Eight-ball (often spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called spots and stripes, stripes and solids or, more rarely, bigs and littles or highs and lows) is a pool (pocket billiards) game popular in much of the world, and the subject of international professional and amateur competition. Played on a pool table with six pockets, the game is so universally known in some countries that beginners are often unaware of other pool games and believe the word "pool" itself refers to eight-ball. The game has numerous variations, including Alabama eight-ball, crazy eight, last pocket, misery, Missouri, 1 and 15 in the sides, rotation eight ball, soft eight, and others. Standard eight-ball is the second most competitive professional pool game, after nine-ball and for the last several decades ahead of straight pool.
Eight-ball is played with sixteen balls: a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">cue ball</dfn>, and fifteen <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">object balls</dfn> consisting of seven striped balls, seven solid-colored balls and the black 8 ball. After the balls are scattered with a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break shot</dfn>, the players are assigned either the group of solid balls or the stripes once a ball from a particular group is legally pocketed. The ultimate object of the game is to legally pocket the eight ball in a called pocket, which can only be done after all of the balls from a player's assigned group have been cleared from the table.
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The game of eight-ball is derived from an earlier game invented around 1900 (first recorded in 1908) in the United States and initially popularized under the name "B.B.C. Co. Pool" (a name that was still in use as late as 1925) by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company. This forerunner game was played with seven <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">yellow</dfn> and seven <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">red balls</dfn>, a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">black ball</dfn>, and the cue ball. Today, numbered <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">stripes</dfn> and <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">solids</dfn> are preferred in most of the world, though the British-style offshoot, blackball, uses the traditional colors (as did early televised "casino" tournaments in the U.S.). The game had relatively simple rules compared to today and was not added (under any name) to an official rule book (i.e., one published by a national or international sport governing body) until 1940.[1]:24, 89–90[2][3][4]
American-style eight-ball rules are played around the world by professionals, and in many amateur leagues. Nevertheless, the rules for eight-ball may be the most contested of any billiard game. There are several competing sets of "official" rules. The non-profit World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), with national affiliates around the world, some of which long pre-date the WPA, such as the Billiard Congress of America (BCA), promulgates the World Standardized Rules[5] for amateur and professional play. The for-profit International Pool Tour has also established an international set of rules[6] for professional and semi-professional play, used in major tournaments broadcast on television (as of 2007, this league has suspended operations, and is focusing on invitational matches, but is expected by many players to resume more broadly at some point after 2010). Meanwhile, many amateur leagues, such as the American Poolplayers Association (APA) / Canadian Poolplayers Association (CPA), and the Valley National Eight-ball Association (VNEA) / VNEA Europe, use their own rulesets as their standards (most of them at least loosely based on the WPA/BCA version), while millions of individuals play informally using colloquial rules which vary not only from area to area but even from venue to venue.
A summary of the international rules follows (see the WPA/BCA or IPT published rules, which conflict on minor points, for more details):
The table's playing surface is approximately 9 by 4.5 feet (2.7 by 1.4 m) (regulation size), though some leagues and tournaments using the World Standardized Rules may allow smaller sizes, down to 7 by 3.5 feet (2.1 by 1.1 m), and early 20th century 10 by 5 feet (3.0 by 1.5 m) models are sometimes also used.
There are seven <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">solid-colored balls</dfn> numbered 1 through 7, seven <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">striped balls</dfn> numbered 9 through 15, an <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">8 ball</dfn>, and a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">cue ball</dfn>. The balls are usually colored as follows:
To start the game, the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">object balls</dfn> are placed in a triangular rack. The base of the rack is parallel to the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">end rail</dfn> (the short end of the pool table) and positioned so the apex ball of the rack is located on the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">foot spot</dfn>. The balls in the rack are ideally placed so that they are all in contact with one another; this is accomplished by pressing the balls together from the back of the rack toward the apex ball. The order of the balls should be random, with the exceptions of the 8 ball, which must be placed in the center of the rack (i.e., the middle of the third row), and the two back corner balls one of which must be a stripe and the other a solid. The cue ball is placed anywhere the breaker desires inside the "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">kitchen</dfn>".
