Five-pin billiards

This article is about the originally Italian and now internationally standardized billiard game. For the Danish five-pin game, see Danish pin billiards.
"Five-pins" redirects here. For other uses, see Five-pins (disambiguation).

Five-pin billiards or simply five-pins or 5-pins (Italian: [biliardo del] cinque birilli;[1] Spanish: [billar de] cinco quillas), is today usually a carom, but sometimes still a pocket form of cue sport, popular especially in Italy and Argentina but also in some other parts of Latin America and Europe, with international, televised professional tournaments. The game is sometimes referred to as Italian five-pins or Italian billiards (Italian: biliardo all'italiana),[2] or as italiana (in Italian and Spanish).

History

Until the late 1980s, the game (with some rules differences) was a form of pocket billiards, known in English as Italian skittle pool,[3] and was principally played in pubs, with an object ball that was smaller than the two cue balls.[2] Professional and regulated amateur play today exclusively uses pocketless tables and equal-sized balls. Professional competition began in 1965,[1] and play is centered in billiard parlors, with players competing in provincial, regional and national federations.[2] The pocket version is still favored by some in amateur play.

Equipment and setup

Five-pins table, showing the location of the pins.

The game is played on a pocketless[4] normal 5 ft by 10 ft (1.52 by 3.05 m) carom billiards table, with standardized playing surface dimensions of 1.42 by 2.84 m (approximately 4-2/3 by 9-1/3 ft), plus/minus 5 mm (approx. 0.2 in), from cushion to cushion.[5] The slate bed of the table must be heated to about 5 degrees C (9 degrees F) above room temperature, which helps to keep moisture out of the cloth to aid the balls rolling and rebounding in a consistent manner, and generally makes the table play "faster".[3][6] In informal play, an unheated table is often used.

Like most other carom games, five-pins requires three standard[7] carom billiard balls of equal diameter: a red object ball, a cue ball for the first player or team, and another cue ball for the second player or team.[2] Ball sets vary by manufacturer, but typically are white for first and yellow for second (they may be plain or spotted), or plain white for first and white with a spot for second. The balls are 61.5 mm (2-3/8 [2.4] in) in diameter and weigh between 205 and 220 g (7.23 – 7.75 oz; 7.5 is average).[7][8] The white (or plain white) cue ball is given to the starting player, who may place it anywhere on the head side of the table (without disturbing the pins)—i.e., anywhere unobstructed between the head rail and the center string. The red object ball is placed at the center of the foot spot (i.e., the intersection of the foot string and the long string. The yellow (or spotted white) cue ball of the opponent is placed on the long string, in a position that can be labelled the "foot rail spot", 10 cm (approx. 4 in) from the foot rail.[9][10]

As the name implies, the game makes use of five upright pins called skittles in English (so-called since at least 1634),[3] birilli (singular birillo) in Italian and quillas in Spanish, which look like miniature bowling pins, 25 mm (1 in) tall, and with 7 mm (0.28 in.) round, flat-bottomed bases.[8][a] There are traditionally four white pins, and one red.[2] The red pin is placed on the center spot (the exact middle of the table both lengthwise and widthwise), and the four white pins are placed equidistant from the red in a square diamond pattern around it. Two whites are aligned along the center string with the head and foot spots, as well as the rail diamonds in the center of the head and foot rails, and with the red object ball, and red pin. Meanwhile the other two whites are placed on the center string, aligned with the diamonds in the center of the long rails, and again with the red pin. The whites are spaced just far enough away from the red that a cue ball can pass between the pins without touching any of them. The final pattern looks like a "+" (plus sign), as shown in the diagram to the right. This arrangement of pins on the table is referred to as the "castle". Tables have the precise castle positions for the pins, and for the starting positions of the balls, permanently marked, as they must be placed back into position before every shot if any have been knocked over or moved.[11]

Each player uses a cue stick to shoot the appropriate cue ball; average cue length is 140 cm (about 55 in.)[2] A bridge stick (rest) may be used to reach long shots.[12]

Rules

Though there are variants in Central and South America, the Italian five-pins rules are the best codified. Because the Italian-rules championships organized by the Italian Federation of Billiard Sport (FIBiS) are international, televised events, and often hosted outside of Italy, the FIBiS rules are the global de facto standard,[2] and have been incorporated into the rules promulgated by the Union Mondiale de Billard and thus are likely to be the eventual Olympic rules.

