Billiards

Strikz has three 7’ tables in our smoke-free facility.
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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.