One person is chosen (by a predetermined method, e.g., coin flip, win or loss of previous game, <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">lag</dfn>) to shoot first and <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn> the object ball rack apart. If the shooter who breaks fails to make a legal break (usually defined as at least four balls hitting cushions or an object ball being pocketed), then the opponent can call for a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">re-rack</dfn> and become the breaker, or elect to play from the current position of the balls.
According to World Standardized Rules, if the 8 ball is pocketed on the break without <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">fouling</dfn>, the breaker may ask for a re-rack and break again, or have the 8 ball <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">spotted</dfn> and continue shooting with the balls as they lie. If the breaker scratches while pocketing the 8 ball on the break, the incoming player may call for a re-rack and break, or have the 8 ball spotted and begin shooting with <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">ball-in-hand</dfn> behind the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">head string</dfn>, with the balls as they lie. (For regional amateur variations, such as pocketing the 8 on the break being an instant win or loss, see "Informal rule variations", below.)
A player (or team) will continue to shoot until committing a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">foul</dfn>, or failing to legally pocket an object ball on a non-foul shot (whether <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">intentionally</dfn> or not). Thereupon it is the turn of the opposing player(s). Play alternates in this manner for the remainder of the game. Following a foul, the incoming player has <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">ball-in-hand</dfn> anywhere on the table, unless the foul occurred on the break shot, as noted previously.
Once all of a player's or team's group of object balls are pocketed, they may attempt to sink the 8 ball. To win, the player (or team) must first designate which pocket they plan to sink the 8 ball into and then successfully pot the 8 ball in that called pocket. If the 8 ball falls into any pocket other than the one designated, is knocked off the table, or a foul (see below) occurs and the 8 ball is pocketed, this results in loss of game. Otherwise, the shooter's turn is simply over, including when a foul such as a scratch occurs on an unsuccessful attempt to pocket the 8 ball. In short, a World Standardized Rules game of eight-ball, like a game of nine-ball, is not over until the "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">money ball</dfn>" is no longer on the table. This rule is unusual to some bar and league players, because in American, Canadian and many other varieties of <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">bar pool</dfn>, and in some leagues, such as APA, such a foul is a loss of game. This is not the case in World Standardized Rules, nor in some other leagues that use those rules or a variant of them, e.g. VNEA beginning with the 2008/2009 season, and BCAPL), and USAPL.
Any of the following results in a game win:
In Canada there are a similar level and types of variation as in the US (see below). One particularly common feature of Canadian bar pool is the "hooked yourself on the 8" rule — failure to hit the 8 ball when one is shooting for the 8 is a loss of game, unless one was <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">hooked</dfn> (<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">snookered</dfn>) by one's opponent (even then, if <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">a pocket is called</dfn> for the 8, as opposed to "just a shot", i.e. a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">safety</dfn>, failure to hit the 8 is an instant loss). Pocketing an opponent's <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">object ball</dfn> while shooting for the 8, even if the shot was otherwise legal, is also a game-loser, often even in local league play. <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">"Split" shots</dfn>, where the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">cue ball</dfn> appears to simultaneously strike a legal and an opponent's object balls, are generally considered legal shots in informal games, as long as they are called as split shots, and the hit is in fact simultaneous to the human eye. A further Canadian bar-pool peccadillo is that a shot is a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">visit</dfn>-ending (but not <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">ball-in-hand</dfn>) foul if one pockets one's called shot but also pockets another ball incidentally, even if it is one's own (however, if that secondary pocketing was also called, the shot is legal, regardless of the order in which the balls were dropped).
The <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">racked</dfn> balls are often loose, crooked and/or not exactly on the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">foot spot</dfn> (it is not considered to matter), and the rack itself may be made of rubber, and flexible, making a tight rack physically impossible to achieve. Other than the 8 ball, other balls may be placed far more randomly than players in other areas would tolerate, with large clusters of solids together, and stripes with each other.
