Review: Danish Pin Billiards & Skomar

 Last night I had a chance to play the Danish games of "Keglebillard" and "Skomar", which I covered in a rules overview [here].

You might think perhaps it's weird I even posted a rules overview for a game I haven't had the chance to properly play, but this blog is mostly born out of a fascination for the subject matter, rather than experience.

Game 1 - Keglebillard

We started out playing "Keglebillard", regular Danish Pin Billiards, as the rules for this variant are by far the most straightforward and the least punishing.

To summarise, the only things that score points in Keglebillard is toppling pins and making carom shots on the two object balls. Fouls don't result in any penalty points, you simply don't get to retain your score for the inning.

Despite the fact that we're both complete novices to the game, I'd say it went quite well. We played a 100 point game, which took us the better part of two hours to complete. I'd chalk the length of this game up to the fact that we both had trouble making points at all, and if we did manage to make a good handful points, we'd inevitably make a foul at the end and lose it all.

Now, we both played Eight-Ball Pool a lot in our youth, a game that is notably filled to the brim with balls. Pin billiards, like many carom games, only uses a measily three balls. This, paired with the fact that there are pins in the way, means you are much more reliant on bank shots to get anything done, as you need to manoeuvre the cue-ball around the pins to hit the object ball on the other side.

If all you (like us) have ever played is Snooker or Pool, this game provides a delightful level of challenge.

My partner left me in a rather unfortunate situation...

Game 2 - Skomar

After finishing our game of Keglebillard, we moved onto Skomar. 

The game uses all the same equipment and setup as Keglebillard, but modifies the rules to make for a quicker game. Among the major rule changes are

• Penalty points awarded to the opponent when making a foul.
• Being forced to hit a cushion before hitting the pins.
  
• Changing sides between every shot.
• Being awarded points for pocketing the object ball.
• Being awarded points for getting the two object balls to make contact.

Changing sides between every shot made for a much much more interactive game.
The game went from trying to just hit the pins over and over, to playing defensively, as leaving the object ball in a good spot would make it much easier for the opponent to make points on their turn.

Fouls rewarding the opponent points also made the game a lot quicker. Mostly because we just kept fouling.

The pockets being smaller than on a Pool table also made the otherwise rather trivial task of pocketing an object ball a bit more of a challenge:

Pool table pocket on the left, Pins table pocket on the right.

The balls would often just rattle straight out instead of falling in, but this also worked to our advantage, as some trickier shots could be bounced on the corner of a pocket's cushion and out around the pins.

Due to the shorter frames of Skomar compared to Keglebillard, Skomar is usually played best-of-3 or best-of-5.

More scoring opportunities means it's easier to find something that scores points, combined with the defensive play that comes from switching sides between shots makes this a very fun and interesting game to play. I wouldn't say it's better than Keglebillard, just different. It's certainly the better spectator sport of the two.

All in all, I think everyone should try these games if given the opportunity. Finding a table outside of Denmark is going to be a struggle for most. But the same could be said for Russian Pyramid.

Century - A Snooker Variant for 2-8 Players

In my infinite quest for little known cue sports I stumbled upon this Pakistani Snooker variant called Century.

Much like Sinuca Brasileira, Century only uses one copy of the red ball. Unlike Sinuca Brasileira, the red is re-spotted any time it is pocketed.

I'm struggling to find any rules references for this game other than an archived copy of snookergames.co.uk and this one video:

From what I gather about the game, the exact rules vary from community to community, so this is just one interpretation of the rules.

If I got any details wrong, feel free to comment.

Materials & Setup

To play this game you need

• A Snooker table (though some sources simply say "billiards table")
• 1 red Snooker ball + the other six colours

Interestingly, you are not allowed to use rests for this game, but extra long cues are okay.

The table is set up just like regular Snooker, except the red ball is spotted (and then later re-spotted) half-way between the blue and the pink.

Note that in some variants of the game, the red ball is placed behind the black up against the foot cushion.

 The Game

The aim of the game is to score exactly 100 points without going over.
Exceeding 100 points is a 10 point foul, deducting 10 points from your score.

All pocketed balls are immediately re-spotted, including the red ball.

The Break

The break is the same as in regular Snooker. Simply place the cue-ball in the D and shoot for the red ball.

