Bob and I thought of that, but we wanted to keep the racking options triangular for simplicity and familiarity. It is very easy to just add the extra ball. Also, doesn't a classic 7-ball rack have lots of wired balls?
I think the circular 7-ball rack does, the center (money) ball has a tendency to drop on the break from what I’ve seen in those old classic ESPN matches from the 80s.
Which brings me back to the idea of spotting all balls after the break. I’m spotting everything that goes down. (foot, head, center for 1, 2, 3 balls down etc)
Reason being that there’s a good progressive nature of the levels especially early on and keeping balls down kind of removes that.
For example on level 2 you have to basically make 1 ball runs.
Level 3, around 1-2 two ball runs
Level 4, two ball runs
Level 5, three balls
Level 6, four with limited options
Level 7, 4-5 balls
Level 8, five balls with limited options
Level 9, five balls with more obstructions/traffic/possible clustering
Level 10 is where it kicks in a notch for the beginner/amateur with the rotation aspect.
Don’t see myself above level 8 or 9 anytime soon so I don’t have much of an opinion on the higher levels because they’re way too difficult to consistently accomplish (if at all!)