In most of Latin America, including Mexico, shots are un-<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">called</dfn>, as in British pool (i.e. <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">slop shots</dfn> count, a concept foreign to most American players other than APA league members). In many if not most areas (Brazil being an exception), fouls result in <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">ball-in-hand</dfn> behind the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">head string</dfn> only, as in American bar pool (allowing for intentional scratches that leave the opponent a very difficult shot if all opponent balls are "in the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">kitchen</dfn>", behind the headstring).
A common Latin American variant of "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">last-pocket</dfn>" is that each player is allowed either one (or even two) cue ball scratches when shooting for the 8, which must be pocketed in the same pocket as the shooter's final object ball. Such fouls simply end the shooter's turn at the table and give the opponent ball-in-hand behind the head string; only the second (or third, respectively) such scratch is a loss of game (though scratching the 8 ball itself off the table or into the wrong pocket is an instant loss). This version is common even in US pool bars that are dominated by recent Latino immigrants. This requirement has a profound effect upon game strategy – it is effectively 5 times harder to <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">run out</dfn> – and most North American (and British, etc.) players are completely unprepared for it, unless they are last-pocket players. Players must be very mindful what they do with their last few balls, and common failure to get <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">shape</dfn> that allows for the last object-ball shot to set the player up for an easy 8 ball shot into the same pocket leads to long games with many <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">bank</dfn>, <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">kick</dfn> and <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">kiss</dfn> shots on the 8.
In some parts of Latin America, especially South America, the 1 ball often must be pocketed in the right side pocket (relative to the end of the table one breaks from), and the 15 ball must be pocketed in the other side pocket (left). This rule probably developed to make it harder to run out after the first shot. Position play takes a larger role in this variation, and a player's strategy must necessarily initially revolve around getting the 1 or 15 in and preventing this opponent from doing likewise. When racking the balls for this variation, the 1 and 15 balls are placed behind the 8 ball at the center of the rack, the 1 ball on the left and the 15 ball on the right (from the racker's perspective). Latino last-pocket is virtually the only version of eight-ball played in Mexico, other than in the Mexico–United States border area.
In Mexico, a minority of players rack with the 8 ball rather than the apex ball on the foot spot, a trait in common with British blackball/8-ball pool. Pocketing the 8 ball on the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break shot</dfn> is an instant win, as it usually is in American bar pool, but is not in the international rules. The only ball-in-hand (behind the head string) foul in Mexican pool is <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">scratching</dfn> the cue ball into a pocket; other fouls are simply loss-of-turn. Because Mexican pool, except near the US border, is almost always played on open-pocket pool-hall-style tables, rather than coin-operated tables that trap object balls, any of one's own balls pocketed on a foul are <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">spotted</dfn> (but how they are spotted varies widely, with the balls often placed against the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">foot cushion</dfn> on the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">center string</dfn>, and adjacent to nearby <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">diamonds</dfn> if more than one must be spotted, instead of on the foot spot, but sometimes even to the side at <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">long rail</dfn> diamonds, due to the influence of coyote, a Mexican variant of Chicago; foot-spot spotting is neither common nor uncommon.) Pool itself is not considered a very serious game in the country other than in the northern states; in most of Mexico, three-cushion billiards is the serious game, while pool is mostly played by youths, by groups of friends (including many young women) as a bar game to pass the time, and by older working-class men as an after-work activity. In many recreation halls, dominoes is more popular than pool.
In many bars in Brazil (and not an official rule), a foul is generally punished by pocketing the lowest-numbered ball of the opponent. In that case, the cue ball remains where it stopped, as ball-in-hand is not commonly used. Additionally, in the case of scratching the cue ball, the opponent places the cue ball in <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">the kitchen</dfn>, on the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">head spot</dfn>, or most commonly anywhere inside <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">the "D"</dfn>, indicating some British snooker and/or blackball influence.
