Archive-name: billiards-faq Version: 1.3 This is intended as a general guide and introduction to pool and billiards games; it does not attempt to be comprehensive. Comments and suggestions are welcome! Recent changes include FAX numbers for publications, some more comments on jump shots, and a plug for the Equal Offense tournament. Questions: 1) What does XXX mean? 2) What are the rules for XXX? 3) How do I hit a jump shot? 4) How do I hit a push shot? 5) Where can I go for more information? 1) What does XXX mean? Ball in hand - the freedom to place the ball anywhere on the table. Some games require that it be put behind the head string. Baulk Cushion- The end rail that you rack from (British) Double - Bank shot (British) End rail - The two shorter cushions at each end of the table. Foot spot - A point marked on the cloth two diamonds from the foot rail (the end rail where the balls are racked), in the center of the table. The spot you rack the balls on. Foul - An infraction of the rules that generally ends a player's inning (though it is possible to foul when not shooting). Head spot - A point two diamonds from the head rail (the end rail that you break from), in the center of the table. Inning - A turn at the table. Kitchen - Area behind the head string. Lagging - A way to determine who shoots first. Each player puts a ball behind the head string and banks it off the foot rail. The player whose ball comes closer to the head rail has choice of shooting first or second. Known as "Stringing" in the U.K. Pot - Pocket (British) Scratch - When the cue ball goes in a pocket, or off the table. -------- 2) What are the rules for XXX? STRAIGHT POOL (or 14.1 continuous pocket billiards) Rack all 15 balls on the foot spot, cue ball behind the head string. The break must send two balls and the cueball to a rail. Failure to do so is -2 points, and the opponent has the choice of accepting the table or having the breaker rebreak. You need only name the ball and the pocket in calling a shot. How it gets there is immaterial, and anything else that goes down counts. Scoring: 1 point for sunk balls, -1 for fouls (i.e. scratching, not driving a ball to a rail, etc.), -2 for not driving 2 balls and the cueball to a rail on the break, and -15 for 3 fouls in a row (tacked on the the -1 for the 3rd foul). When one object ball is left, rerack the other fourteen with the front ball missing, and continue play. Weird racking situations: (a) fifteenth ball interferes with the rack: Put it on the head spot. (b) Cueball interferes with the rack: Ball in hand in the kitchen. (c) both (a) and (b): Rack the fifteen balls together, ball in hand in the kitchen. (d) Fifteenth ball behind the head string AND (b): Cueball goes to head spot. (e) Fifteenth ball on the head spot and (b): Cueball to center of table. (f) Cueball on head spot AND (a): Fifteenth ball to center of table. EQUAL OFFENSE Same as straight. Each player gets ten turns; a turn is shooting until you miss, foul, scratch, or run twenty. Rebreak each turn, respot any balls that go in, and start with ball in hand in the kitchen. There is no penalty for scratching on the break. Unlike straight pool, a blast break to get the balls well spread out is the optimum strategy. Since each player runs a separate rack, this is an ideal game for Internet play. This was posted recently to alt.sport.pool: EQUAL OFFENSE INTERNET TOURNAMENT ENTRY FORM Tournament Scheduled for Friday, November 26th, 1993 12:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (Time may vary) To participate in the newest form of international Billiard competition, please fill out the following information on your organizations 10 member team and submit it via E-Mail to Sven Davies at sdavies@csulx.weber.edu or Jari Kokko at jkokko@snakemail.hut.fi. You can also send the form land mail to Sven Davies, Attn: Equal Offense, WSU Box 8176, Ogden, Utah 84408-8176. NINE BALL Rack the lowest numbered nine balls in a diamond, with the one ball at the foot spot and the nine in the middle. Any ball that goes in, counts - as long as the lowest numbered ball on the table is hit first. The winner is the player who makes the nine on a legal shot. If a player fails to hit the lowest numbered ball first, the opponent has ball in hand. On the first shot after a legal break, regardless of who the shooter is, the player can call "push", and merely push the cue ball somewhere, without restrictions on driving a ball to the rail or hitting the lowest numbered object ball. Opponent can either accept the table and shoot, or force the player to shoot. From then on, normal ball-in-hand for failure to hit the lowest-numbered object ball applies. ONE POCKET Each player chooses one of the two corner pockets at the foot of the table. Whoever makes eight balls in their pocket first wins. If you make a ball in your pocket and one in your opponent's, you each get credit for a ball. If you make a ball in an unassigned pocket, it gets spotted either when you miss or when there are no other balls left on the table. If you foul, you spot any ball made on the shot plus a penalty ball. If you make a ball in your opponent's pocket and scratch, it does not count for him, but is spotted along with a penalty ball. You only shoot again if you make a ball in your own pocket. EIGHT BALL You know, stripes and solids :-) Basically, the answer to any question about American 8-ball is "It's a house rule." If you'd like to post a comment on 8-ball rules, please quote your source - e.g., the BCA, Nippon Billiards Association, this little bar in Los Angeles, or whatever. Some common house rules are: You must take the balls that are sunk on the break, you must call the exact path the balls will take (e.g. combinations and banks), and if you sink the 8-ball on the break you win the game. This last, and some others, presumably reflect the fact that most bars are outfitted with pay tables, in which, once an object ball is sunk, it cannot be recovered without paying for a whole new game. None of these are Billiards Congress of America (BCA) rules. Here are some of the actual BCA rules: 1. Table is open after break, no matter how many of either stripe or solid balls are sunk. 2. Call shot- balls which are sunk on a shot where the called ball does not go into the called pocket are spotted. Note- you do not have to call combinations, caroms, or banks-- only the ball and pocket. 3. Foul penalty-- any balls sunk on a foul shot are spotted(no previously sunk balls are pulled), and opponent gets ball in hand, anywhere on the table, not just behind headstring. Scratch on break is still cue ball behind headstring. 4. Same penalty, ball in hand, applies on foul on 8 ball, when it stays on the table. 5. Sinking the 8 ball on the break is not a win or loss; it is merely spotted and the game continues normally. The (1992) rules don't explicitly say it, but if the breaker makes a ball on the break and doesn't scratch or foul, he gets to shoot again, even though he didn't make a called ball from his group. It's not clear what happens if the breaker makes all seven stripes on the break. It seems that he would be required to take solids, since groups haven't been decided yet, and he must pocket all the balls of his group before calling and shooting at the eight. The rules in Britain are slightly different, emphasizing tactics rather than shooting skill. The most significant difference is that after a foul, the opponent takes two consecutive innings. Also, on pub tables, the cue ball is *smaller* than the object balls (on American bar tables it is larger) and lighter. CUT-THROAT A common three player game, better socially than as a test of skill. Each player takes five balls, 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15, and the last player with a ball on the table wins. According the the 1988 BCA rulebook, if you have the cueball in hand behind the headstring, and all of your opponent's balls are behind the headstring, you can have the one closest to the headstring spotted. THREE BALL A social game. Each player takes a rack of three balls and tries to put them in in four or less shots, including the break. Winner is who puts them in in least shots. If no one does it in four or less, the game rolls over to another round. SNOOKER This game uses 21 object balls and a cue ball. Fifteen object balls are red and worth one point. The other six object balls are Yellow (2 points), Green (3) Brown (4) Blue (5) Pink (6) and Black (7). Highest score wins, and the game ends when all balls are pocketed (or when a foul is made on the final black). You alternate hitting red balls and colored balls, and each time a colored ball goes in it is respotted, until all the red balls are off the table. Jari Kokko is a snooker referee, and he kindly has written a detailed description of both Snooker and American Snooker. You can email me (fulton@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu) if you'd like a copy of it. CAROM BILLIARDS Played with two white balls and a red ball, on a table without pockets. One of the white balls has a dot on it, and the two players each use one for their cue ball. If your cue ball hits both object balls, you score a point. Variations are three-cushion and one-cushion - in each case, you must hit the required number of rails before hitting your second object ball. ------------------------------------------- 3) How do I hit a jump shot? 3A) Is about a 45 degree angle of elevation for the cue correct? For most practical shots, it will be less than 45 degrees. It depends on how much of the ball you need to clear and how soon. 3B) Should I hit the cue ball right in the center or a little above center? Below center is better, but not so low you miscue, which is a foul on jump shots, at least at nine ball. If you hit above center, the cue stick tends to trap the cue ball on the cloth. Rule 3.24 says it is illegal to "dig under" the ball to get it to jump. Hitting the cueball below center is not "digging under". By "digging under" I assume they mean a miscue. Miscues are illegal by rule 3.25. 3C) Should I stroke through the cue ball, or does that interfere with the cue ball jumping? You need to use a somewhat shorter stroke to avoid hitting the cloth. If you are already slowing the cue down at the instant of contact, it will act as if it were lighter, which is better. 