ISDG was founded in Helsinki, Finland on August the 9th, 1990, in the Fourth International Symposium on Dynamic games and Applications. The symposium was the first to bring together the researchers working in the fields of dynamic zero and nonzero-sum games.

The founding members, who also formed the first executive board of the society, were professors Tamer Basar , Pierre Bernhard , Alain Haurie , Raimo P. Hämäläinen , Geert Jan Olsder, Josef Shinar , Boleslaw Tolwinski and Klaus Well. The first president of the society was professor Tamer Basar.

The secretariat of the society was hosted by professor Raimo P. Hämäläinen at the Systems Analysis Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology. The tasks of the secreatriat were to maintain the mailing list of those persons who wanted to be members of the society, and to edit and deliver the society's electronic newsletter. The following text is the founding letter of the society dedicated to its prospective members, and published in the society's first electronic newsletter on January 7, 1991:

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Contributed by Tamer Basar <TBASAR@MARKOV.CSL.UIUC.EDU> October 15, 1990

                               ISDG
              THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF DYNAMIC GAMES

To Prospective Members:

  In August 1990, a new international society has been founded, with
headquarters at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland,
Adopting the name "The International Society of Dynamic Games" (in
short, ISDG), its primary goals are:

 (i)  To promote interactions among researchers interested in the theory
      and applications of dynamic games,
 (ii) To facilitate dissemination of information on current activities
      and results in this area,
 (iii) To enhance the visibility of dynamic games research and its vast
      potential applications.

  The Society will strive to achieve these goals by organizing of
co-organizing symposis, conferences and workshops on dynamic games, by
producing newsletters at regular intervals and sending them
electronically to members, and by possibly launching a new archival
journal.

  The Society will consist of (as members) researchers with interest in
any aspect of the theory and applications of dynamic games. It will be
run by an Executive Board which will be its decision making organ. The
current members of the executive board, who are also the founding
members of the Society, are: Tamer Basar (President), Pierre Bernhard,
Alain Haurie, Raimo P. Hamalainen, Geert Jan Olsder, Josef Shinar,
Boleslaw Tolwinski, and Klaus H. Well.

  Any person who shows some tangible evidence of interest in "dynamic
games" can become a member by applying to the Society Secretariat,
which is located at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, and
can be reached via electronic mail using the BITNET address:
"ISDG@FINHUT.BITNET". Currently there are no membership dues. To
become a member, please fill out the form reproduced below, and send it
(electronically) to the Society Secretariat. Those prospective members
who do not have access to an electronic network, can mail a hard copy
to

Tamer Basar, ISDG President    or    Raimo P. Hamalainen
Coordinated Science Laboratory        Systems Analysis Laboratory
University of Illinois                Helsinki University of Technology
Urbana, Illinois                      Espoo, Finland

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Professor Alain Haurie was elected as the next president of the ISDG in 1994. See the the minutes of the EB meeting in the 6th symposium in St. Jovite, Quebec. At the same time, the preparation of the statutes of the society began.

In 1996, in the general assembly of the society in connection with the seventh symposium in Japan, the statutes (for the proposed ISDG statutes see Newsletter 24) of the society were accepted, see Newsletter 25. The size of the executive board was expanded into 12 members.

In 1997 ISDG began organizing biannual workshops to be held in the odd years between the symposia. In 1997 a workshop at Sils-Maria, Switzerland, was organized in connection with the International Symposium on Mathematical Programming. See Newsletter 27.

In 1998, in the Maastricht meeting, prof. Pierre Bernhard was elected as the next president, see Newsletter No. 30.

The second workshop of ISDG was organized in 1999 in Ischia, Italy, see Newsletter 35.

The 9th symposium was organized in Adelaide, South Australia, December 18-21, 2000, see Newsletter 40.