One issue that I'd like to whine (ha) a little about is the rules surrounding cue ball fouls only.
At first I liked these rules because it seems kind of nitty for any inadvertent touch of any ball to be a foul. But I’ve come to believe the “cue ball fouls only” rule, and in particular all the exceptions to it, causes more debates and confusion than an “all ball fouls” rule.
The exceptions, where a touched ball is a foul, from CSI rules:
If it’s the cue ball;
If you disturb more than one ball;
If a disturbed ball contacts another ball;
If a ball moves through the space previously occupied by a disturbed ball, within one ball width.
And you can actually pocket a ball by accidentally touching it, and it's not a foul and your opponent has the option to put it back on the table*, which seems crazy to me, especially since so many people play on coin-op tables.
(*unless it’s the game-winning ball, in which case it must be put back on the table.)
What I have found is that most players know that you’re allowed to touch an object ball by accident, but they don’t know all the exceptions - and who can blame them? I’ve seen players knock 3 or 4 balls around while jerking back on a shot, and then get into an argument claiming that touching balls is not a foul.
Even in Dr. Dave's video example of this, the cue ball travels within a few inches of where the moved ball originally sat. It pretty clearly would not have hit it, but without the benefit of rewind, it was close enough that I could see it causing some controversy.
Because of these issues, I’d like to see a move to all-ball-fouls rules. Who's with me?!