Billiards
Strikz has six 8’ tables in our smoke-free
facility.
Come in and join the fun!
 All billiard games are generally regarded to have evolved
into indoor games from outdoor stick and ball games. The word
"pool" generally refers to pocket billiard games such as 8-ball,
9-ball, straight pool and one-pocket.
8
Ball Rules
Setup
To start the game, the colored balls are placed in a triangular
rack. The base of the rack is parallel to the end rail (the
short end of the pool table) and positioned so the apex ball
of the rack is located on the foot spot. 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 placement
of the balls, for a legal rack according to world standardized
rules is that the 8-ball is placed in the center, while the
two corners must be a stripe and a solid (see image). The
cue ball is placed anywhere the breaker desires between the
head string and its nearest short side (that is, the quarter
of the table farthest from the rack), an area known as the
"kitchen."
The pool table is divided into two equal halves lengthwise
by an imaginary line called the "long string". Two
lines, the "head string" and "foot string"
are perpendicular to the long string and are placed ¼
length away from each end of the table. The intersection of
the long and head strings is called the "head spot",
and the intersection of the long and foot strings is called
the "foot spot".
Break
 One person is chosen to shoot first ("break" the
balls apart; note that this is a different definition of the
word "break" than in other billiards games, notably
snooker) by any number of methods: flip of a coin, loser of
last game breaks, winner of last game breaks, "lag",
etc. If the shooter who breaks fails to make a legal break
(usually defined as at least four balls hitting cushions)
then the opponent can either re-rack and break, or play from
the current position.
If the breaker pockets a ball, it is still the same player's
turn. This area of the game has two possible variations.
* The breaker is deemed to have legally pocketed the ball,
and continues to shoot for balls in the same group. In this
interpretation, if balls in both groups are pocketed, a common
rule is for the player to nominate which group they will shoot
for, but for their turn to end.
* The table is still "open" until someone legally
pockets a ball (accepted by BCA).
A common "house rule" is that if the 8 ball is
potted on the break, either the breaking player or the opposing
player wins immediately
Pocketing the 8 ball
Once all the player's object balls are pocketed, he/she may
attempt to sink the 8 ball. To win, the player must specify
the pocket that the 8 will land in, and make it in that pocket.
The player must again specify the pocket it will land in on
each successive turn attempting to pocket the 8 ball, as the
pocket chosen may differ from the one nominated on the last
shot. No target pocket must be specified if the player is
not actually attempting to pocket the 8. If the 8 is shot
into the wrong pocket or a foul occurs, the player loses.
Otherwise, the player's turn is over.
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