the response window; an accepted bid restarts it.

Dutch Auction

Opening price initializes the displayed price. Price step is the amount of each decrease, and Step interval is the number of seconds between decreases. The first accepted displayed price ends the Auction.

Sequence

An Auction game may contain one or two Auction modules.

• select a sequence card to edit that Auction,
• swap changes the order of two Auctions,
• plus adds the second Auction,
• Trash removes the selected Auction,
• an optional Between auctions Stage may appear only between two Auctions.

The between-auctions Stage uses the shared Page editor. It is suitable for transition instructions or a participant's own first-auction input, but should not reveal information intended only for final Results.

Eligible Player Types

Eligible Player Types determines who participates in the selected Auction. It is based on Assignment Player Types and is separate from Page Audience.

A Player Type may be eligible for the mechanism but have no visible Page, or receive a Page that is not part of the selected Auction. Check both eligibility and Audience when diagnosing missing participant content.

Game Presentation

Instructions, Results, and Moderator use the shared lifecycle Stage cards. Each may contain multiple Pages and Audience rules. Not included means the lifecycle Stage does not exist; plus creates it.

Auction templates may manage generated text and formulas until an author edits them. After manual editing, later mechanism changes preserve the authored content instead of overwriting it silently.

Derived Behavior

The mechanism and information model jointly determine whether the objective is highest or lowest bid, which action appears, how settlement is calculated, and which generated Variables are available.

After changing Kind, Settlement, or Information, review Core setup, Instructions, Results, and Validation together.