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
  

 

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
  

 

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.

Bottle Pool

 

Bottle Pool is a Pool variant played with three balls and a leather or plastic bottle.

The game is played similar to Cowboy Pool in that points are scored for pocketing the balls and also caroming the cue-ball off of the object balls.

Bottle Pool adds the bottle as a new scoring objective, which is scored whenever it is truck with the cue-ball with a carom shot.

To my mind, it feels a bit like a mix between Cowboy Pool and Skomar.

Materials & Setup

To play Bottle Pool you need

• A Pool Table
• 3 balls: the cue-ball, the yellow 1-ball, and the blue 2-ball.
• A plastic or leather (or any non-brittle material) shake bottle

To set up the game, place the bottle neck down on the centre spot (here represented with a magenta circle), the 1-ball against the foot-end cushion in front of the left diamond, and the 2-ball against the foot-end cushion in front of the right diamond.

Here's an image courtesy of Wikipedia to show the setup in perspective:

The Game

The aim of the game is to hit 31 points exactly.

Overshooting 31 sets your score to however many points you overshot by.
Think of it like a clock face, overshooting 12 gets you right back around.

Structure

The game, like most varieties of billiards, is played in innings. That is to say, the active player stays active as long as they make a legal scoring shot.

The Break

The cue-ball starts in the kitchen, the area behind the middle diamond at the head-end of the table. The aim is then to hit any of the two object balls

Scoring

• Pocket the 1-ball for 1 point
• Pocket the 2-ball for 2 points
• Hit both object balls with the cue ball for 1 point
• Carom the cue-ball off one or both object balls and into the bottle for 5 points
• Manage the flip the bottle upright after doing a carom shot for an automatic win

The most points you can earn in a single shot is 9 by hitting both object balls with the cue-ball, pocketing them both, and hitting the bottle.

After reaching 31 points exactly, the player must announce this out loud before the next player takes their shot or else the score is reset to 0.

After the bottle is knocked over, it is put upright as close to where it landed as possible. If it is not possible to turn the bottle upright, or if the bottle was knocked off the table, it is instead returned to the centre spot. If that spot is occupied, it instead goes to the head spot. If the head spot and centre spots are both occupied, it instead goes to the foot spot. If all three spots are occupied, the bottle remains off the table until a spot clears.

Similar to Snooker, English Billiards, and Danish Pin Billiards, any object ball potted is re-spotted to its original starting location.
In Bottle Pool however, the 1-ball is always re-spotted before the 2-ball. This matters in case any of the spots are blocked.

Fouls

Upon making a foul, the active player's inning immediately ends and they lose any and all points gained in that inning plus one.

All the things you'd expect to be a foul in standard pocket billiards is a foul here in addition to the following:

• The cue ball fails to touch an object ball.
• The cue ball touches the bottle before contacting an object ball.
• The bottle is knocked over by an object ball.
• An object ball is pocketed on the same stroke as an illegal shot.

However, it is not a foul to knock over the bottle with an object ball if an object ball was pocketed in the same shot. In that case the inning simply ends.

 

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)

 

Danish Pin Billiards: Kegler & Skomar

 Let's start this blog off with a game local to my own homeland: Denmark. Now, this game isn't esoteric within Denmark, but the wider world doesn't seem to know about it, so it bears mention.

It's a variation of the Italian game of Five-Pin Billiards, but aside from sharing the basic features of using three balls and five pins has basically nothing else in common.

Calling this one game is technically untrue, it's two. Both are played with the same exact equipment and setup, but the rules are quite different, the first one is simply called "keglebillard" or "kegler" (meaning "pin billiards" and "pins" respectively), and the other is called "skomager" or "skomar" (meaning "shoemaker")

Equipment

• A(n ideally heated) billiards table with six pockets roughly the same size as a standard Pool table. albeit with smaller pockets.
  
• 3 standard 61.5mm Carom balls 1 white, 1 spotted white, 1 red
• 5 wooden pins 12cm tall, which look like miniature bowling pins.

The setup should look something like this: (scale not exact) 

 

 You can see a real life photo here: (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Though that table is red with a yellow ball, the standard is teal with a red ball.

Kegler

Kegler is the most basic version with the simplest rules:

The game is played in a series of innings that only end once a player either misses or fouls.

