8-ball with 21 balls

[jsp]

Many complain that 8-ball on a 9-foot table is too easy for the pros. To an extent, I agree. Some suggest playing it on a 10-foot table would be better. However, I feel doing so takes away from the strategic aspect of the game since less clusters would form. 8-ball on a barbox does enhance the cerebral part of the game since things are tighter, but pool on a 7-foot table just takes too much away from the shot-making aspect of the game.

So here's the proposed solution for champion-level 8-ball. Keep it on a 9-footer, but simply add more balls. Adding 6 additional balls (3 solids, 3 stripes) would definitely make things tougher and more interesting. Who says that have to play pool with a maximum of 15 objects balls on the table? Let's throw that restriction out the window.

I'm sure I'm not the first who thought of this. Anyone try playing 8-ball with 19 or 21 balls?

 

[supergreenman]

Many complain that 8-ball on a 9-foot table is too easy for the pros. To an extent, I agree. Some suggest playing it on a 10-foot table would be better. However, I feel doing so takes away from the strategic aspect of the game since less clusters would form. 8-ball on a barbox does enhance the cerebral part of the game since things are tighter, but pool on a 7-foot table just takes too much away from the shot-making aspect of the game.

So here's the proposed solution for champion-level 8-ball. Keep it on a 9-footer, but simply add more balls. Adding 6 additional balls (3 solids, 3 stripes) would definitely make things tougher and more interesting. Who says that have to play pool with a maximum of 15 objects balls on the table? Let's throw that restriction out the window.

I'm sure I'm not the first who thought of this. Anyone try playing 8-ball with 19 or 21 balls?

How would you rack it?

 

[obrien714]

3 rows of 7. duh

 

[mohrt]

How would you rack it?

6 more balls would just be an extra row (?) Somehow I'm wondering if the corner balls would go straight to the holes on a break.

 

[angldemn]

It would be interesting to see how they scatter. 6 more balls is 40% more mass to break up.

All in all I like the idea. Unless there's a slug rack, 8 ball on 8 foot tables doesn't require much strategy on most breaks.

edit: What colors to choose? I nominate neons.

 

[BasementDweller]

Maybe the better question would be - what would you rack it with?

Interesting idea. I'll have to give that a try and see what I think. I'm guessing there would be more strategy involved, but on the flip side, I think there would be even more little bunt type shots. That's the part I don't enjoy about eight ball.

 

[Mark Griffin]

For years there were 21 ball sets available. (But all of the additional balls were striped - so that would not work for solids).

I believe they called the game 'baseball'?

There were racks made for the larger number of balls and it was just a larger triangle.

Might be interesting idea.

Mark Griffin

 

[decent dennis]

3 rows of 7. duh

Hey duh they don't use 3 rows of 5 with 15 balls.

 

[jsp]

How would you rack it?

You could simply add another row of 6 balls at the base of the traditional rack. But if you're concerned about lack of a 21-ball rack or too much rack mass, then who says you have to rack those extra 6 balls at all? You can simply spread those 6 balls out evenly on the table on the break shot.

 

[ctyhntr]

If you add more balls, then the game would no longer be 8-ball. At the higher level where one mistake will mean a run-out for the opponent. Do you want more element of luck, or less? Longer sets say race to 25 or 50 games, or whomever is 10 games ahead, and throw in alternate breaks.

If you're changing the game all together, we can throw elements of snooker. Everytime you pocket a stripe or solid you must go for the 8-ball. Which gets re-spotted on the foot spot.

 

[DallasHopps]

Also fun for 9 ball

You could simply add another row of 6 balls at the base of the traditional rack. But if you're concerned about lack of a 21-ball rack or too much rack mass, then who says you have to rack those extra 6 balls at all? You can simply spread those 6 balls out evenly on the table on the break shot.

I sometimes like to add "obstacle" balls to the table (2 or 3) to have extra traffic for learning position routes. Pros could add the 6 extras, break the full rack, spot any extras made, and play 9 ball from there! Complicates the break and the runout... might be a fun train wreck to watch!
As for the original idea, it would be interesting for sure!

 

[jsp]

If you add more balls, then the game would no longer be 8-ball.

You're right. So let's change the name. I'll call it Blackjack 8-ball. Problem solved.

 

[rackem0315]

Piggybacking on jsp's idea, the six extra could go to specified spots like they do in snooker if you didn't want to try to spread them evenly. Who's opinion would be used to determine if they are spread evenly? I may look at it and say they are, you look and say no they aren't.

Interesting concept though. May have to put some more thought into this and see what I come up with. Thanks for the mental exercise.

 

[spliced]

I say go all out- 120 balls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nArAbOG7TT4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Rico]

Alternate break has taken away from pro billiards. You would see golf go flat on its face if they said we will alternate tee shots.

 

[Snapshot9]

Don't complicate it

Simply add a back row to the standard rack (you don't even need a bigger rack, just add them by hand). It would change the break shot, it would add more clusters, would have fewer run outs, and that's all you need on a big table.

Note: If you added these balls on a Bar table, the run out would be much more difficult to do.

 

[sr 9ball]

Simply add a back row to the standard rack (you don't even need a bigger rack, just add them by hand). It would change the break shot, it would add more clusters, would have fewer run outs, and that's all you need on a big table.

Note: If you added these balls on a Bar table, the run out would be much more difficult to do.

I like it.

 

[danomano]

Alternate break has taken away from pro billiards. You would see golf go flat on its face if they said we will alternate tee shots.

Yeah - Most of us only watch golf to see who tees off first on each hole and having to see a player who didn't win the previous hole tee off first would just be catastrophic to the sport.

 

[manav]

I say go all out- 120 balls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nArAbOG7TT4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Did anyone else notice this?

 

[the420trooper]

I tried something like this with a friend a few weeks ago. (9 foot gold crown, tight pockets)

We checked out two ball sets and racked up all 30 balls. We used our arms to form the top sides of the triangle and a cue held over the rails (parallel to the short rail) to hold the base of the triangle in place.

It's tough, 14 stripes and solids, with two 8 balls out there....Runouts were possible, but difficult. It's enough of a difficulty spike that having an extra 8 ball is almost necessary. (What if one is tied up with 10 of your opponent's balls?)

It was fun, but too much hassle to rack, so we only played four or five games. As a side note, breaking that monstrous rack was very different. It's a lot more mass to move around than normal, so you really have to ramp up the power.