Drunken Cowboy

I discovered this game while trying to find videos and info on Cowboy Pool (see earlier post) when I stumbled upon a video on a game dubbed "Drunken Cowboy".

The game outlined in the video seemed like a hybrid game between Bottle Pool (see earlier post) and Cowboy Pool combining the equipment and scoring of both games.

Materials & Setup

To play Drunken Cowboy you need the following 

• A standard Pool table
• 4 standard Pool balls: the white cue-ball, the red yellow 1-ball, a red 3-ball, and an orange 5-ball.
  
• A plastic or leather (or any non-brittle material) shake bottle

The 1-ball is placed in the head spot, the 3-ball in the foot-spot, the 5-ball in the middle, and the bottle is placed neck-down between the 1 and 5 balls. On this diagram the bottle is represented with a magenta circle.

Setup on a real Pool table

The Game

The object of the game is to reach 101 points just like in Cowboy Pool, except the game additionally also adds the bottle as a way of scoring for another way of scoring 5 points. 

Differences from Cowboy Pool

There are a few major ways this game differs from Cowboy Pool (other than the bottle of course).

1. Your cue-ball must always hit a cushion in each shot. This is to prevent a player from simply camping in front of the 5-ball and getting easy 5 points in every shot.
2. The 101st point must be a losing hazard off the 1-ball on a called pocket.
   

Structure

 As with most other billiards games, the game is played in innings, where your turn keeps going as long as you make valid scoring shots.

Once you miss or foul, the turn is over and the turn passes to the other player.

The Break

To break, the starting player shoots the cue-ball from the kitchen (the area behind the 1-ball) trying to hit the 3 ball.

Scoring

There are three ways to score in Drunken Cowboy

• Pocket any one of the object balls for the printed value in points.
• Hit two object balls with the cue-ball for one point.
• Hit three object balls with the cue-ball for two points.
  
• Hit the bottle with the cue-ball after hitting an object ball for five points.

Like in Cowboy Pool, any pocketed object balls are returned to their spot on the table.

Like in Bottle Pool, the bottle is lifted back up wherever it ended up. If you are unable to lift it, the bottle is spotted back to its original position.

Unlike Cowboy Pool, any ball must hit a cushion for the shot to be valid. This as mentioned in the Differences section is simply to prevent good players from continuously pocketing the same ball over and over by simply shooting with a bit of back-spin and having the cue-ball sit perfectly for the next shot. 

Unlike Eight-Ball Pool, simply pocketing a  ball doesn't count as hitting a cushion, thus pocketing without hitting a cushion would count as a foul.

Phases

As mentioned, the object is to get to 101 points (the video says 100, but you still need the losing hazard at the end to close the game, so it's technically 101). Just like in Cowboy Pool, the way you get there is in three phases, each of which is bounded by a specific number of points.

Phase 1: 0-90 points, where all methods of scoring are legal. The 90th point must be reached exactly. Failing to do so is a foul, garnering no points for that shot.

Phase 2: 91-100 points, where only carom shots are legal (carom shots being hitting two or more balls with the cue-ball), again the 100th point must be hit exactly. Note that hitting the bottle at this stage doesn't give points!

Phase 3: the 101st point, where you must do a losing hazard (called an in-off in Snooker), a special shot from English Billiards, where you pocket the cue-ball after hitting one of the object balls.

Fouls and Penalties

Any foul immediately ends that player's turn and forfeits any and all points scored by that player in that inning.

Fouls include

• Not hitting a cushion in every shot
• Not hitting anything at all
  
• Hitting the bottle directly
• Hitting the bottle with an object ball
• "Scratching", that is pocketing the cue-ball
• Hitting the bottle with the cue
• Pocketing the bottle or knocking it off the table
  

Additionally, should a player make three consecutive fouls, they immediately lose the game.

Cowboy Pool

 On my infinite research spree through the interwebs, I stumbled upon the game of Cowboy Pool on Wikipedia.

To my dismay however, I was unable to learn much more than that.
Most Google searches just came up with results of cowboy themed pool tables; not at all what I was looking for.

I also found another (arguably really cool) Pool variant of the same name, where you have to shoot the object balls at the cue ball to then pocket them. Cool, but not the game we're talking about today.

This game is supposedly based on English Billiards, but entirely playable with a standard Pool table and Pool balls.

Materials and Setup

To play this game you need the following:

• A Pool table
• Four Pool balls: 1, 3, 5, and the cue-ball
• Two players, and some cues

The game is set up as follows:

The yellow 1-ball in the table's head spot, the orange 5-ball in the middle, and the red 3-ball in the table's foot-spot.

Sidenote: I really like how the three colours make up a perfect little sunset gradient when set up like this. It's very visually appealing. Not sure if it's a total accident or not, but it works really well!

Gameplay

Despite being played with Pool equipment, the game itself couldn't be further from Pool, as it shares much of its DNA with English Billiards.

The Break

To break, the starting player fires the cue-ball from the kitchen, the area behind the table head and the head spot, with the aim of hitting the 3-ball on the other side of the table.

Failing to hit the 3-ball may cause the other player to either request a re-shot, or attempt the break themself.

Structure

Like most Billiards, the game is played in innings, where a player keeps playing as long as they make points. Players only change sides if a foul was made or the player misses their shot.

Like in Snooker, the balls are re-spotted when pocketed.

Scoring

To score you do one of the following:

• Hit two object balls with the cue-ball: 1 point
• Hit all three object balls with the cue-ball: 2 points
• Pocket the yellow 1-ball: 1 point
• Pocket the red 3-ball: 3 points
• Pocket the orange 5-ball: 5 points

Thus, the maximum numer of points scoreable in a single hit is thus 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 11.

The game is played to 101 points over three phases:

Phase 1: 0-90 points, where all methods of scoring are legal. The 90th point must be reached exactly. Failing to do so is a foul, garnering no points for that shot.

Phase 2: 91-100 points, where only carom shots are legal (carom shots being hitting two or more balls with the cue-ball), again the 100th point must be hit exactly.

Phase 3: the 101st point, where you must do a losing hazard, a special shot from English Billiards, where you pocket the cue-ball after hitting one of the object balls.

Fouls

A foul shot results in the player losing all the points gained for that inning, so the game becomes a balance of trying to play it safe and score points.

 The rules I've managed to track down do not explicitly mention any fouls, that said, reasonable fouls could include

• Hitting no balls at all in a stroke
  
• Hitting a ball other than the cue-ball 
• Scratching (pocketing the cue-ball), which would give the opponent ball in-hand from the kitchen
• Not hitting a cushion in the event that nothing was scored (like in Eight-Ball Pool)
  

Closing

There's very little other info about the game, but I did manage to track down this tutorial series on youtube:

 

(updated Dec 4, 2023)