Structure

Like Snooker, the game is played in innings, whereby a player keeps on playing as long as they score points.

No player can score any points until they become "open". To become open, a player must pocket the red ball at 0 points once, After that, the red ball becomes worth 10 points, and the player can then freely choose between any of the other balls.

Failing to pocket the red ball when not open results in a foul. 

Missing a shot ends the current player's inning and passes the turn to the next player.

It is also not permissible to shoot the same ball more than three times in a row. The streak must be broken up.

Scoring

The balls are worth the following amount of points:

• Red: 0 (before open), 10 (when open), 1 (at 99)
  
• Yellow: 2
  
• Green: 3
  
• Brown: 4
  
• Blue: 5
  
• Pink: 6
  
• Black: 7

The colours are all worth their usual amount of points except the red, which starts off worthless, then becomes worth 10 points. If a player then reaches 99 points, the red ball's value decreases down to 1 point to make it possible to win.

Fouls

I haven't been able to find any clear definitive answer as to what exactly constitutes a foul in this game. Break From Life's video on the topic suggests that any missed shot is a foul. But that would mean the game has no safety shots. snookergames.co.uk doesn't elaborate on what a foul is either. Going by Break From Life's video as the root assumption, here are the foul shots and their point values:

Foul points are deducted from the player who fouled. This is different from regular Snooker where they are awarded to the opponent(s). This does mean it is possible to go below 0.

• Failing to pocket red: -10 points
• Failing to pocket yellow: -2 points
• Failing to pocket green: -3 points
  
• Failing to pocket brown: -4 points
• Failing to pocket blue: -5 points
• Failing to pocket pink: -6 points
• Failing to pocket black: -7 points
• Going above 100 points: -10 points 
• Shooting the same ball a 4th consecutive time: value of the ball
  
• Other typical Snooker fouls: -10 points or whatever the value of the touched ball was.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as someone scores their 100th and final point. That player is then declared the winner.

Variants

Variant 1

A Pakistani commenter on Break From Life's video states that in their circles, all one has to do to become "open" is to simply touch the red ball, not pocket it.

Variant 2

According to a commenter on Break From Life's video, another mentod of playing the game is to play it like a regular Snooker game, where a red must be pocketed between every colour. 

In this variant, the red is worth 1 point like normal, but is re-spotted every time it's pocketed like in the rules above. The aim is still to reach 100 points exactly.

Sources

• https://web.archive.org/web/20210927005548/http://snookergames.co.uk/games15.html
• https://youtu.be/mvhy5O4_HsM?si=sfFCb77SPL3jGxGo
  

Homebrew Game: 1-7-1 Rotation Pool

As one might expect from a blog writing about obscure billaird games, I was bound to make my own.

Here's a game that started out as a Nine-Ball Pool variant that incorporates the rules of Brazilian Snooker. I call it 1-7-1 Rotation Pool, so named after its board setup.

The game came about from me being unhappy about how easy it can be to win in Nine-Ball if you get a lucky break, as it is possible to pot the 9-ball in the first shot if the balls lay favourably.

In 1-7-1 Rotation you must go through all of the balls sequentially (kinda).

Anyway, without further ado, here's the rules.

Materials & Setup

To play 1-7-1 Rotation you need

• A Pool table
• All the balls needed to play Nine-Ball.
  That is, Pool balls numbered 1 to 9 plus a cue ball.

To set up the game, place the 9-ball on the head spot, the 1-ball on the foot spot, and the remaining 7 balls randomly in a "flower pattern" (a central ball surrounded on all sides) with the centre ball on the centre spot, like so:

One at the head, seven in the middle, one at the foot. One seven one. The name of the game.

To rack up the seven centre balls, you can use a regular Nine-Ball rack:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

 

Game set up at our local billiards club

The Game

The object of the game is to score more points than your opponent by slowly and methodically clearing the balls off the table.

Unlike Nine-Ball, there's no money ball in this game. The game doesn't end as soon as the 9-ball is pocketed. Instead, the structure is much more similar to Snooker.

In fact, the game itself plays almost exactly like Brazilian Snooker albeit with more balls and higher point values.

The Break

To break, the starting player (chosen by whatever means) places the cue-ball in the kitchen, the area at the head of the table behind the baulk line.

This player then has to shoot the 1-ball and try to scatter the balls in the middle without

a) Snookering the opponent and
b) pocketing anything.

