User:Fuhghettaboutit/List of pocket billiards games

Eight ball and derived games

Eight-ball

Main article: Eight-ball

Derived from an earlier game invented around 1900 (first recorded in 1908) in the United States and initially popularized under the name "B.B.C. Co. Pool" (a name that was still in use as late as 1925) by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, eight-ball (also known as: stripes and solids; bigs and littles; highs and lows), is a pocket billiards (pool) game popular in much of the world, and the subject of international amateur and professional competition.

Eight-ball is played with sixteen balls: a cue ball, and fifteen object balls, consisting of seven striped balls, seven solid balls and the black 8 ball. After the balls are scattered on a break shot, the players are assigned either the group of solid balls or the stripes once a ball from a particular group is legally pocketed. The ultimate object of the game is to legally pocket the eight ball in a called pocket, which can only be done after all of the balls from a player's assigned group have been cleared from the table.

Blackball

Main article: Blackball (pool)

Blackball (sometimes written black ball or black-ball) is a pocket billiards (pool) game that is popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and several other countries. The game is played with sixteen balls (a cue ball and fifteen object balls) on a pool table with six pockets. Blackball is an internationally-standardised variation of the popular folk game eight-ball pool (or 8-ball pool), closely related to the originally American and now professionally internationalised game of eight-ball.

Nine ball and derived games

Main article: Nine-ball

Nine-ball is a contemporary pocket billiards (pool) game, with historical beginnings rooted in the United States and traceable to the 1920s.

The game is played on a pocket billiards table with six pockets and with ten balls. The cue ball, which is usually a solid shade of white (but may be spotted in some tournaments), is struck to hit one or more of the other nine balls (often referred to as object balls), each of which is distinctly colored and numbered 1 through 9. The object of the game is to pocket the 9 ball in a legal manner, subject to the rules in effect at the time.

In nine-ball, on all shots including the break shot, a player must cause the cue ball to contact the lowest numerical ball on the table first before the cue ball strikes any other ball and, except when a push-out has been invoked (see "The push-out", below), either a ball must be pocketed or some ball (any ball including the cue ball) must contact a rail in order that a foul is not committed. This does not mean that object balls have to be pocketed in order; any ball may be pocketed at any time during the game, so long as the lowest numerical ball is contacted first. Because nine-ball is not a call shot game, the 9 ball itself can also be pocketed in this manner for a win at any time in the game, including when it is pocketed on the break shot.

Players alternate innings at the table, meaning play continues by one player until he or she misses, commits a foul, or pockets the 9 ball for the win. The penalty for a foul is that the player's inning ends and the opponent comes to the table with ball in hand, able to place the cue ball anywhere on the table prior to shooting.

Nine-ball is a relatively fast-paced game and is rarely played by the rack. Instead, players normally play a match (or race) to a set number of games, often five, seven or nine. The first player to win that set number of games wins the match.

Three-ball (historical)

While the modern folk game of three-ball bears no resemblance to nine-ball, the earliest-known version of three-ball was essentially nine-ball played with only three balls, racked in a triangle, in which the 3 ball was the money ball. It is a quick game, and (due to the comparatively very high possibility of pocketing the 3 ball on the break) one with a more significant luck component than nine-ball and most other pool games.

Six-ball

A normal six-ball rack; the 1 ball is at the apex and on the foot spot, and the 6 is in the center of the back row.

A bar pool six-ball rack, played with the leftovers of a nine-ball game; the 10 ball (the lowest) is at the apex, and the 15 (the highest) is the money ball.

Six-ball is essentially identical to nine-ball but with three fewer balls, and racked in a three-row triangle, with the 6 ball (or more often the 15 ball; see below) as the money ball, placed in the center of the back row. According to Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, the game arose in early 20th century billiard halls that charged by the rack instead of by the hour, as nine-ball players had already paid for the 10–15 balls and did not want to waste them. This explanation of the game's origin may be particularly plausible because six-ball remains popular today as a diversion or practice round among nine-ball-playing bar pool players, using coin-operated tables that deliver a full set of fifteen balls.

Seven-ball

Main article: Seven-ball

Racking a typical game of seven-ball, using the nine-ball diamond rack sideways.

Racking a seven-ball game with a special hex rack and black-striped 7 ball.