The object of the game is to reach a pre-determined number of points in as few innings as possible. Usually between 200 and 800 depending on the skill level.

Unlike most 3-ball carom style games, the red ball is the cue-ball and the two white balls are the object balls. In a game like 3-Cushion or English Billiards, this is exactly the oppsite.

The game is "broken" (i.e. a "break" is shot) from behind the baulk-line at the ball on the opposite side of the pins, from there there are just two ways of scoring points:

• Hit a pin with a white ball (2 points per pin)
• Hit both white balls with the cue ball, called "making red" (4 points)

For a maximum of 14 points per hit.

The challenge of the game lies in its quite frankly absurd number of ways to foul a shot:

• Hitting a pin with the cue ball (at all)
• Causing a ball to jump off the table
• Pocketing the cue ball (gives ball in hand)
• Making red 3 times in a row without hitting any pins
• Not hitting a cushion in at least every other shot
• Knocking over the pins with something other than a ball
• Shooting with both feet off the ground
• "Touchéing", meaning to either hit the cue ball with somehting other than the tip of the cue or the cue still touching the cue ball when the cue ball makes contact with another ball.

Originally, causing a foul would lose you the points for the inning, but per modern rules, any points earned in the inning, except for any points earned during the foul shot are kept.

Missing altogether is not considered a foul.

Pocketing a white ball doesn't do anything. It is simply re-spotted on the oppsite side of the other white ball.

Here's a tournament in Kegler for those interested in watching.

Skomar

The "cousin" game to Kegler. According to one source I found, it was once regarded as a low-brow lower-class game associated with drinking and smoking. Danish Billiard Union players who were found playing this game supposedly had their memberships terminated on sight because they didn't want members in those circles.
The game is now officially recognised by the billiards union on equal footing with its older cousin.

The game is called Skomager or Skoma'r, Skomar, Skomagerpot, etc. depending on region. It essentially just translates to "shoemaker".
I had to look up the etymology of this, and it apparently stems from a time when calling someone a shoemaker was a bit of a slur.
Because being a shoemaker didn't require any real formal training or education of any sort, it was seen as low-class work. Thus anything and everything low-brow in Denmark was referred to as "shoemaker-something"; like "shoemaker-bass" being a simple repetitive bass-line, "shoemaker-rhyme" being bad poetry, "shoemaker-numbers" being approximations, and "shoemaker-rules" being simplified rules.

Either way the name stuck and the game is still played in pubs all over the country.

I call it a "cousin" because the game is quite different.

Returning from the other game are the following two rules:

• Hit a pin with a white ball (2 points per pin)
• Hit both white balls with the cue ball, called "making red" (4 points)

New to the game are the following:

• Game is no longer played in innings, turns change between every shot.
• It's now required to hit a cushion on every shot, instead of every other.
• Hitting a white with another white is called "making pale", and is also worth 4 points, though it can't be combined with "making red".
• Pocketing a white ball is worth 2 points.
• Hitting the centre pin alone without hitting anything else is 6 points.
• Hitting every pin all at once is 16 points.

Fouls are also much more punishing.
Instead of simply ending someone's turn, they also award the opponent points.
The amount of points awarded this way varies depending on the severity of the foul.

• Red ball topples pins having hit a white and a cushion: Scored points for the round are converted to penalty points.
• Red ball is pocketed: 2 penalty points + any other points for the shot.
• Red ball hits pins after hitting white but no cushion: 6 penalty points + points for the shot.
• Red ball hits pins after hitting cushion but no white: 6 penalty points + points for the shot.
• Topple pins with cue: 6 penalty points + points for the shot.
• Hitting the pins with any ball directly without hitting a cushion first: 6 penalty points + points for the shot.
• No ball hits a cushion: 6 penalty points + points for the shot.
• Cue-ball doesn't hit any other balls: 6 penalty points + points for the shot.
• White ball hit with cue: 6 penalty points + points for the shot.
  

Personally I find Skomar to be the more interesting game of the two.
The scoring opportunities are plentiful, and the simple act of having to change sides between shots both makes it a more interesting spectator sport, but it also makes for a more interesting game, since each shot has to both score a lot of points, but also put the opponent in a tricky spot.

Here's a video of Skomar in action: