AbstractWe propose an access control scheme for ad hoc networks where nodes compete for transmissions selfishly in order to maximize their own payoffs. A game theory‐based model is first formulated and an equilibrium transmission probability is derived based on the total number of competing nodes, packet transmission error probabilities and other parameters. Packet transmission performance, including both transmission throughput and delay, is then analyzed. Our results show that the proposed channel access scheme allows good spatial reuse of the same channel and its saturation throughput can be much higher than the physical transmission rate of the channel under relatively good channel conditions. The mean packet transmission delay can be kept very low (e.g., less than 10 ms) so long as the offered traffic load is below the capacity. The main advantage of this access control scheme is that it allows fair channel access even nodes are selfish and do not corporate with each other in competing for transmissions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.