Seven-ball is a similar game, the primary differences being there are only seven object balls, racked in a hexagon, and the game is won by pocketing the 7 ball. Seven-ball is racked with the 1 ball at the apex on the foot spot and the 7 ball (the money ball) in the center of the hexagon. After a legal opening break, the opponent chooses which side of the table (along left and right long rails) into which he will pocket the seven ball. Balls 1-6 may be pocketed on either side of the table. Limiting the 7 ball to one side greatly increases the strategy when compared to the game 9-ball. This game is not particularly common. Though hardly necessary, specialized equipment for the game can be purchased, including a unique black-striped seven ball and a hexagonal rack.

Ten-ball

Main article: Ten-ball

A valid ten-ball rack; the 1 is at the apex on the foot spot, and the 10 (the money ball) is in the center.

Ten-ball is a more stringent variant of the game, using ten balls (racked in a triangle with the 10 ball, the money ball in this case, in the center), and in which the money ball cannot be pocketed early for an early win. Due to its more challenging nature, and the fact that there is no publicly known technique for reliably pocketing specific object balls on the break shot, there have been suggestions among the professional circuit that ten-ball should replace nine-ball as the pro game of choice, especially since the rise of the nine-ball soft break, which is still legal in most international and non-European competition. Regardless of the future of the nine-ball versus ten-ball debate, there are already hotly contested professional ten-ball tournaments.

Carom nine-ball

Carom nine-ball (also carom nine, for short) is played with the usual nine-ball rack, but breaking with the 1 ball, with the cue ball placed at the head of the rack (in the usual place of the 1 ball). As in regular nine-ball, play progresses from the lowest-numbered ball on the table; however a legal shot is made by shooting the object ball rather than the cue ball. The object ball must make first contact with the cue ball to count as a legal shot, the goal being to carom the object ball into a pocket or into another ball. Once a legal shot has been performed, any ball then sunk counts for that player; the winner is the player to first pocket the nine-ball after a legal shot.

Chicago

Main article: Chicago

Chicago is a "money ball" pool gambling game. It was a popular game in New York City pool rooms during the 1960s and 1970.

The game of Chicago is played in a similar fashion to nine-ball and rotation, where balls must be played in order starting with the 1 ball. In Chicago, all fifteen balls are used. The money balls are the 1, 5, 8, 10, 13 and 15. These six balls are racked to the front of the rack with the 1 ball at the head of the rack. A player continues his turn as long as a ball is pocketed. A score is kept as to how many money balls are made by each player.

Once all balls are pocketed the players will "settle up" based on the amount of money balls they made during the game. The loser pays the winner a previously agreed upon amount multiplied by the difference in money balls between the two players (i.e., if Player A makes five money balls and Player B makes one then Player B owes Player A four times the amount of the wager.)

The game can also simply be played recreationally for points instead of money.

Reverse pool games

Reverse pool games are pool (pocket billiards) games in which the object of play is to pocket the object balls by caroming them off of the cue ball, thus reversing the more common act in the majority of pool games of striking object balls with the cue ball to send object balls into pockets.

Reverse pool games include backwards pool, billiard pool, carom pool, chinese pool, contra pool, cue ball pool, Irish pool, kiss pool, loop (pool spelled backwards), reverse billiards and the losing game of pyramid.

Straight pool

Main article: Straight pool

Straight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball (and to a lesser extent eight-ball). This is the classic game from the history of pool and most of the greatest players of all time were known to play this game. The game was formerly especially popular in the United States, and immortalized in the 1961 film The Hustler.

In straight pool, the shooter may attempt to pocket any ball on the table. The object is to reach a set number of points determined by agreement before the game. One point is scored for each ball pocketed where no foul is made. A typical game might require a player to score 100 points, meaning at least 100 balls must be pocketed to win. In professional competition, straight pool is usually played to 150 points. Straight pool is a call-pocket game, meaning the player must indicate the intended object ball and pocket on every shot. How the ball reaches the pocket is irrelevant, as long as the called ball enters the called pocket.

One-pocket

Main article: One-pocket

One-pocket (often spelled one pocket) is a two-player (or -team) pocket billiards (pool) game. The object of the game is to score points by pocketing (potting) pool balls into specific pockets. A point is made when a player makes any object ball into that player's designated pocket. The winner is the first to score an agreed-upon number of points (most commonly 8). The player making the break shot (typically after winning the lag) chooses a foot corner pocket for the rest of the game; all of that shooter's balls must be shot into that pocket. All of the opponent's balls must be made in the other foot corner pocket.

One-pocket is similar to the game of straight pool in that both games allow players to score points for pocketing balls, each legally pocketed ball earns the shooter another shot, and any object ball is legal ball to shoot at (a ball-on). The penalties for a foul are the loss of 1 point, re-spotting a previously pocketed ball if possible, and in the case of a "scratch" the incoming player gets ball in hand behind the head string. Unlike in straight pool, but as in the game of nine-ball, three consecutive fouls is a loss of game.