Object

The goal of the game is to earn a required number of points, before one's opponent does, by using one's cue ball to cause the opponent's cue ball to knock over pins (and to not do so with one's own cue ball), and by contacting the red object ball with either cue ball, after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent, and/or by causing the object ball to knock over pins, again after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent.[13]

Play

The game is played by two players or by two teams (a pair of doubles partners most commonly, but also larger teams). Determining who goes first can be done by any means (lag usually, but also coin toss, tournament stipulations about player order, etc.). Each player or team is assigned one of the two cue balls; this is the only cue ball they may hit with the cue stick. The first player or team always uses the (plain) white cue ball, the opponent the other ball. Unlike in many games, shots are always taken in rotation – the same player or team never shoots twice in a row even if they have scored (other than if the opponent fouled before actually shooting when their turn came up, such as by moving one of the balls accidentally). Play continues until one player or team wins by being the first to achieve or exceed a specific number of points (usually 50 or 60), either agreed upon beforehand by the players, or set by tournament organizers.[2][13] In informal play, the number is often lower, such as 25.

In order to score, the incoming player or team must stroke the assigned cue ball (sometimes called the battente or "clapper") to carom off the opponent's cue ball (sometimes called the "receiver")—usually directly, but off a cushion is permitted and very common—with the goal of secondarily having the opponent's cue ball, directly or by way of rebounding off a cushion, next hit the pins and/or the red object ball (sometimes called the pallino ("bullet") or "jack", terms common to several other games, such as bocce).[2]

Unlike in the major carom games balkline, straight rail and three-cushion billiards, there is no requirement to hit one or more cushions at any time.[2]

Scoring

Knocking over pins, by any of the acceptable prescribed manners, earns cumulative points as follows:[2][14]

The acceptable means of knocking over pins include any that result from hitting the opponent's object ball first with one's own, and not hitting the pins with one's own cue ball. For example, one can simply send the opponent's cue ball into the pins, send the opponent's cue ball into the red object ball and have the object ball hit the pins, or hit the opponent's cue ball and then the object ball with one's own cue ball and send the object ball into the pins.[16][17]

The object ball itself is also worth points:[2][16][18]

Fouls

The game has some fouls unique to its ruleset, as well as the usual fouls of billiards games. All fouls nullify any points the shooter would have earned on the foul shot, and award the opponent free points (which vary depending on the type of foul).[2][17]

Because of the particularity of the first-listed foul above, players watch the game carefully, and tournaments have referees. Any points earned by the shooter on a foul shot are awarded to the opponent (except when, as noted above, pin value is not calculated). An extra 2 points go to the opponent if the object ball was correctly hit on an otherwise foul stroke (in addition to being awarded the 3 or 4 points the object ball was worth). Ball-in-hand on fouls is not entirely free; the incoming shooter after a ball-in-hand foul can only place his/her cue ball on the opposite half of the table from the other cue ball, and must shoot from the end (short part) not side of the table.[2] The cue ball does not have to be placed in the kitchen (behind the head string), just within the proper half of the table.

Strategy

A fairly easy three-rail bank shot on the castle.

Five-pins integrates some of the target-shooting aspects of pool, snooker, etc. (perhaps via the influence of English billiards) into carom billiards, which is otherwise oriented at scoring carom points.

A challenging two-rail kick shot at the castle.
A daring massé shot on the castle, from a snookered position. A kick shot would almost certainly be a higher-probability shot selection.

