Cribbage Billiards = Improved Cue Ball Control

cmbwsu

cmbwsu

Pool Stream Advocate
Silver Member
If you are looking for another way to improve your cue ball control, try Cribbage Billiards. It is a fun game to play, and easy to learn.

The official rules for Cribbage Billiards are in the BCA Official Rules and Records Book, but I can offer a summary of the game here.

A cribbage is a combination of two balls that equal a total of 15 points; i.e. 14-1, 7-8, 5-10, etc. The object of the game is to earn 5 cribbages (there are a total of 8 in a rack) before your opponent. There are 7 cribbage pairs: (1-14, 2-13, 3-12, 4-11, 5-10, 6-9, & 7-8.) After all cribbage pairs have been pocketed, the 15-ball is a cribbage by itself. The 15-ball must be the last cribbage played, and only if necessary for the 5 cribbage win. As soon as a player has 5 cribbages, the game is over.

The balls are racked with the 15 ball in the center. No two of the three corner balls shall add up to 15 points. Other balls are placed randomly in the rack.

The rack is broken from behind the head string, usually with force in order to make a ball. If a ball is made on the break, the breaker continues to shoot, but may only shoot at the companion of the ball that dropped. For example, if the 4-ball was pocketed on the break, the shooter must try to hit and sink the 11-ball. If he fails to sink the eleven ball, the 4-ball is spotted and his inning is over. The incoming player must shoot the table as it lies.

If two balls are pocketed during a single stroke, the player may select which companion ball he wants for a cribbage. If he sinks the companion ball he must go after the companion of the second ball that dropped during the single stroke. If he fails, the previously pocketed companion is spotted and his turn is over.

As with other games, the general rules of pocket pool apply to Cribbage Billiards.

Like 9-ball and Rotation, there are no optional balls to go after should the player fail to get position on the next legal ball. Cribbage Billiards is an excellent game to play to improve ones position skills. It is also a great deal of fun.

When you practice alone, consider playing Cribbage as opposed to just running racks at random. Yes, it is work. It is hard work in fact, but very rewarding when you need to play your best pool in competition.
 
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So there's no BIH at any time? This sounds like an interesting game. I'll have to give it a try sometime.
 
Samiel said:
So there's no BIH at any time? This sounds like an interesting game. I'll have to give it a try sometime.
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I went back and highlighted this: "As with other games, the general rules of pocket pool apply to Cribbage Billiards" which should answer your question.
 
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There is game much like cribbage that plays faster.

COLORS is a take off of cribbage.
It plays with balls of the same colors instead of numerical values.
The difference from cribbage is that the first ball never spots.
The second ball if missed is then paired up with the 8 ball which always spots up like the game of snooker.
It plays faster than cribbage and it is easier to identify the companion balls. Try it for a comparison.

Rules for COLORS can be found at www.sfbilliards.com under miscellaneous files #46.
 
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I'm going to practice this one myself. Try to get all 7 combo's of 15. Really a good practice for position play. Johnnyt
 
So with 8 points total, the game can end in a tie... which is unfortunate. :frown:

One way to avoid that would be to assign 2 points to the 15-ball. :idea2:

With the rules as explained, the game can easily progress to a point that the score is 4-2... with three balls left... a pair equaling 15 and the 15-ball.

In that case, I believe that if the player with the 2 score makes both the last pair followed by the 15-ball (not necessarily during the same turn at the table), he/she should be the winner... and not be a person that ties the game.

Instead of adding that to the rules, the rules could be revised to give a value of 2 points to the 15-ball. That would take care of it... right?
 
cigardave said:
So with 8 points total, the game can end in a tie... which is unfortunate. :frown:

One way to avoid that would be to assign 2 points to the 15-ball. :idea2:

With the rules as explained, the game can easily progress to a point that the score is 4-2... with three balls left... a pair equaling 15 and the 15-ball.

In that case, I believe that if the player with the 2 score makes both the last pair followed by the 15-ball (not necessarily during the same turn at the table), he/she should be the winner... and not be a person that ties the game.

Instead of adding that to the rules, the rules could be revised to give a value of 2 points to the 15-ball. That would take care of it... [highlight]right?[/highlight]
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Sorry for the delay -- too much on my plate lately .... anyway: Right!
 
I need to remember to try practicing this the next time I actually practice. One of the downfalls of not being single is that things seem to be scheduled by a significant other which conflict with your interests
 
gunzby said:
I need to remember to try practicing this the next time I actually practice. One of the downfalls of not being single is that things seem to be [highlight]scheduled by a significant other which conflict with your interests[/highlight]
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Boy do I know that one. On the other side of that coin is when league/tournaments are scheduled by a significant pool hall owner which conflict with your "other" interests:canoodle:
 
cmbwsu said:
Boy do I know that one. On the other side of that coin is when league/tournaments are scheduled by a significant pool hall owner which conflict with your "other" interests:canoodle:
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LoL
I find it funny because I have the woman who prides herself in saying that she lets me do these things, but when she's pissed at me the first thing to come up is me at the pool hall for 12 hours which is wrong cuz they open at 5pm and close at 2am, but I don't say that cuz I have hairy arms and throwing gas in the fire is not a good thing.

The bad part for me with league/tournaments is that I work 4 days on and 4 off at night from 630pm-630am. This means I have possibly 4 days to practice (yea right the old lady is right here) which is the good part. The bad part is that my days off rotate so I am never off on the same days two weeks in a row.
 
gunzby said:
LoL
I find it funny because I have the woman who prides herself in saying that she lets me do these things, but when she's pissed at me the first thing to come up is me at the pool hall for 12 hours which is wrong cuz they open at 5pm and close at 2am, but I don't say that cuz I have hairy arms and throwing gas in the fire is not a good thing.

The bad part for me with league/tournaments is that I work 4 days on and 4 off at night from 630pm-630am. This means I have possibly 4 days to practice (yea right the old lady is right here) which is the good part. The bad part is that my days off rotate so I am never off on the same days two weeks in a row.
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I own my own business ... oh wait a minute ... my business owns me :thud: :banghead::thud: :banghead::thud: :banghead:
 
cmbwsu said:
I own my own business ... oh wait a minute ... my business owns me :thud: :banghead::thud: :banghead::thud: :banghead:
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I hear you there. I used to have a job that I regularly worked only 60-80 hours a week. Now I work for myself and if I only worked 60 hours a week I'd be done on Thursday :) But I always seem to work all 7.

~rc
 
gunzby said:
I need to remember to try practicing this the next time I actually practice.
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I played the game for the first time last Saturday when a shootin' buddy came over to play at my house.

First game, he broke and I went five and out... on a 9' Pro Am with PC pockets... I was pretty proud of that. :groucho:

Back to the rules... the way we played, we allowed combinations... any ball could be contacted first... and did not play that it was a foul to not hit the companion ball first.

We also played BIH but only on scratches and non-legal shots like a ball not going to a rail after contact with an object ball.

The game is tough enuf w/o invoking 9-ball or 10-ball-like rules that the companion ball must be contacted first... right?
 
cigardave said:
I played the game for the first time last Saturday when a shootin' buddy came over to play at my house.

First game, he broke and I went five and out... on a 9' Pro Am with PC pockets... I was pretty proud of that. :groucho:

Back to the rules... the way we played, we allowed combinations... any ball could be contacted first... and did not play that it was a foul to not hit the companion ball first.

We also played BIH but only on scratches and non-legal shots like a ball not going to a rail after contact with an object ball.

The game is tough enuf w/o invoking 9-ball or 10-ball-like rules that the companion ball must be contacted first... right?
Click to expand...

Contact any ball to make the companion ball.
Try the game COLORS (post #4 on this thread) for a comparison game.
 
Ralph Kramden said:
[highlight]Contact any ball to make the companion ball.[/highlight]
Try the game COLORS (post #4 on this thread) for a comparison game.
Click to expand...


What Ralph said [size=+4]☝[/size]
 
cmbwsu said:
I went back and highlighted this: "As with other games, the general rules of pocket pool apply to Cribbage Billiards" which should answer your question.
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According to the World Standardized General Rules 3.17 it only states that the penalty for a foul differs from game to game. So the answer cannot be found in the general rules.

I found these rules for cribbage billiards but don't know how official they are:

http://www.usapoolhalls.com/billiards/cribbage/

According to these rules, upon a foul the incoming player has the choice of taking the balls in position or taking BIH behind the headstring.
 
DogsPlayingPool said:
According to the World Standardized General Rules 3.17 it only states that the penalty for a foul differs from game to game. So the answer cannot be found in the general rules.

I found these rules for cribbage billiards but don't know how official they are:

http://www.usapoolhalls.com/billiards/cribbage/

According to these rules, upon a foul the incoming player has the choice of taking the balls in position or taking BIH behind the headstring.
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I have seen several variations here and there -- we pool players like to change stuff to suit our own desires sometimes :wink:
 
Cribbage

around here was--you could make the first ball anyway (even slop )but the second ball must be a clean hit & called shot.Usually played to 15 points.Good game,easier than strait pool,interesting,some strategy,good practice game.
 
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