Snookering someone simply means to put the other player in such a position that they don't have a clear shot at the ball-on (which after the break is the 1-ball).

If the break failed, the other player may either play the table from there or request a redo.

If the break fails thrice in a row, the opponent is awarded 9 points and play simply continues from there.

Structure

The game is played in frames, similar to Snooker, where a player continues playing so long as they are pocketing a valid ball.

On a player's turn they may choose between two different types of shot.

A "safe shot" and a "hazard shot" (known as a "free shot" and a "penalty shot" in Brazilian Snooker).

Play continues until all the balls are eliminated from the table. The winner is whoever has the most points.

Safe Shot

In a safe shot, the current active player tries to pocket the current ball-on, the lowest numbered ball on the table.

If they fail to pocket this ball, the frame simply ends and the turn is passed to the other player.

If they successfully pocket that ball, they score the ball's printed value in points. They then have to make a "bonus shot" (more on this later).

If the bonus shot succeeds, the active player then again has a choice between a safe shot and a hazard shot.

Hazard Shot

A hazard shot is risky. Instead of trying to pocket the ball on, the active player can nominate any other ball on the table as well as a pocket for it to enter. This nominated ball becomes the ball-on for the shot (important for fouls).

Failing to make this shot either by missing the pocket or pocketing it in the wrong pocket is a foul.

If the shot succeeds, the active player is awarded the ball's printed value in points, the ball is re-spotted, and then the active player is forced to make a safe shot.

Bonus Shot

The bonus shot is structured in the same exact way as a hazard shot, in that the active player nominates a ball and a hole.

The only difference is that failing to pocket the ball on the bonus shot does not constitute a foul.

Re-Spotting

Any ball that is pocketed either by mistake or as a result of a bonus or hazard shot is re-spotted.

To re-spot a ball, place it on the spot that is furthest away from the cue-ball.
If that spot is occupied, place it on the spot second-furthest away from the cue-ball.
If that spot is also occupied, place it on the closest spot.
Lastly, if that spot is also occupied, place it as close to the farthest spot as possible.

Scoring

Points are awarded according to the printed values on the balls. That is to say, the 1-ball is worth 1 point, the 2-ball is worth 2 points, and so on.

The maximum number of points a player can score (based on a rough back of the envelope calculation) is 189 points.

Fouls

Committing a foul always rewards the opponent the value of the current ball-on.

Fouls include

• Pocketing the wrong numbered ball (it is re-spotted).
• Failing a hazard shot in any way, this includes missing the pocket.
• Pocketing the cue-ball. Opponent gets ball in-hand anywhere on the table.
• Missing or not hitting the ball-on first.
• Not hitting a cushion (pockets count as cushions).
• Hitting a ball with anything other than the cue-ball.
• Hitting the cue-ball with anything other than the cue tip.
• Hitting the cue-ball twice in the same stroke
• Jumping a ball off the table. The ball is re-spotted.
• Jumping the cue-ball off the table. This gives the opponent ball in-hand.

Variants

I'm a very indecisive person, so I often create a whole lot of variants just because.

9-Ball Hazard Rotation

The original version of 1-7-1 Rotation.

The game is racked identically to Nine-Ball:

The only rules change is that the balls are always re-spotted on the foot spot regardless of where the cue-ball is placed.

To break, you must hit the 1-ball, scatter the balls, and not pocket anything else.

1-7-1 Rotation Pyramid

Replace the cue-ball with the 10 ball, which is worth 10 points:

The game is now played according to Russian Pyramid rules:
After breaking, any ball can be used as a cue-ball.

All shots can either be shot normally, or by hitting the object ball and perfoming a carom shot into a pocket (called an in-off in Snooker or a losing hazard in English Billiards). The only requirement is that if you plan on doing a carom shot, the ball-on must be used as a cue ball, and if planning on doing a regular shot, the ball-on must be first thing hit.

All other rules still apply with regards to safe, hazard, and bonus shots and the pocketing order.

This variant can also be racked in the 9-Ball Hazard Rotation style.

Play it on an actual Russian Pyramid table with Pyramid balls for an extra tough challenge.

The game ends once only the 10-ball remains on the table.

Chinese Pool Table

Less of a variant and more of an added challenge.

Instead of playing this on a standard Pool table, play the game on a Chinese Pool table.