Safety play and cue ball control are essential when attempting to score, with the goal of leaving the balls in such a position that the incoming opponent is hooked (snookered) and will have a difficult bank, kick, or massé shot to perform.

Because kicks and banks are so common, players must be more skilled at these shots than they would need to be for most forms of pool (other than one-pocket and bank pool) and carom billiards. The game also requires a good understanding of carom angles and the effects of "English" (sidespin) on the cue ball.

World Five-pins Championship

Organized by the Italian Federation of Billiard Sport (FIBiS), and inaugurated in 1965, the World Five-pins Championship (Campionato del Mondo "5 Birilli") is an international event, hosted to date in various places in Italy, Argentina, Switzerland and Spain. It is semi-annual; many years since its inception have not featured such a tournament. As of early 2008, there have been twenty such tournaments. There are various divisions, including youth, women, men, teams, and a one-on-one open championship.[1]

World Open Champions

Note: In several years, events were not held.
Date Location Winner Nationality
1965 Santa Fé, Argentina Manuel Gomez  Argentina
1968 Bell Ville, Argentina Anselmo Berrondo  Uruguay
1975 Campione d'Italia, Italy Domenico Acanfora  Italy
1978 Bell Ville, Argentina Ricardo Fantasia  Argentina
1979 Pesaro, Italy Attilio Sessa  Italy
1980 Necochea, Argentina Nestor Osvaldo Gomez  Argentina
1982 Loano, Italy Nestor Osvaldo Gomez  Argentina
1983 Marcos Juárez, Argentina Miguel Angel Borrelli  Argentina
1985 Spoleto, Italy Giampiero Rosanna  Italy
1987 Milan, Italy Carlo Cifalà  Italy
1989 Chiasso, Switzerland Gustavo Enrique Torregiani  Argentina
1990 Brescia, Italy Gustavo Enrique Torregiani  Argentina
1992 Arezzo, Italy Giampiero Rosanna  Italy
1993 Bolivar, Argentina Fabio Cavazzana  Italy
1995 Fiuggi, Italy Gustavo Adrian Zito  Italy
1998 Ferrara, Italy David Martinelli  Italy
1999 Necochea, Argentina Gustavo Adrian Zito  Italy
2003 Legnano, Italy Crocefisso Maggio  Italy
2006 Seville, Spain Michelangelo Aniello  Italy
2008 Sarteano di Siena, Italy Andrea Quarta  Italy
2009 Villa Maria, Argentina Gustavo Enrique Torregiani  Argentina

Five-pins Pro World Cup

Also organized by FIBiS, the Five-pins Pro World Cup (World Cup Pro "5 Birilli"), was a semi-annual event begun in 1993, and discontinued after 1997. In only one year (1993) were both the Pro World Cup and the World Championships held. The event was a one-on-one invitational championship, without other divisions.[1]

Pro World Cup Champions

Note: In 1995, the event was not held.
Date Location Winner Nationality
1993 Cannes, France Salvatore Mannone  Italy
1994 Saint-Vincent, Italy Gustavo Adrian Zito  Argentina?[19]
1996 Saint-Vincent, Italy David Martinelli  Italy
1997 Todi, Italy Gustavo Adrian Zito  Italy

Nine-pin variant (goriziana)

Main article: Goriziana

A professionally competitive version known as goriziana (or nine-pins, 9-pins, nine-pin billiards, etc.) adds four additional outer pins to the "+" pattern, and has a more complicated scoring system. Goriziana itself also has multiple amateur rules variants.

