Backgammon Chouettes

Chouettes

Jacoby rule

From:   Doug Doub
Address:   dougdoub@earthlink.net
Date:   26 August 2005
Subject:   Jacoby Rule
Forum:   GammOnLine

A disadvantage of using the Jacoby rule occurs using individual cubes in a chouette if the captain has not been doubled. He might hang back and risk getting backgammoned (from an ace point game), while the crew would love to have him run. Gammons and backgammons should count regardless of where the cube is, though this would eliminate the "colorful" Kauder paradox. Doug

Neil Kazaross writes:

As for the captain not being doubled, I've seen this happen once -- the box felt he'd take very late so didn't cube and then rolled a crushing sequence and realized that the captain would stay back because he wasn't cubed, so box didn't cube. One member of the crew nearly came to blows with the captain. After the game, we pointed out to the box that this was rather lame tactics. I agree, the Jacoby rule sucks and takes out some skill in playing for a gammon. If someone doesn't think playing for a gammon on a 1 cube is worth it, raise the stakes.

Daniel writes:

Just in case your chouette is unlikely to throw out the Jacoby rule ... Not all individual cube chouettes allow the box to fish'n'choose whom he doubles when. Some chouettes instead require the box to double all cubes of the same value at the same time. This rule prohibits the box from doubling everyone except the captain, which can lead to the situation you describe, in which the captain has a gammon-free play-on for his own 10 or 5 or 1% winning chances, much to the detriment of the team. The occurrence that Neil describes is an example of what that can lead to. I agree that this tactic is "lame" and not fair; in effect the box and captain are implictly colluding against the captain's teammates. I suppose, though, that the (my) preferred rule would not eliminate the possibility of a situation where all but the captain have doubled the box, suffer a reverse in the game, and the box plays for gammon holding some two-cubes with the captain's cube still centered. But I think that situation occurs even more infrequently.

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