Gambit has a number of features useful both for the researcher and the instructor:
Interactive, cross-platform graphical interface. All Gambit features are available through the use of a graphical interface, which runs under multiple operating systems: Windows, various flavors of Un*x (including Linux), and Mac OS X. The interface offers flexible methods for creating extensive and strategic games. It offers an interface for running algorithms to compute Nash equilibria, and for visualizing the resulting profiles on the game tree or table, as well as an interactive tool for analyzing the dominance structure of actions or strategies in the game. The interface is useful for the advanced researcher, but is intended to be accessible for students taking a first course in game theory as well.
Command-line tools for computing equilibria. More advanced applications often require extensive computing time and/or the ability to script computations. All algorithms in Gambit are packaged as individual, command-line programs, whose operation and output are configurable.
Extensibility and interoperability. The Gambit tools read and write file formats which are textual and documented, making them portable across systems and able to interact with external tools. It is therefore straightforward to extend the capabilities of Gambit by, for example, implementing a new method for computing equilibria, reimplementing an existing one more efficiently, or creating tools to programmatically create, manipulate, and transform games, or for econometric analysis on games.