In popular culture

Five-pins is a major plot point of the Italian-produced, English-language drama/romance film Bye Bye Baby, which stars Brigitte Nielsen as a professional player. The movie does not focus on five-pins, but does demonstrate many aspects of the game clearly in a few sequences.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sezione Stecca: Organigramma della Sezione - Attività agonistica - Calendari - Regolamento Tecnico Sportivo, 2004–2005 (Italian), Federazione Italiana Biliardo Sportivo, 2004, Italy.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Biliardo all'italiana manual at Wikibooks, accessed February 1, 2007. (Italian)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Shamos, Michael Ian (1993). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. New York, NY: Lyons & Burford. pp. 124, 215. ISBN 1-55821-219-1.
  4. ↑ World Rules of 5-pin Billiard (English language version), Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 11 ("Article 11 - Billiard [table], cushion, cloth"), Section 3; Union Mondiale de Billard, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium, 1997 (official online PDF scan, accessed 11 March 2007).
  5. ↑ World Rules of 5-pin Billiard (English language version), Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 11 ("Article 11 - Billiard [table], cushion, cloth"), Section 4; op. cit.
  6. ↑ World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 11 ("Article 11 - Billiard [table], cushion, cloth"), Section 9; op. cit.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 World Rules of Carom Billiard (English language version), Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 12 ("Balls, Chalk"), Section 2; Union Mondiale de Billard, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium, 1 January 1989 (official online PDF scan, accessed 5 March 2007). While UMB, the International Olympic Committee-recognized world carom billiards authority, permits balls as small as 61.0 mm, no major manufacturer produces such balls any longer, and the de facto standard is 61.5 mm. Amusingly, the cited document has a "cm" for "mm" typographical error, which would result in beachball sizes.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 12 ("Balls, Pins, Chalk"), Section 1; op. cit. The cited document repeats the "cm" for "mm" typographical error of the parent general carom billiards rules. Note: The English-language version of this document confusingly refers to the opponent's cue ball as the object ball, and the red object ball as simply the red ball. As this usage does not conform with standard billiards terminology in English, it has been abandoned in this article, which when referring to "the object ball" means the red ball.
  9. ↑ World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter III ("Goal of the Game, the Match"), Article 25 ("Starting position, cue-ball"), Section 1; op. cit. The translated Italian name for this spot is the "top spot", but this name makes no sense in English, as the metaphoric "head" or "top" of the table in Italian is the reverse of the usage in English. Also, the Appendix referred to in this document is absent; however the next-cited source, a different version of the rules document, in Italian, provides the missing diagrams.
  10. ↑ "Regolamento di Gioco Specialità' '5 Birilli' - '9 Birilli Goriziana e Tutti Doppi'" (Italian), Federazione Italiana Biliardo Sportivo, October 2003, Italy. An HTML version (Italian) is also available, from a FIBiS affiliate.
  11. ↑ World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 13 ("Marking of the spots and position lines"); op. cit.
  12. ↑ World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 14 ("Billiard cue, rake"), Section 2; op. cit.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter III ("Goal of the Game, the Match"), Article 21 ("Goal of the game"), Section 2; op. cit.
  14. ↑ World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter III ("Goal of the Game, the Match"), Article 22 ("Allocation of the points"), Section 1; op. cit.
  15. ↑ http://www.fibis.it/media/news/223/attach/circolare_variazioni_regolamento_1_agosto_2013.pdf FIBiS: Regolamento gioco 5 birilli goriziana operativo dal 1 settembre 2013 (Italian)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter III ("Goal of the Game, the Match"), Article 21 ("Goal of the game"), Section 4; op. cit. The English-language version is poorly worded in this section with regard to pin scoring, though it is clarified in Section 6.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter III ("Goal of the Game, the Match"), Article 21 ("Goal of the game"), Section 6; op. cit. The rather lacking English translation of these rules seems to contradict itself with regard to the striking-pins-with-own-cue-ball foul; in particular III-21-4 does not agree with III-21-6, but this appears to be a typographical error, as the various copies of Italian-language rules from UMB and FIBiS do not share this inconsistency.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 World Rules of 5-pin Billiard, Chapter III ("Goal of the Game, the Match"), Article 22 ("Allocation of the points"), Section 2; op. cit.
  19. ↑ Sezione Stecca (Italian), op. cit. The published FIBiS records list Zito as representing Argentina in this particular instance, but this is likely a typographical error, as he was representing Italy both before and after this event.

Footnotes

External links