Backgammon Chouettes

Chouettes

Extras

From:   Daniel Murphy
Address:   raccoon@best.com
Date:   5 February 1997
Subject:   Re: Extra's What are they and How do they Work?
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   raccoon.855129202@shellx

> Could someone explain the uses of giving and taking "Extra's" in a > chouette? Extras (extra cubes) can be used in multiple cube chouettes to either discourage or punish captains (and sometimes other team members) from going against the crowd, taking bad cubes that everyone else drops. Rules vary, but the general idea is this: suppose the box doubles. Everyone drops except one player (usually the captain, who wants to play for the box while everyone else twiddles). Any player who dropped the box's double can now offer an 'extra' to the the player who took. 'Offer' may not be the right word, because the chouette can require the taking player to either take some or all extras or drop the original cube. Suppose you dropped the box's double. You lose a point to the box. Now you give an extra to the taking player. You do this by paying the taker a point to take a cube from you on 2. Now you hope the box wins. If the box wins a single game, you break even. You paid a point to the box, and a point to the taker, but you win two points on your 2-cube. If the taker wins a single game, you lose 4 points: 1 to the box, 1 to the taker, and 2 more to the taker on your 2-cube. Gammons and redoubles count for or against you, of course. If the box wins a gammon, you win 2 points. If the taker wins a gammon, you lose 6. Why offer an extra? Well, the box's double was either a take or a pass. By passing you are saying you think you'll lose less by passing than by taking. If that's true, you should be happy to pay the taker a point to take another cube from you. Do the math yourself, for example, on a cube you think the box will win 80% of the time. If you're right, you come out ahead by dropping and giving an extra. Why take an extra? You like action ... you really want to win the box ... or just maybe everyone else was wrong and the original double was a take! Some chouettes require half or a majority of the team to take the box's double, otherwise everyone must pass. That can be unfair. Using extras avoids this and give cube droppers a chance to remain in action by saying: "If you think this is a take, you can take mine too!" Daniel Murphy San Francisco raccoon@cityraccoon.com

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