Recommendations for 3-player games appreciated

bdorman

Dead money
Silver Member
I'm taking my two nephews to play pool tomorrow. I need a 3-player game because they've got short attention spans and get fidgety if they're sitting and waiting to play (they're early twenties).

Any recommendations for a 3-player game?

The only one I've thought of is what I'll call "Five Ball": each player takes 5 balls (sets of 1-5, 6-10 and 11-15) determined by order of pocketing the first ball in the set (like you'd do in standard 8-ball.

Thanks.
 

Six Shooter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cutthroat is a fairly popular 3 player game. You can also do 3 ball, Kelly, golf (typically played on a snooker table but it can be adapted to a pool table).

You can play 8 ball or 9 ball handicapped. You vs. them and let them scotch double on you.

There are many games that can be adapted using a little creativity.
 

PGHteacher

John Fischer
Silver Member
That's called cut-throat (at least around here) How about a 9ball ring game? No BIH you flip coins to determine an order, incoming player gets the option to pass the shot back to the original shooter if not a legal hit, if a scratch behind the line. This is a lot of fun and is usually a way for a few people (more than 2 and less than 7) play. Typically this is for $1 on the 5 and $2 on the 9. I have actually played this for $5 and $10. There are other stipulations that are common like “ball before the $ ball gets spotted” if a foul occurs “double the $ on the B&R” “½ the $ on a 9ball combo” etc.. etc.. But you can just play for points if you want to say play to race to 10pnts 1pnt for the 5 and 2pnts for the 9.
 

ENGLISH!

Banned
Silver Member
Does brdman know the games suggested. I assume, & one never should, that he does not or he would not be asking. Cut throat is where instead of shooting solid & stripes as in 8-ball the rack is divide into 3 parts, 1-5, 6-10, & 11-15. I suggest that you, the adult, take the 6-10 as they have both solids & stripes & let ea. of them shoot their choice low solids or high stripes or alternate between games. I suggest that regardless of who breaks that you spot any made balls (that's not normal) Normally you shoot your opponents balls & the last man with a ball(s) on the table wins another way is for ea. to shoot his own balls but then that would not be called Cut Throat. Good Luck & have fun!
 

krupa

The Dream Operator
Silver Member
15-ball rotation is good with 3 people but if they're not pool players, 9-ball may be better/easier.
 

bdorman

Dead money
Silver Member
Does brdman know the games suggested. I assume, & one never should, that he does not or he would not be asking.

English! has correctly identified me as a newbie; very perceptive!

And I've learned something new: Cut throat. I hadn't thought of sinking the other players' balls to win. That sets up for ganging up on me, which they'd enjoy immensely. Taking the 6-10 balls is also an excellent idea to keep it simpler for them.

Rotation or points would work well but the score-keeping might be more of a chore than we want. Of course, DoubleD's suggestion is probably the best one...but finding a 22-year old in a mini-skirt might be difficult on short notice.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
3 ball is a fun group game, rack 3 balls in a diamond, break, count how many shots it takes you to sink all 3, max is 4, after that you stop. The break counts as a shot, so if you break and all 3 go in off the break, your score is 1, if you break, sink 2 and shoot the last ball in one shot, score is 2. Shoot them in any order. Next person does the same. Person with the lowest score wins. Ties count as a tie, so if two people get a 2, it's a tie and you start again with the first breaker.

This is usually a gambling game when a group plays, for something cheap you can play a quater a round for each person, so the winner gets .50. If it's a tie in one round, the amount carries over. So if you tie 2 times, then you win the 3rd round, the winner of that round gets 1.50.

In a decent sized group you can have 5-6 people playing, a few carry overs you are looking at a $50 pot for a game. It's fun when you have one guy get a low score, and the others are rooting for someone to at least match him. Playing caroms is huge in this game to sink 2 balls at once.
 

JAMSGOLF

Golf & Pool-I'm addicted!
Silver Member
Yep...I've always recommended cut-throat to groups of "3". It's a way for two lesser skilled players to "gang-up" on the better skilled player!

You can make up your own rules per se, but I've always told people:

- To keep it simple rotation is determined by what balls you have (1-5 plays first, 6-10 second, and 11-15 shoots last) and you keep shooting in that order throughout the game.

- If it's not a bar table, a scratch results in the other two players returning one of their balls to the table (placed on the spot one behind the other). This gets someone back in the game if they've been knocked out!

- If you pocket a ball, you keep shooting. If you don't pocket a ball, your turn is over.

- You can pocket your own ball to keep shooting, but then it's one less you have on the table!

- The person with only their ball(s) on left on the table wins!
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I suggest that you, the adult, take the 6-10 as they have both solids & stripes & let ea. of them shoot their choice low solids or high stripes or alternate between games.

The other two are in their 20s, that's in the "adult" range as well :grin-square:

Although I have run into many a lot older that are still in the play video games, go drinking, sleep till 1 pm, repeat stage.
 
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