It's slightly bigger and has smaller rounder pockets, which should make sinking the balls harder.

Both variants can realistically be played with this setup.

Reverse Eight-Ball

This game came up when I was researching Cowboy Pool the other day. I later learned that it's simply called Reverse or Backwards Eight-Ball, though some people call it Cowboy Pool, hence the confusion.

Quite simply, it is a standard game of Eight-Ball but played "in reverse", that is to say, you hit the object balls with the cue and try to hit the cue-ball.

One could perhaps argue that it's lazy to include a game so similar to regular Eight-Ball, but I feel like it's interesting enough that it warrants inclusion.

Materials & Setup

To play this game you need

• A standard Pool table
• A standard set of 15 Pool balls and cue-ball

Set up the Pool table like you would for a regular game of Eight-Ball, using whatever ball setup rules you're used to.

The Game

As mentioned, the game is played in reverse from regular Eight-Ball.You cue the object balls, and try to hit the cue-ball.

The aim and general rules of the game are still the exact same as regular Eight-Ball, each player must pocket all of the balls of their own suit (solids or stripes) and end with pocketing the 8-ball.

The way you do this is by hitting the ball you wish to pocket with the cue, have it bounce off the stationary cue-ball, and then continue into the pocket.

You must hit the white ball first in every shot, failing to do so is a scratch.

Using Snooker terminology, the game thus has 15 cue-balls and one object ball. The white ball is always ball on, and all pockets must be done with in-offs (aka losing hazards).

The Break

The break works the same exact way as it does in regular Eight-Ball.

It is also the one and only time the white ball may be cued.

Once the break has happened, only the numbered balls may be cued.

Structure

The game is structured the same exact way as regular Eight-Ball.

Depending on the rule-set, you must call every shot, though you don't necessarily have to cue the ball called, as long as the ball called enters the pocket.

If you successfully pocket your ball with a legal shot, you get to shoot again.

The 8-ball must be pocketed last.

Fouls

• Pocketing one of the opponent's balls is a foul. The ball stays pocketed.
• Pocketing your own ball as a result of an illegal shot also a foul.
  The ball is re-spotted on the foot spot, or as close as possible to the foot spot if that spot is occupied.
• Failing to hit the white ball as the first ball hit is a scratch and gives the opponent ball in-hand on the white ball.
• Pocketing the white ball is also a scratch, giving the opponent ball in-hand.

Sources

• http://www.billiardsforum.com/pool-rules/reverse-8-ball-rules
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-ball#Backwards_eight-ball
  

 

News: 5-Ball set ordered

As a bit of a Christmas present for myself, I've decided to order a set of 5-ball balls so that I can make a more in-depth review of the game and how it feels to play sometime in the future.

The balls were rather hard to track down, as they seem to be out of stock damn near everywhere.
Whether this is due to the various stores returning the balls due to poor sales, or if it's because the balls sold out, is hard to say, but I suspect it's the former rather than the latter.

With how little info I've been able to gather on the game, I suspect it didn't get very much hype or attention to garner any sales at all.

I ordered my set from https://eurobiljarts.nl/en/, as they were the only ones that 

1. Had a set in store
2. Shipped outside their own country.

Expect a full review of the game sometime in the new year.

Update

The 5-ball balls arrived in the mail last week, so now all that's left to do is to try out the game, shoot a video on it, and report back.

 

Sinuca Brasileira: Brazilian Snooker

One afternoon when I was browsing Wikipedia's cue sports section, I noticed a fair number of Snooker variants.

One in particular caught my eye: Sinuca Brasileira, Brazilian Snooker.

While this game, like Danish Pins, isn't terribly obscure in its home country, I can't seem to find many resources on it in English.

With that, this post will be dedicated to explain the rules for the game as simply as I can, the way I understand them.

If I get any details wrong, please let me know. I don't speak Brazilian Portuguese, so I had to rely on third party translations, Wikipedia, and YouTube for my sources.

Materials & Setup

To play this game, you need

• A Snooker table (any size)
• One of each colour Snooker ball

Sinuca only uses 1 red ball, as opposed to 15 used in the standard variant.

Note that the diagram is not to scale

To set up the game, set up all the balls the same way you would in regular Snooker, except place the red ball to the right of the pink ball, half-way between the pink ball and the cushion.

