But when one actually watches the students play, it turns out that it isn't just a board game after all. It is the study of strategic interactions: the underpinning of evolutionary theory, economics, business processes and international relations. It is what the film A Beautiful Mind was all about. And the students who make up this group of teenagers know exactly what they're talking about.

That's because they are taking part in the Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) summer programme in Dublin City University, where young people of exceptional academic ability from Ireland and overseas come together to take part in a stimulating three-week programme. Courses on offer include computer applications, archaeology, zoology, biomedical diagnostics, electronic engineering and international relations, to name a few.

Classes are taught in a college-style format and students are discovered through the sitting of an aptitude test.

Only those who fall within the top 5% of the academic population are eligible to take part.

Jonathan Kelly (16) from Kildare has been attending the centre for four years now and this is the last summer programme he will be able to attend, due to his age. "It's been brilliant, " he says.

"There's no question of feeling like a [secondary school] student here. The courses are more like lectures and you're treated like an adult. In school, you're not encouraged to challenge what you're taught. But these days, I'm a lot less inclined to accept things as I'm given them."

Kelly, along with Elizabeth O'Malley (14) from Dublin, has been taking part in legal studies for the last three weeks.

This is O'Malley's first year at the CTYI, and she nearly didn't get in after she mixed up a couple of questions on her aptitude test. "I was really disappointed when I found out, " she says. "But then they said I could re-try and I got in.

I was so happy. Some people have asked me why I'm going to school in the summer. But this is way better than school."

The CTYI runs courses during the school year, but the summer programme is all-intensive, with students living in the university for three weeks.

"The course is academic, but it's also about the social impact, " says Colm O'Reilly, CTYI director. "Many of these students are meeting people like themselves for the first time and that really boosts their self-confidence. They might feel better at subjects academically, but some of them might feel a bit isolated, always being the one in class with the right answer. Here, they can see there are lots of people in the same boat."

Significantly, one in 10 students at the CTYI has a learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, ADHD or Asperger's Syndrome. "They have a learning difficulty, but they also have a very high IQ that's often not recognised in school, " says O'Reilly.

"Most often these students are recommended to us through educational psychologists. Being here really gives them a boost and a chance to excel at what they love."

For Daithi O Cearrbhaill (16) from Monaghan, coming to CTYI has given him a new outlook on life. "There's a great sense of camaraderie here, " he says. "Where I live, there aren't many people with the same interests as me, so coming here is really great."

O Cearrbhaill has taken International Relations this summer; last year he studied Chinese Language and Culture.

"We've just finished doing a model of the UN, " he says.

"Everyone had a different country and we had to discuss everything from the perspective of that country. It's pretty controversial; you're exposed to a lot of ideas."

All around campus, the students are preparing to finish up the course. There will be parent-teacher meetings available and a detailed assessment of every students' progress posted to each home within a few weeks.

On one green, students are playing some kind of game involving a tennis ball and several different coloured 'bases', a game devised by themselves, according to academic co-ordinator Eleanor Cooke. In the science building, a group from the theoretical physics course file out of a classroom, some (inexplicably) wearing dressing-gowns, others sporting a variety of hats.

Back in games theory, the game that looks like chess is explained. "It's a mixture of chess and chance, " says a student.

"There are tanks, foot-soldiers and hippies, and the dice decides how they move. But then there are other factors.

For instance, if a foot-soldier kills a hippy, he commits suicide from shame.

Because you're reliant on the dice, it's hard to formulate a strategy. It makes you think with what you have. That's what it's all about."

That, it seems, is also what CTYI is all about. "This place is really like home, " says one student. "I hate to leave."