New Zealand eight-ball in many respects is closer to British blackball, but with numbered balls being used. <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">A "D"</dfn> is drawn on the table above the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">baulk line</dfn> (as on a snooker table) and the shooting player is required to place the cue ball within it on the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break-off</dfn> and after an opponent <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">scratches</dfn>. In some places, the "forward play" rule is followed: After a scratch, the player with ball-in-hand must shoot forward of the baulk line, i.e. towards the rack area, even if all legal balls are behind the baulk line. The "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">two-shot rule</dfn>" of blackball may or may not be followed; this depends on individual players and/or pubs.
The "nomination" rule is unique to New Zealand: A player <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">snookered</dfn> on the 8 ball may nominate one of the opponent's balls (if any remain) to hit as an alternative, legal "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">ball on</dfn>". However, the shooter is not permitted to pot (pocket) such a nominated ball – doing so results in a loss of game.
In North African countries (as in Latin America, but reversed), both the 1 and 15 balls must be pocketed in the sides, the 15 on the right and 1 on the left (relative to the end of the table one breaks from). The North African version of the informal game is always played "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">last-pocket</dfn>". <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">Ball-in-hand</dfn> is not taken on fouls, and "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">bank-the-8</dfn>" is a very common rule in addition to last-pocket.
There are several colloquial blackball/8-ball pool variations, which – along with differences between published blackball and 8-ball pool rules (which differ in various ways) and American-style and international eight-ball rules – can be encountered by eight-ball players as a form of culture clash when playing against opponents who are more accustomed to UK pub pool, the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">two-shot rules</dfn> being the most significant.
If a Foul or a Scratch is occurred while playing the 8 ball, as long as opponents has at least 1 ball of his group present on the Table and the 8 ball is not pocketed the game continues and the opponent gets the chance, If the cue ball is scratched, the opponent player gets 2 chances, but the ball has to be placed behind the break line, but if a foul occurs, the cue ball continues to stay there and the opponent gets 2 chances before the opponent can play(irrespective of if the player pots any of his balls in the first chance). the opponent also gets 2 chances if a player scratches. But if a player has only 8 ball left and the opponent sink his last solid/stripe ball with cue ball and if there is no ball in hand rule the player loses the game. And if the 8 ball is the only ball on the table and if the player commits any kind of foul the game is over and the opponent wins.
Most commonly of all in American <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">bar pool</dfn>, it is sometimes required that all shots be <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">called</dfn> in detail, as to what balls and bank/kick cushions will be involved in the shot, with the shot considered a turn-ending (but not ball-in-hand) foul if not executed precisely as planned (and a loss of game if the "foul" shot pocketed the 8 ball).[7] Contrariwise, some Americans hold that nothing other than the 8 ball has to be called in any way — "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">slop</dfn>" counts.
In informal amateur play in most areas, the table will only be considered open if no balls were pocketed, or an equal number of stripes and solids were pocketed, or the cue ball was <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">scratched</dfn> (into a pocket or off the table), on the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn>; if an odd number of balls were legally pocketed, such as one solid and two stripes, or no solids and one stripe, the breaker must shoot the balls that were pocketed in the greatest number (stripes in these examples). The table is almost never considered so <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">open</dfn> as for it to be legal to use a ball of the opposite <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">suit</dfn>, much less the 8 ball, as the first ball in a combination shot while the table is open (despite this being perfectly legal in WPA World Standardized and many US league rules). In non-<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">money games</dfn> it is fairly common for a foul break in which the rack was not struck at all (e.g., due to a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">miscue</dfn>) to be re-shot by the original breaker.
Fouls, in common bar pool, that are not cue ball scratches generally only cause loss of turn, with cue ball left in place (even if it is <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">hooked</dfn>). Even in the case of a scratch, this only results in <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">ball-in-hand</dfn> behind the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">head string</dfn>. Regionally, there is a great deal of bar pool variation in the handling of fouls while shooting at and/or pocketing the 8 ball. In some cases any foul while shooting at but not pocketing the 8 is a loss of game, in others only a foul while otherwise successfully pocketing the 8, and in yet others only certain fouls, such as also sinking an opponent's ball or touching the 8 ball and scratching.
What is considered a foul further diverges from established, published rulesets. Scoop-under <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">jump shots</dfn> are usually considered valid (these are fouls in WPA and most league rules, as they are <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">double-hits</dfn>, though few players realize it). When a cue ball is frozen or near-frozen to an object ball, shooting it dead-on, in line with both balls, is a foul in formal rulesets (as another kind of double-hit), but is generally tolerated in bar pool.
Other US bar pool oddities varying from area to area include: Knocking the cue ball off the table on the break may be an instant loss; scratching on the break may be an instant loss; pocketing the 8 ball on the break (without scratching) may be either an instant win or instant loss (the latter being a rare variant); no safeties may be allowed at all – all shots may be required to be at least vaguely plausible attempts to pocket a legal ball; all jump shots may be banned; <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">massé shots</dfn> may be banned; it may be illegal to use the 8 ball in any way in combinations, caroms or kisses; the 8 ball may be required to be pocketed "cleanly" in the sense of no contact with other object balls (even if the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">kiss shot</dfn> can be accurately called); failure to hit one of one's own object balls (or the 8 if shooting for the 8) may be considered a "table scratch" that gives the opponent a shot in-hand from behind the head string; failure to hit the 8 if shooting for the 8 may be a loss of game; and a "split" shot, where the cue ball appears to simultaneously strike a legal ball and an opponent's object ball, may be considered a legal shot, as long as it is called as a split shot, and the hit is in fact simultaneous to the naked eye.
"<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">Bank-the-8</dfn>" is a common American amateur variation, especially on coin-operated <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">bar tables</dfn> (because it usually makes the game last longer), in which the 8 ball must be <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">banked</dfn> off one or more <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">cushions</dfn> (<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">kick shots</dfn> may also qualify in some versions), into the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">called pocket</dfn>; either player may suggest bank-the-eight at any time before or during the game, and the other may accept or refuse; all other rules apply as usual. Playing bank-the-eight may be considered rude if there is a long line of players waiting to use the table.
A similarly-motivated variant is "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">last-pocket</dfn>", in which the 8 ball must be pocketed in the same pocket as the shooting player's last object ball (i.e., each player may be said to eventually "own" a pocket in which their 8 ball shot must be played if they have already run out their <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">suit</dfn>); all other rules apply as usual. This variant is popular in Mexico.
Due probably to the influence of nine-ball, in which the 1 ball must be the apex ball of the rack, most American bar players traditionally rack a game of eight-ball with the 1 ball in this position. Racking is also typically done solid-stripe-solid-stripe-solid along the two sides of the rack, resulting in solids being on all three corners. This is not a legal rack in World Standardized Rules, nor any other notable league ruleset other than APA, because it gives an automatic, strong statistical advantage to solids.
In the United Kingdom, eight-ball pool (and its internationally standardized variant blackball) as an overall rather different version of the game has evolved, influenced by English billiards and snooker, and has become popular in amateur competition in Britain, Ireland, Australia, and some other countries. As with American eight-ball, there are multiple competing standards bodies that have issued international rules. Aside from using unnumbered object balls (except for the 8), UK-style tables have pockets just larger than the balls, and more than one type of <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">rest</dfn> is typically used. The rules significantly differ in numerous ways, including the handling of fouls, which may give the opponent two shots, racking (the 8 ball, not the apex ball, goes on the foot spot), selection of which group of balls will be shot by which player, handling of <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">frozen</dfn> balls and <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">snookers</dfn>, and many other details.
The English Pool Association [1] is recognized by the Sports Council as the governing body for pool including blackball in England.
The hybrid game eight-ball rotation is a combination of eight-ball and rotation, in which the players must pocket their balls (other than the 8, which remains last) in numerical order.
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