What is a chouette?

A chouette is backgammon for three or more players. One player, the box, plays a game against everyone else, the team. The team's first player, the captain, moves the team's checkers; the others are the crew.

The order of play

A session starts with the Shuffle, which draws the order of play: the first in the order is the box, the next the captain, then the crew. A player who joins later goes to the bottom of the order.

After each game the order moves on. Traditionally, when the captain beats the box, the captain becomes the box; the loser of the two goes to the bottom and the next crew member becomes captain. The chouette's settings can choose other rules for this.

Everyone has a cube

Every member of the team has their own cube against the box. When the box doubles, each team member decides alone to take or drop; those who drop pay the box and are out of this game. Each team member may also double the box when they like. So the box can win against some team members and lose against others in the same game.

If the captain drops, the next crew member in the order becomes captain for the rest of the game.

Scoring

The box pays every team member who beats them and collects from every team member they beat. Being in the box is the bigger chance and the bigger risk. That is why a player may skip the box, and why in a large chouette the box may play with a partner.

In Choue

Each game's result is in the game log and the scoreboard, and every player's PR is rated. The rules a chouette plays by are its settings; see Choose chouette settings.