I have a question I hope someone can answer. The game is 8 ball. the shooter breaks the rack and makes a couple of balls. What he doesn't realize is that one of the balls made was the 8 ball. He continues to shoot, makes a couple more balls and then he and his opponent realize they don't have an 8 ball. What is the ruling. I believe they rerack and start the game over. What do you say.
If it's league rules, I would call it a win... if not then I would call it a loss since the shooter continued to shoot. After all, aside from "league rules" dropping the 8 ball is not a win (or has that "official" rule changed)?
Now with that being said...
What would I do? I would try to get into a money match with either of the two shooters who didn't notice that the 8 ball dropped... Because they either have had too much to drink, and/or there is some
distracting cleavage somewhere close by.
The very first thing that I do after dropping a ball on a successful break, is to assess the easiest choice of high/low, then
evaluate the position of the 8 ball and choose a preferred route to get there... adding how (and when) to open up any clusters that may need to be broken up along the way.
Only
once in my entire 47 years (off and on) of shooting 8 ball can I ever remember overlooking an object ball.
It wasn't the 8... I thought that I had run all of my balls and just after I dropped the 8... I asked myself... "Where in the hell did that 4 ball come from?"... I was playing a tournament and we were "hill-hill", so it cost me both the game and the match. I remember hearing my opponent ask, "Did he just drop the 8 ball?" and someone replied back, "Yea, I guess he's color blind".
No one is perfect, and in casual rotation games it does happen (once in a blue moon) that your brain will become so consumed with the money ball that you overlook a lower numbered ball that is still sitting on the table... but it's just hard for me to imagine shooting any game that has a specific money ball without knowing "exactly where that sucker is at all times during the game.
And if I ever do... every member on AZB is allowed to give me a swift kick in the ass.
Sorry that I can't type this using the "pool-hall vernacular"... you get banned around here for talking like a real pool player these days... but that's a whole other thread (and it's getting really crowded in there). Or do I owe someone an apology?