Baseball pocket billiards

Main article: Baseball pocket billiards

Baseball pocket billiards or baseball pool (sometimes, in context, referred to simply as baseball) is a pocket billiards (pool) game suited for multiple players that borrows phraseology and even some aspects of form from the game of baseball. For instance, although baseball pool is played on a standard pool table, the 9-ball is known as the pitcher, the table’s foot spot where balls are racked is known as home plate, and each team or player is afforded nine innings to score as many runs as possible.

Baseball pocket billiards has been in existence since at least 1912, when Brunswick soberly described it in a pamphlet as "the most fascinating game of the twentieth century." The game has relatively simple rules. The winner is the player with the highest run tally after all players have taken nine turns at bat.

Although never one of the most popular billiards pursuits, and more well known in the early- to mid-20th century, the game has been featured in well-advertised public tournaments. For example, in 1922, the Pennsylvania Railroad System hosted a large scale “Indoor Championships” sports tourney in Columbus, Ohio, with more than 1,500 contestants competing at 15 events, including baseball pocket billiards, for an audience of approximately 20,000 spectators.

Kelly pool

Main article: Kelly pool

An 8 ball.‎

Kelly pool (also known as pea pool, pill pool, keeley, the keilley game, and killy) is a pocket billiards game with numerous variations, played on a standard pool table using fifteen numbered markers, and a standard set of sixteen pool balls. An early version of the game, kelly rotation, is the origin of the common expression "behind the eight ball".

Bottle pool

Main article: Bottle pool

The leather shake bottle used as a carom target in bottle pool.

Bottle pool, also known as bottle-billiards and bottle pocket billiards, is a hybrid billiards game combining aspects of both carom billiards and pocket billiards. Played on a standard pool table, the game uses just two object balls, a cue ball, and a 6¾ inch tall, narrow-necked bottle called a shake bottle or tally bottle, traditionally made from leather, that is placed on the table and used as a target for caroms. Those unfamiliar with the game sometimes mistakenly use its name as a synonym for the very different game of kelly pool. Bottle pool has been described as combining "elements of billiards, straight pool and chess under a set of rules that lavishly rewards strategic shot making and punishes mistakes with Sisyphean point reversals."

Although bottle pool's origins remain obscure, tournament records and newspaper articles confirm that the game has been played since at least the late 1800s. A mention appears in an 1894 New York Times newspaper article announcing a 64 player tournament to be played at a certain Hanover Clubhouse in Brooklyn, New York. The game was more well known in the early to mid 20th century, during which references to it appear in numerous books and publications including Sinclair Lewis' Main Street. It is also known to have been played by some notable individuals, such as world renowned quantum chemist and biochemist Linus Pauling.

Bank pool

Main article: Bank pool

Bank pool is a Pocket billiards game that has as it most fundamental requirement, that all scoring shots in the game to be made by banking a called ball off a cushion and into a called pocket. While the game has multiple variations, the predominant version through much of its history was played with a full fifteen-ball rack, of which the winning player was required to legally pocket eight balls. A shortened version of the game using nine balls of which the players must legally pocket five for the win, often called "nine-ball banks," gained popularity in the 1990s and 2000s and is the subject of international professional competition and televised matches.

Cowboy pool

{{Main|Cowboy pool Cowboy pool, sometimes just called cowboy, is a hybrid pool game combining elements of English billiards through an intermediary game, with more standard pocket billiards characteristics. The game employs only four balls, the cue ball and three numbered balls, the 1, 3 and 5. It is played to 101 points, with points being awarded for a host of different shot types.

Cribbage

Main article: Cribbage (pool)

Setting up a game of cribbage with the triangle rack.

Cribbage, sometimes called cribbage pocket billiards, cribbage pool, fifteen points and pair pool, is a two-player pocket billiards game that, like its namesake card game, has a scoring system which awards points for pairing groups of balls (rather than playing cards) that total 15. Played on a standard pool table, participants who pocket a ball of a particular number are required to immediately pocket the companion ball that tallies to 15 when added to the prior ball's number. The goal is to score 5 paired cribbages out of a possible 8, with the exception that the last ball, required to be the 15 ball, is not paired but alone counts as 1 cribbage.

Golf billiards

Main article: Golf billiards

Golf billiards (also referred to as simply golf in clear context, and sometimes called golf pool or golf pocket billiards) is a pocket billiards game usually played for money. Unlike the majority of such games, it allows more than two people to play without compromises or rule changes. The game borrows concepts from the outdoor game of golf, which is historically related to the cue sports. It is usually played on 10–foot or 12–foot snooker tables as their size and structure are more appropriate (even in billiard halls in the United States where it is in fact more popular than snooker itself, according to the Billiard Congress of America).

