Blackball (pool)
Blackball pool, also known as reds and yellows and English eight-ball, is a pool game originating in the United Kingdom and popularized across Europe and The Commonwealth, such as Australia and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool". The game is played with sixteen balls on a small pool table with six.
Blackball is a standardized version of the English version of eight-ball. The two main sets of playing rules are those of the World Pool-Billiard Association, known as "blackball rules", and the older code of the World Eightball Pool Federation, often referred to as "world rules".
History
American-style eight-ball arose around 1900. In 1925, the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company began offering ball sets specifically for the game using seven unnumbered and seven , a , and the white ; these are also known as "casino style" and were introduced to make it easier for spectators to identify the two sets.Equipment
The ball sets typically range from 2 inches up to inches, often with a slightly smaller cue ball, e.g. inches for a 2-inch set. The most common sized sets on the market are 2 inches and 2 inches. Along with the single white cue ball, plain unnumbered and , seven of each colour, are used in lieu of the numbered and common to international eight-ball and other pool games. Many suppliers refer to the yellows-and-reds sets as "casino" balls, whether UK- or US-sized, because they were formerly used in US casino-hosted, televised, modified-rules eight-ball tournaments popular in the 1970s; the coloured rather than numbered sets were selected for their distinguishability on TV. The, however, still typically bears a number "8", though numberless variants are not unknown.British pool tables come in 6 × 3 foot or 7 × 3.5 ft varieties, with 7 feet being the regulation size for league play. The table has pockets just larger than the balls and rounded, as in the game of snooker, whereas the international-style table has pockets significantly wider, with pointed.
Tournament rules may require the presence of more than one type of , as in snooker.
Rules
There are two competing standards bodies that have issued international rules. The older of the two sets in British-style pool are the World Eightball Pool Federation rules. The majority of WEPF members come from the UK and Ireland, and from current and former Commonwealth of Nations countries, plus a few leagues elsewhere.A competing but very similar set of rules has been promulgated by the larger World Pool-Billiard Association, under the game name "blackball" to better distinguish it from the American-style game. It was intended that "blackball" would unify the various existing British-style rulesets although this has not yet happened. The governing body for WPA blackball in Europe, with numerous national and local affiliate groups, is the European Blackball Association.
WEPF World Rules
The older World Eightball Pool Federation rules pre-date the WPA blackball rules, and remain popular as amateur league rules in the UK, Ireland, Australia, some other Commonwealth countries, and a few European nations. World rules are no longer played at the professional level, since the International Professional Pool Association swapped to WPA blackball rules in 2012 Locally the WEPF rules are sometimes referred to as "British standard pool", "Irish standard pool", etc., WEPF leagues exist in: Australia, Belgium, China, Cyprus, France, India, Japan, Malta, Morocco, New Zealand, Ireland, Reunion Island, South Africa, and the UK.The balls are racked with on the , in contrast with US-style eight-ball, nine-ball and most other pool games, in which the apex ball is placed on the foot spot. A "fair break" is one in which an object ball is potted, and/or at least 4 object balls contact the cushion. If the black is potted, the game is restarted with a, broken by the original breaker. If the cue ball is potted on an otherwise fair break, it is a "non-standard" that simply ends the breaker's turn, with no further penalties. If it is a foul break, the incoming player gets as with other "standard fouls", and gets to break, after a re-rack, without the option to instead play the balls as they lie. Openness of the table does not last long, in that if the breaker pots a ball on the break from one group, and elects to continue shooting that group, then that group are his/her balls-on, even if the post-break follow-up shot is missed, while if the group chosen did not have any balls potted on the break, the table remains open until a ball is legally potted. If no balls were potted on the break, the table remains open. The shooter must nominate what group they are shooting for on the shot following the break if they had potted a ball off the break.
A legal shot is one where the cue ball first hits a "", and does not pot the cue ball, the black or any of the balls in the opponent's group, and either one of the shooter's balls-on is pocketed, or a ball contacts a cushion after the cue ball contacts the ball-on. I.e., it is the same as in American-style, but with the additional requirement that one not sink an opponent's ball, and lacking the requirement that ball and pocket have to be called There are other forms of fault, generally the same as in other pool games, such as potting the cue ball, knocking balls off the table, moving balls accidentally, double-hits and pushes, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc. There are also other unique fouls such as the requirement to shoot away from any ball that the cue ball is to, without moving it; however if the frozen ball is the shooter's own, it counts as contacting a ball-on, and only a ball must reach a rail for it to be a legal shot. As in informal American, but not WPA/BCA/IPT standardised American-style rules, players are sometimes required to take certain shots from or, i.e. from behind the . Also, all deliberate jump shots that result in missing an intervening ball are faults.
After a fault, the offending player will effectively miss a turn and give the opponent. These free shots must be taken from where the cue ball finished after their opponents foul, with two exceptions: the cue ball was potted, in which case the incoming player must take their shot from ; or the incoming player has been left in a foul snooker, in which case they may nominate a free ball, move the cue ball to baulk and play from there or indeed carry on as normal.
WPA Blackball World Standardised Rules
Blackball rules are somewhat similar in gameplay to the WEPF World Rules.Notable differences are:
Unlike in World Rules, deliberate fouls are illegal in Blackball.
"The skill shot". Blackball Rules enable an opponent's ball be potted legally at any time during the frame—provided one of your own colours is also potted during the same shot, this is called a skill shot and is illegal in World Rules.
After a foul in Blackball Rules, the incoming player has one free shot where they may legally play any ball. Following the free shot, the player will have one visit remaining regardless of the free shot outcome. This is unlike World Rules whereby, following a foul the incoming player will have two visits that carry and can only move the cueball in the case of a foul snooker.