Eight-ball, sometimes called stripes and solids and, more rarely, bigs and littles or highs and lows, is a pool Pool, also known as pocket billiards, is the general term for a family of cue sports played on a pool table with six receptacles called pockets along the rails, into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play game popular in much of the world, and the subject of international amateur and professional competition. Played on a pool table A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which billiards-type games (cue sports) are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables, regardless of whether for carom billiards, pool or snooker, provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth and surrounded by rubber cushions, with the whole with six pockets A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which billiards-type games (cue sports) are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables, regardless of whether for carom billiards, pocket billiards (pool) or snooker, provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth and surrounded by rubber cushions,, the game is so universally known in some countries that beginners are often unaware of other pool games and believe the word "pool" itself refers to eight-ball. The game has numerous variations, including Alabama eight-ball, crazy eight, English eight-ball pool Blackball is a pool (pocket billiards) game that is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and several other countries. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool". 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, last pocket, misery, Missouri, 1 and 15 in the sides, rotation eight ball, soft eight, and others. Standard eight-ball is the second most competitive professional pool game, after nine-ball Nine-ball is a contemporary form of pool, with historical beginnings rooted in the United States and traceable to the 1920s. The game may be played in social and recreational settings by any number of players (generally one-on-one) and subject to whatever rules are agreed upon beforehand, or in league and tournament settings in which the number of and for the last several decades ahead of 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 . 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.

Eight-ball is played with sixteen balls: a cue ball The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, and fifteen object balls The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket 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.

Contents

History

The game of eight-ball is 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 The Brunswick Corporation NYSE: BC, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is a United States-based corporation that has been involved in manufacturing a wide variety of products since 1845. Brunswick's global headquarters is in the northern Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois. In 2007, it had sales of US$5.671 billion with. This forerunner game was played with seven yellow The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket and seven red balls The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, a black ball The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, and the cue ball. Today, numbered stripes The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket and solids The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket are preferred in most of the world, though the British-style variant Blackball is a pool (pocket billiards) game that is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and several other countries. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool". 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 uses the traditional colors. The game had relatively simple rules compared to today and was not added (under any name) to an official rule book until 1940.[1]:24, 89–90[2][3][4]

World Standardized Rules

American-style eight-ball rules are played around the world by professionals, and in many amateur leagues. The rules for eight-ball may be the most contested of any billiard game. There are several competing sets of "official" rules. The non-profit World Pool-Billiard Association The World Pool-Billiard Association is the international governing body for pocket billiards (and also sactions rules and events for carom billiards games as well, in cooperation with other bodies). The group was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of representatives from Japan, the United States, (WPA), with national affiliates such as the Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America is a governing body for cue sports in the United States. It was established under this name in 1948 in order to promote the sport and organize its players via tournaments at various levels. The BCA is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The voting members of the organization are mostly equipment manufacturers (BCA), promulgates the World Standardized Rules[5] for amateur and professional play. The for-profit International Pool Tour The International Pool Tour is a professional sports tour created in 2005 by Kevin Trudeau. It aims to elevate pool to the level of other modern sports. Closely modeled on the PGA Tour, the IPT offered the largest prize funds in pool history in its first year. The tour has attracted the top pool players in the world. It is also different from the has also established an international set of rules[6] for professional and semi-professional play, used in major tournaments broadcast on television (as of 2007, this league has suspended operations, and is focusing on invitational matches, but is expected by many players to resume in 2009). Meanwhile, many amateur leagues, such as the American Poolplayers Association The American Poolplayers Association was founded in 1981 by professional poolplayers Terry Bell and Larry Hubbart, although with roots dating back to the National Pool League (founded in 1979), . The APA conducts a system of franchised-based local amateur leagues of pool competition, including both eight-ball and nine-ball, with a unified APA (APA) / Canadian Poolplayers Association (CPA), and the Valley National Eight-ball Association (VNEA) / VNEA Europe, use their own rulesets as their standards (most of them at least loosely based on the WPA/BCA version), while millions of individuals play informally using colloquial rules which vary not only from area to area but even from venue to venue.

A summary of the international rules follows (see the WPA/BCA or IPT published rules, which conflict on minor points, for more details):

Equipment

One of numerous proper racks The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket: The two corner balls are of different suits The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket and the 8 ball is in the center.

The table's playing surface is approximately 9 by 4.5 feet (2.7 by 1.4 m) (regulation size), though some leagues and tournaments using the World Standardized Rules may allow smaller sizes, down to 7 by 3.5 feet (2.1 by 1.1 m), and early 20th century 10 by 5 feet (3.0 by 1.5 m) models are sometimes also used.

There are seven solid-colored balls The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket numbered 1 through 7, seven striped balls The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket numbered 9 through 15, an 8 ball The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, and a cue ball The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket. The balls are usually colored as follows:

*Special sets designed to be more easily discernible on television substitute a rather light tan shade for normally darker brown of the 7 and 15 balls, and pink for the dark purple of the 4 and 12; these alternative-color sets are now also available to consumers.

Setup

To start the game, the object balls The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket are placed in a triangular rack. The base of the rack is parallel to the end rail The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket (the short end of the pool table) and positioned so the apex ball of the rack is located on the foot spot The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket. The balls in the rack are ideally placed so that they are all in contact with one another; this is accomplished by pressing the balls together from the back of the rack toward the apex ball. The order of the balls should be random, with the exceptions of the 8 ball, which must be placed in the center of the rack (i.e., the middle of the third row), and the two back corner balls one of which must be a stripe and the other a solid. The cue ball is placed anywhere the breaker desires inside the "kitchen The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket".

Break

One person is chosen (by a predetermined method, e.g., coin flip, win or loss of previous game, lag The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket) to shoot first and break The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket the object ball rack apart. If the shooter who breaks fails to make a legal break (usually defined as at least four balls hitting cushions or an object ball being pocketed), then the opponent can demand a re-rack The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket and become the breaker, or elect to play from the current position of the balls.

Long exposure photograph of a break in eight-ball

If the breaker pockets a ball, it is still that player's turn and the table is considered "open" (meaning the breaker can still make any object ball to determine if he/she will only shoot solids or stripes throughout the game). If the breaker fails to make another ball after the break, the table is still considered "open" until someone legally pockets a ball.

According to World Standardized Rules, if the 8 ball is pocketed on the break without fouling The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, the breaker may ask for a re-rack and break again, or have the 8 ball spotted The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket and continue shooting with the balls as they lie. If the breaker scratches while pocketing the 8 ball on the break, the incoming player may call for a re-rack and break, or have the 8 ball spotted and begin shooting with ball-in-hand The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket behind the head string The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, with the balls as they lie.

For regional variations, such as pocketing the 8 on the break being an instant win, see below.

Turns

A player (or team) will continue to shoot until committing a foul The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, taking a safety The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, or failing to legally pocket an object ball on a non-safety shot. Thereupon it is the turn of the opposing player(s). Play alternates in this manner for the remainder of the game. Following a foul, the incoming player has ball-in-hand The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket anywhere on the table, unless the foul occurred on the break shot, as noted previously.

Pocketing the 8 ball

Once all of a player's or team's group of object balls are pocketed, they may attempt to sink the 8 ball. To win, the player (or team) must first designate which pocket they plan to sink the 8 ball into and then successfully pot the 8 ball in that called pocket. If the 8 ball falls into any pocket other than the one designated, is knocked off the table, or a foul (see below) occurs and the 8 ball is pocketed, this results in loss of game. Otherwise, the shooter's turn is simply over, including when a scratch occurs on an unsuccessful attempt to pocket the 8 ball. In short, a World Standardized Rules game of eight-ball, like a game of nine-ball, is not over until the "money ball The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket" is no longer on the table. This rule is unusual to some bar and league players, because in American, Canadian and many other varieties of bar pool The following is an encyclopedic glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: pocket billiards , which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a table without pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket, and in some leagues, such as APA The American Poolplayers Association was founded in 1981 by professional poolplayers Terry Bell and Larry Hubbart, although with roots dating back to the National Pool League (founded in 1979), . The APA conducts a system of franchised-based local amateur leagues of pool competition, including both eight-ball and nine-ball, with a unified APA, such a foul is a loss of game. This is not the case in World Standardized Rules, nor in some other leagues that use those rules or a variant of them, e.g. VNEA beginning with the 2008/2009 season, and BCAPL), and USAPL.

Winning

Any of the following results in a game win:

Fouls

Informal rule variations

This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (July 2007)

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