9-Ball Game Origins
- Thread starter Marc
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I am not sure but just guessing is that you play in order 1 to 9 and the 9 wins the game! other house rules apply or what ever is agreed on before hand.
Originally it wasn’t ball-in-hand and you could push out after any shot, right?
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You could push out only if hooked, by your opponent, or yourself. And, rules tended to vary slightly from place to place, usually regionally for the most part. From what I understand, there have been multiple threads here @ pushout ( roll out, 2 fouls bih, etc ) if anyone is interested in seeing these discussions.
It seems like a lot of pre-Texas Express had a bit of an honor system to them. Things that would be too easy to take advantage of in squirrelly ways by today’s professionals.
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I’m pretty sure that I played pretty close to the original when I was a kid.
...in the Carolinas, you just fired at ‘em, even if you were hooked.
...safety play was greatly frowned on.
No push, no ball in hand, just keep hitting the lowest numbered ball on the table.
I think it was Mike Shamos who wrote that it showed up in the 1920s....
...obviously, rotation was the papa.
Ring nine ball today is about like the first nine ball game, I suppose.
...in the Carolinas, you just fired at ‘em, even if you were hooked.
...safety play was greatly frowned on.
No push, no ball in hand, just keep hitting the lowest numbered ball on the table.
I think it was Mike Shamos who wrote that it showed up in the 1920s....
...obviously, rotation was the papa.
Ring nine ball today is about like the first nine ball game, I suppose.
Well... "playing safe" back then meant putting your opponent somewhere they had to think about strategy, i.e. was it better to go for the shot just left to them? Or to let the other player take the shot ( and other things inherent in that ). It didn't mean trying to recall the proper prayer to say, just before having to kick three rails on the eight ball in a hill-hill race for 3K.
Ah yes.....the good ol "honest effort". I pushed out once in a ring game, 5-7-9 money balls with a simple $20 payout instead of paying per ball. Anyway, I'd been hooked about 4 games in a row, down $80 within 10 or 15 minutes. So on my next turn I was hooked again, and instead of kicking at the lowest ball to try to make something happen, I pushed out to jump shot. The guy gave it back and I jumped the ball and got out. He said, "I thought this an honest effort game", and I said, "It is....I chose to give an honest effort to not lose money anymore due to fluke rolls." I told them we were gambling, and I was 100% giving my best effort to win rather than lose. We ended up incorporating the pushout from then on anytime the guy before you got a lucky safe. It's a win-win for everyone. I mean, if you don't get a hit, the incoming player has the option of giving it back, so the same thing applies after you push .
I like that push rule....never played it, but it makes sense.
When I played 9-ball in the 1960s, the 9 was worth 2 (bills or points) the 5 and 7 were both worth 1; no BIH, and push-out whenever.
We used to play the 5 ( never the 7, though, but I heard about it ) as well but for whatever reason, it lost its luster in our room so we quit playing it by the time I hit 15 or 16. And, yeah, I've seen "push whenever" in different places but in this area, you had to be hooked to push. As I said earlier, rules varied from place to place. Some places, on a scratch, all consecutive balls behind the head string went down except the last one and it spotted. Some played only the next consecutive ball spotted and the others stayed up. Some played ALL consecutive balls spotted, Some played last before the money spotted, some played only the money spotted. Some played all consecutive balls behind the HS went down and you shot the next ball above the HS with bih behind the HS. Depended where you were.
A real sense of nostalgia even thinking about all these pushout rule variations!
As in many thing in history, there is probably no record of it. What remains is most likely conjecture.
When I was kid in the 60's I asked the same question to some of the old timers. A couple of them said it was conceived as a gambling game by some New York hustlers in the 1920's. It was a way for them to beat the Straight Pool players out of some cash. Puckett told me he was playing 9-Ball for money in the 1930's and there was lots of action already. Around the same time, a shorter version (Six Ball) was dreamed up by someone down South. I was told that it was actually more popular than 9-Ball down there for many years. It was faster and the hustlers liked that.
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And then, 3 ball. There used to be ring games at Baker's in Tampa a lot, especially during the Citrus Open ever year.
Howard Barrett told me he used to play 9 ball back in the late 30s and 40s all over the country. I never thought to ask him where it came from, however.
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Exactly as I remember 9, 7, and 6 ball.
No matter the number of players, the following was the standard in my area until BIH came about:
cue ball leaves table on break = all balls stay down and next player takes over behind string.
player makes the object ball before the money and scratches = spots back up and next player takes over behind string.
make an object ball other than the money or "one before the money" and scratches = balls stay down and next player takes over behind string.
player does not make contact with the smallest numbered ball on purpose = next player is screwed and pissed but still screwed unless they return the favor.....
player runs remaining balls and scratches on the 9 = 9 ball spots and next player takes over behind string.......which is why I always called a spot shot the "money shot"
Last but not least ........play safe = crap kicked out of ya......maybe..lol.
A few other situations would arise as well but the above is what I remember coming up more often than not.
I do miss them days (not the miss on purpose....
that always pissed me off) and the players that actually had enough honor to fill a bottle top..lol.Rake