Backgammon Chouettes

Chouettes

Interlocking chouette

From:   wintom
Address:   thomaskoch.privat@gmail.com
Date:   11 January 2008
Subject:   Interlocking Chouette
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   4587f6e0-81ba-44f4-8a60-b44ef53d988f@f47g2000hsd.googlegroups.com

Today I came across some comments mentioning a chouette variation called "Interlocking Chouette". It's supposed to be a variation played with many players (>10) and on two boards at once. Can anybody give a detailed explanation on how it works? Thanks in advance, Thomas Koch

David Levy writes:

Sure. We Backgammon by the Bay players (http://www.bgbythebay.com/bgbb/) have an interlocking chouette every Monday night. There are two games, two tables, two boxes, two captains but ONE rotation for the players outside. Everyone is in both games. When a game finishes, the winner is the new box, the loser goes to the bottom of the rotation and the person at the top is the new captain. If scoring on paper (but see last paragraph), keep separate scoresheets for each table and consolidate at the end of the night. You can use your preferred chouette rules for everything else: consulting or non-consulting, one cube or individual cubes, when do you keep the box, etc. An interlocking chouette works with as few as six players, though we usually wait for the seventh before opening the second table. As the game dwindles late in the evening, we keep the interlock going until there are only five. Some hints: (1) We always have the box on the same side of the board, playing with the same color checkers and moving in the same direction. That makes it easier for a crew member watching one game to look at the other and figure out what's going on. (2) With two score sheets, circling the loser doesn't maintain the rotation. If scoring on paper (but see last paragraph), it is best to write everyone's name on a small slip of paper and keep track of the rotation that way. (3) Beware of the hidden increase in stakes. If you normally play in a five dollar chouette, with say six players, you are playing for 5/point five games out of six and 25/point the other, for an average of 8.33/point. The interlock doubles this. When you're in the box you're playing at one table for 25/point and the other for 5/point. So you're playing for 30/point 1/3 of the time and 10/point (in the crew at two tables) 2/3 of the time for an average of 16.67/point. Things got complicated in our chouette for a number of reasons. We use individual cubes. Different players wanted to play for different stakes so those willing to play for more would start with the cube at two when one of them was in the box. Many extras. Settlements. People dropping out for a time to get food. One person would by pizza for everyone and collect via a scoresheet. Scoring errors and rotation errors were varied and frequent. In short, scoring on paper was a huge pain. So I wrote a program for scoring the interlocking chouette and managing the rotation and someone brings a laptop to the game. If interested in more information about the program, decode my reply-to email address and contact me.

Thomas Koch writes:

1. Does action at the two boards always start at the same time? Or can the people at board 2 start a new game, even if the game at board 1 is not over yet? 2. Do Box A and Box B have a special position in the rotation? 3. At what point do new players enter the rotation? 4. With individual cubes the Box who is playing at board 1 has to watch for her cube at board 2 at the same time, right? That's it for the moment. This variation sounds like a lot of fun. But I guess it's quite complicated to get it running for the first time!?

David Levy writes:

> 1. Does action at the two boards always start at the same time? No, the new game starts immediately. > 2. Do Box A and Box B have a special position in the rotation? Think of the active players as not in the rotation. For example: Table 1 Table 2 Box P1 P2 Captain P3 P4 Rotation P5 P6 P7 If P1 loses, P3 is the new Box and P5 then new Captain. The rotation becomes P6 then P7 then P1 > 3. At what point do new players enter the rotation? You can handle this as you do in your normal chouette. My scoring program adds people to the bottom of the rotation immediately so they are ahead of the loser of the games in progress that they are not involved in. This differs from most other chouettes I've played in. > 4. With individual cubes the Box who is playing at board 1 has to > watch for her cube at board 2 at the same time, right? Yes. It also means that there are problems if the box and captain of board 1 are the sole takers on board 2. We don't let that happen except in no contact bearoffs where one of the crew keeps rolling. We also play that if the box takes some but not all cubes, he must drop the box and captain at the other table first. Another hint: If you are the box or the captain and table 1 and much of the crew doubles at table 2, you probably want to go with the double if it's not too crazy. You're not going to be able to follow the game at the other table carefully to find a better moment to double. > That's it for the moment. This variation sounds like a lot of fun. But > I guess it's quite complicated to get it running for the first time!? This seems normal to me now. The San Francisco Bay Area has been running interlocking chouettes back to the 1970's. Fun, fast and better than box takes a partner. David

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