3D) Does it have to be hit extremely hard? It depends on the distance from the cue ball to the obstruction, the weight of the cue stick, and how much of the obstruction you need to clear. The cue ball's path while in the air is a parabola, and you can calculate how fast the ball must be going to just clear the obstruction at the peak of the trajectory. The most important factor is the kind of cloth on the table. If it is very high quality, thin cloth, jumping will be very difficult. If it is thicker or maybe rubber-backed, jumping will be easy. Start with an easy drill: Freeze three balls together in a line parallel to and about a foot from a rail. Remove the middle one. Place the cue ball an inch from the rail, and shoot it through the hole. Twenty degrees elevation should be plenty for this shot. Do the same, but place an object ball to be pocketed after the jump. Move the two obstructing balls closer to each other and/or farther from the cue ball. At snooker, it is a foul for the cue ball to jump over a ball, whether intended or not (unless the cue ball has already struck an object ball) _____________________ 4) How do I hit a push shot? Bob Jewett says: Tournament rules vary. The double hit/push-shot/frozen cue ball situation is the most controversial and difficult to deal with in all of American pool. To judge the shot accurately, the referee needs to be highly skilled. Few US referees are. In the case of the cue ball nearly touching the object ball (~5mm separation) things are more complicated. The present BCA rule book says that it is OK to shoot directly towards the object ball providing the cue ball has not left the tip of the cue stick when the cue ball hits the object ball. Do you know how long the the ball stays on the tip? Answer: about 2 milliseconds. There is no simple answer here. Good luck. ------------ 5) Where can I go for more information? In the United States, the Billiards Congress of America. You can join the BCA as an individual. I think the annual membership is $25 and includes the rule book and a newsletter. BCA 1700 So. 1st Ave. Eastdale Plaza, Suite 25A Iowa City, IA 52240 (319) 351-2112 In Japan, the Nippon Billiard Association. NBA Maruhuzi building 5F, 1-10, 3-chome, Sinbasi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105 Japan; Tel: +81 3 3593-2543; Fax: +81 3 3593-2545 (Anyone have information for other countries?) BOOKS 1993 Official Rule Book. ISBN 1-878493-03-5 Published by the Billiards Congress of America. Official rules for 11 carom and 16 pocket billiard games. Lists world's championships and records . . . specs on official playing equipment. 128 pp/5-1/2x8-1/2. $3.80 from Saunier-Wilhem Company (see below) or you should be able to get it from the BCA. "The 99 critical shots in Pool", written by Ray Martin. (It starts out assuming you know nothing about pool, and by the end of the book (if you work through all the shots presented, you will become a VERY good player.)) "Standard Book of Pool and Billiards," by Robert Byrne. $16.95. ISBN 0-15-614972-9 (This is a detailed description of some of the more complex aspects of the game, including English, spin, and throw. Includes rules and strategy for several games, including at least a hundred diagrams of three-cushion billiard shots). "Mastering Pool," by George Fels. $12.95. ISBN 0-8092-7895-2 "Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards," by Robert Byrne, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich publishers, ISBN 0-15-614971-0. $16.95 (A collection of Byrne's articles from Billiards Digest, revised and updated. It includes sections on pool, billiards, and sidelights of the various cue sports.) "Byrne's Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards," by Robert Byrne (Trick and fancy shots from the last 200 years, documented and explained.) "The Science of Pocket Billiards," by Jack H. Koehler. $22.95 paperback, $26.95 hardcover. "Winning One-pocket," edited by Eddie Robin. (Lots of shots, breaks, moves, an entire chapter devoted to banking systems and methods.) ------------------------------------------------------- General mail-order suppliers Cornhusker Billiard Supply Lincoln, Nebraska 1-800-627-8888 1-402-423-8888 (Can't use the 800 number in Europe) 1-402-423-5964 FAX The Billiard Library 1570 Seabright Ave. Long Beach, CA 90813 1-800-245-5542 or 310-437-5413 1-310-436-8817 FAX Saunier-Wilhem Company 3216 5th Avenue 1605 Center Point Road 2707 S. Elm-Eugene Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Birmingham, AL 35215 Greensboro, NC (412) 621-4350 (919) 272-3412 (919) 272-3412 ------------------------------------------------------ US Publications Billiards Digest Luby Publishing Suite 1430 200 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60604 US rate: $15/year, six issues phone: 312-341-1110 Pool and Billiard Magazine 109 Fairfield Way Suite 207 Bloomingdale, IL 60108 12 issues per year phone: 708-893-7828 National Billiard News P.O. Box 807 Northville, MI 48167 12 issues per year phone: 313-348-0053 Cue Sports Journal 218 Matheson Street Healdsburg, CA 95448 (707) 431-7100 voice (707) 433-0857 FAX Thanks to bualat@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov (Maria Bualat), t-sumita@ccs.mt.nec.co.jp (Tomohito Sumita) stephen@ocf.berkeley.edu, dd@cs.umb.edu (Dave Dunbrack), gtoal@news.ibmpcug.co.uk (Graham Toal) rel@mtu.edu (Robert E. Landsparger), Bill Angell (wha00@css.amdahl.com) and especially jewett@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com (Bob Jewett) and jkokko@beta.hut.fi (Jari Kokko) for input and information on this and other documents. And sorry if I left your name out! -- ben Send email for the billiards FAQ fulton@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (Bloomington, IN) Slave to a hormone ******************************************************************************