To illustrate, suppose in the earlier cooperative game there is a turnstile that permits a player to leave but not to return; his current offer as he goes through the turnstile remains on the books until the bell rings. Now we have a means by which a player can make a "final" offer, a "commitment"; whoever can record an offer favorable to himself and known to the other, and leave the room, has the winning tactic. Of course it may win for either of them; but this may mean that we end up with something like a foot race, and the one closest to the turnstile wins.

DEFINE: Illustrates commitment as the ability to make a final, binding offer that stays on the books, reshaping the strategic picture of bargaining.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 636