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Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 3:25 p.m.

(O.K., I know I shouldn't be calling it the "Simborg Chouette Rule." What should I call it instead?)

For readers who like puzzles, here is a challenge. Devise a position where the side who is ahead has more than 4 checkers left, and the correct play depends on whether the Simborg Chouette Rule (SCR) is in force. That is, if one is playing with the SCR rule, then Play A is better than Play B, but if the SCR rule is not in force, then Play B is better than Play A.

I thought about this for an hour or two and didn't come up with an example, but I'm sure examples exist. The existence of such examples helps demonstrate that the SCR doesn't necessarily simplify the game. Specifically, if I know that the SCR rule is in force, then I might be motivated to stop and think hard one move earlier than I otherwise would, because now I have to think through which play is most like to save the gammon, given that the SCR is likely to kick into action during my next roll.

The analogy between the SCR and the Jacoby rule is interesting. There's a friend of mine who is an expert in game design, and he uses the technical term "downtime" to mean, roughly speaking, periods during a game which are "boring" for one or more players. Waiting for the other player to make a move is often "downtime." It appears that both the Jacoby rule and the SCR were introduced in an attempt to reduce downtime. An experienced game inventor, however, knows that introducing a substantial rule change into a complex game has many ramifications, that are often unforeseen by the introducer of the rule. In particular, as we all know, what is definitely true is that the Jacoby rule has subtle effects on correct checker play and cube action. Ironically, what is not so clear is that the Jacoby rule really does achieve its original intent of reducing downtime. It might, but I've not seen any hard evidence to prove it.

Similarly, if the SCR becomes standard, then I predict that it will definitely have subtle effects on correct checker play and cube action many moves before the rule actually kicks in (as MCG has already observed). What is less clear is that it will actually reduce, rather than increase, downtime.

Messages In This Thread

• Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
  Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 3:25 p.m.
  • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
    Phil Simborg -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 3:31 p.m.
    • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
      Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 3:47 p.m.
      • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
        Phil Simborg -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 4:09 p.m.
        • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
          Phil Simborg -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 4:51 p.m.
          • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
            Jason Lee -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 11:19 p.m.
            • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
              Phil Simborg -- Friday, 30 October 2009, at 12:46 a.m.
        • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
          David Rockwell -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 5:21 p.m.
    • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
      Matt Cohn-Geier -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 4:55 p.m.
  • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
    Bob Koca -- Thursday, 29 October 2009, at 9:13 p.m.
    • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
      Timothy Chow -- Saturday, 31 October 2009, at 1:37 a.m.
      • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
        Bob Koca -- Saturday, 31 October 2009, at 7:44 p.m.
        • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
          Timothy Chow -- Sunday, 1 November 2009, at 12:09 a.m.
    • Simborg Chouette Rule Challenge
      Bob Koca -- Saturday, 31 October 2009, at 7:46 p.m.