Here you can see the game set up on a real Snooker table. Image credit: noelsnooker.com.br

The Game

The object of the game is to score more points than your opponent by pocketing balls and slowly clearing them off the table.

The round ends once the last ball has been pocketed.

As with standard Snooker, the balls must be pocketed in sequence starting with the red, then the yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, then black.

The game differs from standard Snooker in exactly how you aim to accomplish this feat.
It does so via the introduction of two different types of shots, each with their own benefits.

The Break

To break, the starting player must place the cue-ball anywhere within the D behind the baulk-line at the head of the table, then shoot the red ball. The starting player has three tries at breaking. If they fail to do so, they foul and play goes to the other player.

Importantly, the starting player may never pocket the red ball nor Snooker it in the break.

To Snooker someone means to put the cue-ball in such a postition that the player who got Snookered doesn't have a direct shot at their only legal target.

Structure

The game is structured into two different types of shots:

• Free Shot
  
• Penalty Shot

On a player's turn, they may freely choose between either of these two types of shots, but they have to play it to completion. A player's turn continues as long as they don't make any mistakes.

The Free Shot is a "risk free" shot, where the active player simply tries to pocket the lowest valued ball (starting with the red ball and moving up sequentially).
Then, once the lowest-value ball is pocketed, the ball is scored, and the active player may nominate any (non-red) colour on the table to try and pocket.
If they're successful in pocketing the nominated ball, said ball is scored, then re-spotted, and they then go back to choosing between the Free and Penalty shots.
If either the Free Shot or the following nominated bonus shot is missed, the turn simply passes to the other player.

For Snooker players, this is like how you can nominate any non-red colour to pocket between each red, except because there's only one red in Sinuca, you can nominate any off-colour between every on-colour "free" shot. This essentially means a maximum break would be red, black, yellow, black, green, black, etc. (ignoring the option of penalty shots).

The Penalty Shot is riskier, as missing it is considered a foul. To perform a Penalty Shot, the active player then nominates any ball on the table as well as the pocket it has to enter. If successfully pocketed, the pocketed ball is re-spotted, and the next shot must be a Free Shot (with the accompanying nominated ball afterwards). If the player fails to pocket the ball, or fails to pocket in the nominated pocket, the shot is considered a foul.

Scoring

The scoring values are exactly the same as in regular Snooker. A ball potted through a valid shot is worth the following amount of points:

• Red: 1 point
• Yellow: 2 points
• Green: 3 points
• Brown: 4 points
• Blue: 5 points
• Pink: 6 points
• Black: 7 points

Fouls

 Everything normally considered a foul in Snooker is also a foul here.

• Hitting the wrong ball
• Not hitting any balls at all
• Pocketing the cue-ball (which gives ball in-hand)
• Pocketing the wrong ball
  
• Not pocketing the nominated ball in a Penalty Shot
• and more (see Snooker rules for the full list)
  

Committing a foul gives 7 points to the opponent and passes the current player's turn.

This is different from regular Snooker, where a foul awards the opponent 4-7 points depending on the severity of the foul. In Sinuca Brasileira, a foul is always 7 points.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as the last ball has been pocketed. The winner of the round is the player with the most points.

Sources

• https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinuca
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinuca_brasileira
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dlIPmyui8w
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tJWiIyxZmI
  

Canadian Skittles

I discovered this little gem while searching the internets for more details regarding Danish Pin Billiards.

Among other things I discovered that another word used for pin billiards is "skittles", presumably named after the lawn bowling pins bearing the same name.

Anyway, a game that caught my eye seems to be a half-way thing between Snooker and Danish Pins. It's referred to as "Canadian Skittles" and doesn't have a Wikipedia entry for me to refer back to. The lack of such a centralised resource was actually the main motivation to create this blog!

Anyway, on with the game explanation.

From my limited research, I can see that the game comes in a number of different variants. The most notable three differ in the number of black pins used.

This writeup will introduce you to the 1, 2, and 3 black pin variants of the game. The rules shouldn't differ too signficantly between versions other than initial setup.

Materials and Setup

To play this game you need the following:

• A Snooker table, but a Pool table can also work
• 1-3 black pins (depending on variant)
• 4 non-black pins. This can either be 4 whites, or a yellow, green, brown, and red pin.
• A white cue-ball, a yellow ball, and a red ball.

