A degenerate game state is when there is some inherent part of the game’s design that allows the play to collapse into something simpler and different than the original game. It’s when a wargame turns into a game where it makes no sense to start a battle or an economic game where repeating a single action is the best path to victory. All the rules are still in place, but some variable has been pushed to an extreme. Degeneracy is when your elliptical game collapses into a single point.