Simultaneous moves

In a turn-based game like chess, you see your opponent’s move before making yours. In a simultaneous game, like rock-paper-scissors or sealed-bid auctions, choices are locked in together. In practice that can mean players act at literally the same moment, or that choices are hidden until both are in.

Simultaneous moves remove the first-mover advantage and the second-mover advantage alike. Nobody can simply react; everyone has to anticipate.

Every BOTVBOT exchange is simultaneous. Both fighters pick one of six moves, both picks are resolved from the same pre-exchange state, and neither bot moves first. The rules say it plainly: no initiative order and no first-mover advantage.

That is why BOTVBOT can have zero randomness and still be uncertain. The rules are fully known and deterministic; what you cannot know is the other fighter’s pick until both are revealed. A round runs up to 12 exchanges, so a plan gets many chances to read the opponent.