LOL Have you ever even heard of it??? Ok. I'm a one-pocket player. I could care less if I ever shoot a game of pool again with the word "ball" in it. It's like chess on felt. However...someone at my local pool hall showed me a great game that uses just the one ball, the two ball, a pill bottle, and the cue ball. The one ball gets spotted on the head rail, center diamond. The two ball gets spotted on the foot rail, center diamond. Dead center in the middle of the table, the bottle gets stood on its mouth. The object of the game is to score 41 points, accomplished by either: sinking the 1 or 2 ball (worth 1 and two points respectively), playing the cue ball off both numbered balls on one shot (a carom, worth one point), or...but playing the cue ball off the 1 or 2 ball, and into the bottle (5 points). You must score 41 points and exactly 41 points, otherwise you go back to zero. You keep shooting as long as you score on your last shot. Now some intricacies. Anytime you pocket a ball, be it the 1 or the 2, that ball immediately gets spotted in its original position. If you knock the bottle over with your cue by mistake, knock it over with an object ball, knock it over with the cue ball without hitting an object ball first, or knock the bottle off the table, it's -5 points. When the bottle gets knocked over, the bottle gets stood up wherever it comes to a stop. Unless it gets knocked into a pocket, or off the table in which case it goes back to center table. However...if you knock the bottle over, and it lands on its bottom...you win the game. Now...we play that you can't sink the same numbered ball from it's spot, on consecutive shots. It keeps someone from running the same ball up and down the rail repeatedly. The real draw on this game is the caroms, kicks, and hitting the bottle. You learn a ton of angles on this game. It's also fun safing someone behind the bottle. If the cue ball goes off the table or in a pocket, it's -1 and ball behind the line. Like straight pool, any points scored on the same shot as a foul, are null and void, and still -1. You cannot lose more than 5 points on a shot. So if you scratch and knock the bottle off the table, you just lose 5 points and opponent gets ball in hand behind the line.
Try this sometime...and see if you can "break and run" 41 points off the go. I can usually put low inside English on the cue ball on the first shot, cut the cue ball into the one corner pocket, come right down broadway and knock down the bottle, and get the carom on the two for a totla of 7 points. You'll find after a while you can put together double-digit runs quite frequently...but 41 points off the break is tough.
Let me know if anyone's played this before...and if they play any differently.
Try this sometime...and see if you can "break and run" 41 points off the go. I can usually put low inside English on the cue ball on the first shot, cut the cue ball into the one corner pocket, come right down broadway and knock down the bottle, and get the carom on the two for a totla of 7 points. You'll find after a while you can put together double-digit runs quite frequently...but 41 points off the break is tough.
Let me know if anyone's played this before...and if they play any differently.