  We consider games in which players search for a hidden prize, and they have
asymmetric information about the prize location. We study the social payoff in
equilibria of these games. We present sufficient conditions for the existence
of an equilibrium that yields the first-best payoff (i.e., the highest social
payoff under any strategy profile), and we characterize the first-best payoff.
The results have interesting implications for innovation contests and R&D
races.
