Recently my family started to play billiard a lot. They bought an 8-ball table to gain some skills with cues and balls, but the problem was that billard is a game for two, while there are 4 of us to play. To avoid fights over who plays first and who needs to wait, we had to figure out a way to play with 4 to 5 players at once!
After some time, we ended up with pretty nice rules that brings some skill to the table and is fun at the same time.
The average game with 3 players lasts for around 30 minutes.
- A real billard table
- 15 numbered balls
- at least 2 players (most fun with 5!)
- iPhone or Android device (or emulator)
- Put colored balls either in the proper way to make game less dependant on luck or randomly and white (cue) ball behind the head string
- Randomize the order of players
- The goal is to put balls into a pocket in correct sequence. Ball number 1 is first to score, ball number 15 is the last. The current ball is one of the lowest number written on it.
- At their turn player must touch the current ball with cue ball or any other ball. Using other balls to put the current ball into the pocket is what makes this game the best!
- If current ball has ben put into the pocket, player gets the number of points of the ball number. For scoring the current ball player gets additional move. Example: player scores current ball of number 8, they get 8 points and gets additional move. If player scores ball number 9, they add 9 to their score and so on.
- If any ball other than the current ball got into the pocket, player gets negative points of the ball they put into the pocket.
- Fouls - each of the following fouls give -2 points:
- Player didn't touch the current ball,
- Double touch,
- Pushing cue ball instead of hitting,
- Touching any ball with players body (common when player can't reach cue ball easily or cue ball touches other ball),
- Making any ball fall outside the table.
- This game is best for 3 to 5 players. With 2 players, other rules are probably more fun, with over 5 waiting times for turns are too long.
- If played well scores often are tight and hitting the last ball makes player the winner.
- The real game starts after ball number 11 is scored. You need to have good strategy and perfect aim to score balls of biggest numbers. If you and other players let balls 12 to 15 easily scorable, one player will score them all and win. It's best to make other players foul with these balls in the beginning or to push them to hard to hit positions.
- If there is one player who is much better at aiming than the rest of players, it's better to make their life harder by making them foul. Leaving cue ball so that other balls prevent direct hit is better option than trying own luck with hard to hit ball.