Cowboy

J

jwpretd

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Does anybody actually play Cowboy? For that matter, was it ever played very much?

I played it some in Hawaii in the '60s at the bowling alley in Kailua and a few other Windward Side bars. At Marine Barracks Atsugi, also in the '60s, we played a variant that I thought made it a considerably better game than the standard rules. Beyond those two places, however, I've never seen it played and I've met very few people who knew of it at all beyond the name.
 
W

Wanderlust

Roaming...
Silver Member
Bumping this up for an explanation of the rules. Dennis talked about it in the TAR podcast and said it was his "secret" training game. Anybody have any info? It sounded like a mix of pool and 3 cushion.
 
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wontonny

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Wanderlust said:
Bumping this up for an explanation of the rules. Dennis talked about it in the TAR podcast and said it was his "secret" training game. Anybody have any info? It sounded like a mix of pool and 3 cushion.
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It's a points based game to 101 I believe. You have the 1, 3, and 5 ball on the spot, center of the head string and center spot respectively. Opening "break" involves an attempt at pocketing the 3 ball. Balls pocketed are face value and caroms are 1 point. From what Dennis Hatch said, it seemed like he MUST combine a pocketed ball with a carom. The way I played you could elect to play either pocketing a ball or a combination. i.e. pocket the 5 and carom into another ball will yield you 6 points. Or just pocket the 5. Dennis' way makes more sense because the better player would just play position for the 5. Additionally, balls are pocketed normally until a player reaches 90, from then on all points are scored through caroms until the player reaches 101. Balls are spotted on their starting spots after they are pocketed obviously.
 
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F

fathomblue

Rusty Shackleford
Silver Member
This game sounds very interesting. I'm going to take a copy of the rules to my local hangout and see if the guys want to try it.

I could see it being very beneficial.
 
Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
I don't believe i've ever seen the game played in my 60 years of playing. I come from the Eastcoast and it might have beem played a lot in other regions of the country. I remember my Dad bringing it up once or twice but can't remember what he said now. Johnnyt
 
macguy

macguy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Johnnyt said:
I don't believe i've ever seen the game played in my 60 years of playing. I come from the Eastcoast and it might have beem played a lot in other regions of the country. I remember my Dad bringing it up once or twice but can't remember what he said now. Johnnyt
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I have a funny story about Cowboy billiards. My brother-in-law was a D.I. at Parris Island. He was telling me about this guy they had there who ran 70, 80, 100, almost every time he came to the table. We never really had an in depth conversation about the game but I had to wonder who this guy was. Now my brother-in-law knew nothing about pool. He said guys there would bet anything on this guy.

So I make a drive to Parris Island and he is going to sneak me in where they play. Turns out the game they are playing is not straight pool as I just assumed, but Cowboy pool. That is why all the high runs, it wasn't balls but points. I had played Cowboy pool before and high point run was not that difficult. I did end up playing the guy and I beat him and his buddies for a few bucks and we all had a lot of fun but I put it over the bar for everybody to enjoy, their money was the last thing I wanted, this was in the height of Vietnam.

The ironic part of the story was, shortly after that my brother-in-law went off to Vietnam. He didn't have to go, he had an important job but right here but he wanted to go. He was a career Marine and that is what they do. His job was to be doing advanced training over there. He was only there a month when he was wounded by an explosive device and died 19 days later. My last opportunity to see him was due to that pool game.

I spent a wonderful week with him and my sister as a guest at Parris island. I didn't have a brother it was just my sister who was older and I but when he came into my life I was like I got an older brother. It was a real gift to get to spend that week with him and I owe it to Cowboy pool.

I am sorry I went so far of subject but I started writing and ended up telling the whole story. It really isn't over though, I am sitting here at my desk and in the drawer I have his whistle he gave me that week, he wore it as a D.I. I had quite a few things of his I have since given to his two boys who were just babies when he was killed, but I kept his whistle.
 
Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
macguy said:
I have a funny story about Cowboy billiards. My brother-in-law was a D.I. at Parris Island. He was telling me about this guy they had there who ran 70, 80, 100, almost every time he came to the table. We never really had an in depth conversation about the game but I had to wonder who this guy was. Now my brother-in-law knew nothing about pool. He said guys there would bet anything on this guy.

So I make a drive to Parris Island and he is going to sneak me in where they play. Turns out the game they are playing is not straight pool as I just assumed, but Cowboy pool. That is why all the high runs, it wasn't balls but points. I had played Cowboy pool before and high point run was not that difficult. I did end up playing the guy and I beat him and his buddies for a few bucks and we all had a lot of fun but I put it over the bar for everybody to enjoy, their money was the last thing I wanted, this was in the height of Vietnam.

The ironic part of the story was, shortly after that my brother-in-law went off to Vietnam. He didn't have to go, he had an important job but right here but he wanted to go. He was a career Marine and that is what they do. His job was to be doing advanced training over there. He was only there a month when he was wounded by an explosive device and died 19 days later. My last opportunity to see him was due to that pool game.

I spent a wonderful week with him and my sister as a guest at Parris island. I didn't have a brother it was just my sister who was older and I but when he came into my life I was like I got an older brother. It was a real gift to get to spend that week with him and I owe it to Cowboy pool.

I am sorry I went so far of subject but I started writing and ended up telling the whole story. It really isn't over though, I am sitting here at my desk and in the drawer I have his whistle he gave me that week, he wore it as a D.I. I had quite a few things of his I have since given to his two boys who were just babies when he was killed, but I kept his whistle.
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Even though its been years i'm still sorry for your loss. That you for sharing with us. Johnnyt
 
krupa

krupa

The Dream Operator
Silver Member
jwpretd said:
Does anybody actually play Cowboy? For that matter, was it ever played very much?

I played it some in Hawaii in the '60s at the bowling alley in Kailua and a few other Windward Side bars. At Marine Barracks Atsugi, also in the '60s, we played a variant that I thought made it a considerably better game than the standard rules. Beyond those two places, however, I've never seen it played and I've met very few people who knew of it at all beyond the name.
Click to expand...

I started using it as a practice game after reading the rules in 99 Critical Shots. Good for cue-ball control and learning position play because I spend a lot of time staring at the table trying to figure out where to CB is going to go to make the caroms. My high point run in the carom-only part of the game is a whopping 2.
 
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