Rotation

Main article: Rotation (pool)

The appropriate rack for rotation from the racker's point of view; the 1 ball is at the apex of the rack and is on the foot spot, the 2 is in the corner to the racker's right, the 3 ball is in the left corner, and the 15 is in the center, with all other balls placed randomly, and all balls touching.

Rotation, sometimes called rotation pool or 61, is a pocket billiards (pool) game, requiring a standard pool table, cue ball and triangular rack of fifteen pool balls, in which the lowest-numbered object ball on the table must be always struck by the cue ball first, to attempt to pocket (pot) numbered balls for points. Rotation is similar in many ways to nine-ball, but its scoring system is not unlike that of snooker and fifteen-ball.

Artistic pool

Artistic pool trick shot competitions, inspired by the related discipline of artistic billiards, began in 1993 in the US at an amateur level and in 2000 professionally and internationally. They feature a program of 56 tricks to attempt, and include the BCA North American Championship, EPBF European Championship, and WPA World Championship, among others. The tricks are divided into eight "disciplines", including trick/fancy, prop/novelty/special arts, and disciplines for extremes in each of the core cueing techniques. The world governing body for this (eventually Olympic-hopeful) sport is the WPA Artistic Pool Division, while the largest league and player organization is the US-based Artistic Pool & Trick Shot Association (APTSA). A high-profile proponent of artistic pool is Tom "Dr. Cue" Rossman, a notable professional player and billiards author.

In APTSA competitions, competitors have three chances to successfully perform each trick, earning full points if they are successful on their first attempts and incrementally reduced points for subsequent attempts. Each shot has an associated difficulty rating (also the point value) with a higher rating being more difficult. A preliminary round of 40 shots is performed, and the top players (the number varies depending on the number of competitors, but usually the top 12) proceed into a head-to-head playoff format to determine the winner. Artistic pool also features equipment limitations, and shot requirements (e.g., preclusion of any off-the-table tricks, such as are popular in events like Trick Shot Magic).

Bowlliards

Main article: Bowlliards

Bowlliards is a pool game often used as a training drill. The game borrows aspects of ten-pin bowling. The game is divided into ten frames where a player gets a maximum of two innings to pocket ten balls.

At the start of each "frame" (round of play, in bowling terms), ten object balls are racked in with triangle with the front ball placed at the foot spot. The cue ball is placed in the area behind the head string (baulk line), i.e. in "the kitchen", and the first player breaks. After the break the player gets ball in hand and tries to pocket as many balls as possible until missing. This is considered the first inning of the frame, which consists of as many innings as there are players. If there are still balls left on the table after the first attempt, the player gets another try. Clearing all the balls on the first inning is called a strike, clearing remaining balls on the second inning is called a spare. For details on scoring see the scoring section for ten-pin bowling.

Chinese eight-ball

Main article: Chinese eight-ball

Chinese eight-ball is a two-player pocket billiards game which combines the play of eight-ball (except by shooting object balls into the cue ball instead of the normal vice-versa) with the shooting style of carom billiards games.

The game is actually of American origin, and probably takes its name from the fanciful notion that things might be done backwards on the other side of the world.

Cutthroat

Main article: Cutthroat

Cutthroat is a three-player pocket billiards game, played on a pool table using cue sticks. Each player is assigned a set of numbered balls. The object is to be the last player with at least one ball still on the table. Subtle differences in game rules exist, with numerous regional variants.(see Regional Variations of Cutthroat) The name "cutthroat" is not unique to pool, but refers to any game played with three or more players in which each player must fend for himself (such as cutthroat bridge).

Russian pyramid

Main article: Russian pyramid

Russian pyramid game setup, with the object balls in a triangle rack at the foot of the table, and the cue ball behind (up-table of) the head string

Russian pyramid, also known simply as pyramid or pyramids (пирами́да, piramida) and often called Russian billiards (Russian: ру́сский билья́рд, russky bilyard) or Russian pool, is a cue sport that has several differences from Western pool, although game play is still dominated by attempts to pocket (pot) billiard balls. It is played in countries of the former Soviet Union and a variant of it, kaisa is popular in Finland.

Speed pool

Main article: Speed pool

Speed pool is a solitary pool game. As its name suggests, one pockets all the balls on the table as quickly as possible. It can played competitively with the aid of a stopwatch.