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The Whole Picture Here
Posted By: mamabear In Response To: Simborg's Chouette Rule (Stick)
Date: Wednesday, 28 October 2009, at 7:08 p.m.
"Down to four checkers" is probably shorthand for "It's a two-roll ending or close enough for our purposes." I doubt the rule would be invoked, regardless of how it's normally expressed, when all the four remaining checkers are on, say, the 6 and 5 points.
The more mathematical minds in this thread have pointed out that within the bubble contained by this rule, the pigeons come out ahead, since they are more likely to mess up if they are forced to find the right play to save the gammon. You could furthermore argue that the less skilled players are more likely to be in this distressing situation in the first place. I believe, however, that even a pigeon will usually find the right gammon-saving play regardless--it will just take him longer than a good player. So I think the actual equity swing toward the pigeons from this rule, though it exists, is quite negligible.
However, there is a larger bubble encompassing this one, and that is the value of real time, not game time, to the better players. The time saved by this rule, regardless of who was in the situation, benefits the stronger players who then get a new game started sooner.
The constraint on the better players' equity isn't game time, as it would be in a match, where you would never permit this custom. It is instead real time, that is, when the barkeep is finally going to turn out the lights no matter how big a tip you left him earlier.
So in short I think this rule benefits the strong players overall far more than the weaker ones. Similarly, the rule mentioned elsewhere in this thread that someone who is down a lot always gets the opening roll. Unless you allow them to use a double they roll also (my guess is that nobody would allow that) this too is a rather soggy crumb to put on some poor pigeon's plate.
If you want the crumbs you give your pidges to be not only soggy, but also poisonous, why not let someone who is behind be permanently in the box for as long as they wish?
Stick has already mentioned in this thread what he and I have done when we played, which is have the player with the two-roll ending roll to see if they get doubles, then have the other player figure out what the right play is if they still need to. Some other people I've used this convention with, have called it the "Don't Sprain Your Brain Needlessly" rule.
Again, I wouldn't dream of suggesting this in a match, as it changes a rule (the fast-roll) in a way that invites trouble if someone wanted to make an issue. When a clock is in use, it also chips away at the integrity of the game. But in a chouette, it's a good convention IMO not primarily as a way of saving time, but rather of saving boredom. Everyone knows how to figure out these plays, but you gotta admit they aren't the least bit interesting after the first half-dozen times you've made them.
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