A new game I thought of...

[SSach]

Well I am not sure if this game has been played or even thought of but here is an idea.

I hear alot of people saying that 9 ball or eight ball is too easy...or any other excuse why they do not like a particular game. My game combines eight ball and rotation with no safety play allowed.

Here is how it would work.
The balls would be racked according to eight ball standards. Player A would break and have a choice of Striped (high) or Solids (low) depending on what went in. Once he has decided, it would be a rotation format where the player would either have to work his way up/down to the eight ball depending on what he choose. Again no safety play...otherwise this game would not end. If he/she misses than it is ball in hand.

I am sure many of you could help add and refine my ideas so what do you think?

 

[sjm]

Well I am not sure if this game has been played or even thought of but here is an idea.

I hear alot of people saying that 9 ball or eight ball is too easy...or any other excuse why they do not like a particular game. My game combines eight ball and rotation with no safety play allowed.

Here is how it would work.
The balls would be racked according to eight ball standards. Player A would break and have a choice of Striped (high) or Solids (low) depending on what went in. Once he has decided, it would be a rotation format where the player would either have to work his way up/down to the eight ball depending on what he choose. Again no safety play...otherwise this game would not end. If he/she misses than it is ball in hand.

I am sure many of you could help add and refine my ideas so what do you think?

SSach, this sounds like a pretty interesting game, but those of us who've tried rotation can tell you that running eight balls in a predetermined sequence if there are seven other balls on the table is supertough for anybody below pro level. Break and run would be extremely rare in this game. Ball in hand on any miss would ensure the game kept moving, but I think you'd have to allow push outs. I'd hate to come to the table facing a supertough layout knowing that if I didn't run out, I'd give up ball in hand. Tactically, I might have to consider intentional misses when the layout looks unrunnable.

Still, push out has problems in this game. The push out becomes rather complicated if the ball I'm working on is the one and my opponent is working on the twelve. To push to where there's a shot on the one but a kick at the twelve, I'm surely going to get to shoot, because my opponent won't try to run out off a kick in of the twelve if failure would give me ball in hand. So I end up stuck trying to run the table I didn't want to go for, with ball in hand the penalty if I don't get out.

Without push out, however, the game may be even more problemmatic. In any problem layout, I'd tie up some of opponents balls and give up ball in hand. Opponent must attempt a run out with penalty of ball in hand if they fail, or they may tie up something of mine, and concede ball in hand back, and so on, and so on .....

Somehow, I don't think this game works without some safety play, but with safety play, it' pretty slow. Another approach would be to award two points each rack. Any player running out gets both points, but any rack that lasts three full innings could result in each player getting one point. At least that would keep it moving.

Race to 7. Chalk up!