The pins are between 3" (7.62 cm) and 3.5" (8.89 cm) according to the rules I found, which is taller than Five-Pin pins (2.5 cm) and shorter than Danish Pin pins (10-12 cm).

To set up for the 1-black-pin variant, put the yellow ball on the brown Snooker spot, the red ball on the pink Snooker spot, and place the black pin on the blue Snooker spot with all the other pins surrounding the central black pin as shown below:

To set up for the 2-black-pin variant, set up exactly as before, but place the second black pin on the pink Snooker spot, then put the red ball on the black Snooker spot as seen in the diagram below:

To set up for the 3-black-pin variant, place the third black pin on the brown Snooker spot, then place the yellow ball on the yellow Snooker spot in the corner of the D, as seen in the diagram below:

As usual, please note that the diagrams are not to scale.

The placement of black pins and balls may vary from variant to variant. From placing the yellow and red balls on the black and pink spots in the 1-pin variant, to swapping the black pin and yellow ball in the 3-pin variant.

I don't think there's any official standardised set of rules for the game.
The number of black pins basically just determines the difficulty level of the game.

The Game

The object of the game is to get 31 points without going over.

An optional variant is to play the game with numbered peas (nomally used for Kelly Pool), where each player gets a secret random number from 1 to 15 which determines their starting score.

Most versions of the rules I've found also sees players play for a $10 pot with additional penalties for fouls and such. Winner collects the pot plus money for each foul made by the other players.

Structure

The game is played in innings, meaning a player's turn continues as long as they make points and don't make any fouls.

Causing a foul ends the turn immediately, see Fouls for details.

The Break

To break, the starting player places their cue ball in the D, which must then exit the baulk area/kitchen, then hit a ball. This is the same as the in-hand rules.

Note that the cue ball may hit a cushion outside the baulk area then rebound and hit a ball inside the baulk area. The point is just that it must fully exit.

Scoring Points

There are a number of ways to score points in the game, all of which come from the games that inspired it.

• Pocketing the yellow ball: 2 points
• Pocketing the red ball: 3 points
• Losing Hazard/In-Off on the yellow: 2 points
• Losing Hazard/In-Off on the red: 3 points
• Carom Shot/Cannon: 2 points
• Knocking over non-black pins gives the appropriate values in points, red: 1, yellow: 2, green: 3, brown: 4.
• Knocking over a black pin gives 5 points.

Pins can be knocked over by any ball, as long as the cue-ball has made contact with another ball first.

A Losing Hazard or In-Off is a shot where the cue-ball is pocketed after hitting another ball. A Carom shot/Cannon is when the cue-ball hits both the other two balls.

All Losing Hazards give the player ball in hand.

Additionally there are three ways to get an instant win:

• Royal: Knocking down all the non-black pins by themselves. This is also knowns as a sweep.
• Natural: Knocking down all the black pins by themselves (not available in the 1-black-pin variant)
• Pocketing all three balls in the same shot (according to one rule-set)

Re-Spotting

Any pocketed balls and knocked over pins get re-spotted to their starting points as necessary. A pocketed cue-ball gets "re-spotted" in-hand within the D and must then be shot with the normal break rules.

Fouls

When a foul occurs, the foul is marked with an X on the scoreboard and the player's score resets down to zero.

• Knock over both black and non-black pins.
• Score on the same type of shot three times in a row.
• Cue-ball doesn't hit any other balls.
• Cue-ball hits the pins before hitting a ball.
• Cue-ball gets pocketed without hitting a ball.
• Cue-ball fails to make contact with a ball outside the baulk area when in-hand.
• Active player exceeds the target score.
• Active player achieves target score without knocking over any pins.
• Pins or balls get knocked off the table.
• Knock or move something in other ways than intended through normal play. i.e. with a sleeve or the side of the cue etc.

Winnings

As mentioned, the winning player wins the pot + the value for any X's the other players made in fouls.

If you aren't playing for money, call these victory points or game points instead.

Sources

As mentioned, this game didn't have one de-facto source for rules, so I had to source them from a few different places:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AroDDdGx5A0
• http://www.billiardsforum.com/pool-rules/canadian-skittle-pool-rules
• http://www.billiardsforum.com/pool-rules/canadian-skittles-pool-3-black-pins-version