APA rules question

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jburkm002

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Our home table isn't the best, as well the ball. We were the home team. I swapped the cue ball with a cyclops cue ball. We practiced with it. Left it on the table for the visiting team to practice with. They said they wouldn't play with that cue ball and would only play with the normal cue ball. I know I have seen the cue ball replaced many times. Never heard it could be refused. League rep showed me a photo of a rules basically stating no one could replace any equipment that was provided by the home room. Is this a new rule or is the interruption wrong? Heck I have heard players swapping out playing balls and cue ball.

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This is the rule I was shown.
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both captains must agree to use a different cue ball than provided by the house................ that rule has always been there


Kim
 
Curious where that document came from. Looking at some local rules from different
spots around the country, “cue ball” is covered by a local rule in many spots, but not
really in anything printed by the APA. Was that Host Location FAQ printed in an APA
magazine or maybe a past team manual? It would seem to me that as a member or
captain of the team from the host location that if you’re providing the cue ball it should
be regarded as the host location providing the ball.
In searching the current team manual and the APA website for information I’m not finding
an APA Host Location FAQ. Is it maybe an old outdated document no longer in effect?
 
I recently had the same issue in a NAPA match. 7' Diamonds but the cue ball was REALLY small. I had a measles ball out instead but they insisted we had to "use a regular cue ball". I was like "dude - that's what I'm trying to do". I have to win like 8-3 or 9-2 with a ball that's probably 2mm worn out.......
 
Not sure where they found the rule. I was always under the impression that whatever cue ball you practiced with was the cue ball you played with. So you could change the cue ball as long as it was provided during practice. So basically the home location can change the cue ball as long as both captain agree. Only issue I have. Is as the home location we change the cue ball and practice with it. Which our practice session would be first and as many times. No one from the other team is there. Then they come in and say no to the cue ball. Doesn’t seem right. Just want to play by the rules. So either way is fine by me.


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I believe that rule has been in effect quite a while, same with BCA. The league I play in we always swap out cue-balls if available. Some places even have ball sets set aside for league play.
 
They're just looking for any advantage they can get. That's the way it goes. Their rationale is solid though. They feel that using a cue ball that you and your team may have been using all session long and is in some way different than "normal" cue balls that they are used to puts them at a disadvantage. As we all know different cue balls can play vastly different and even the best players can have difficulty fully adjusting before a match is over. A less experienced player will probably not adjust at all because they don't know how. You could say the same thing about the host provided cue ball possibly being different than what they are used to, but you are trying to add something different to a situation that is already different. In their eyes its too much different.

I personally do not care my team will play with whatever cue ball you provide assuming it is close to the size of the object balls.
 
jburkm002 said:
Our home table isn't the best, as well the ball. We were the home team. I swapped the cue ball with a cyclops cue ball. We practiced with it. Left it on the table for the visiting team to practice with. They said they wouldn't play with that cue ball and would only play with the normal cue ball. I know I have seen the cue ball replaced many times. Never heard it could be refused. League rep showed me a photo of a rules basically stating no one could replace any equipment that was provided by the home room. Is this a new rule or is the interruption wrong? Heck I have heard players swapping out playing balls and cue ball.

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Click to expand...
One solution is for you to donate the cue ball you want to play with to the room and have that be the official room cue ball. (Assuming there is no ball return issue.)

I suppose the league doesn't have a rule about equipment specs, but like the case mentioned above, I'd bet that the usual cue ball is out of spec.
 
jburkm002 said:
Our home table isn't the best, as well the ball. We were the home team. I swapped the cue ball with a cyclops cue ball. We practiced with it. Left it on the table for the visiting team to practice with. They said they wouldn't play with that cue ball and would only play with the normal cue ball. I know I have seen the cue ball replaced many times. Never heard it could be refused. League rep showed me a photo of a rules basically stating no one could replace any equipment that was provided by the home room. Is this a new rule or is the interruption wrong? Heck I have heard players swapping out playing balls and cue ball.

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Click to expand...



The simple way around that rule is give a Cyclop ball to the home location. The home location can then "supply" the cue ball you want for league night. They can run their business as they see fit, and providing a cueball that the teams playing out of there like is a smart business move.

You absolutely can use your own cue ball. However, the default rule is that you will use the equipment provided by the host location u less both teams agree.

Different league areas can have their own bylaws about this rule. I'd advocate for a rule that says the home team decides what ball is used, provides it is a standard size and weight ball.

KMRUNOUT


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jburkm002 said:
Our home table isn't the best, as well the ball. We were the home team. I swapped the cue ball with a cyclops cue ball. We practiced with it. Left it on the table for the visiting team to practice with. They said they wouldn't play with that cue ball and would only play with the normal cue ball. I know I have seen the cue ball replaced many times. Never heard it could be refused. League rep showed me a photo of a rules basically stating no one could replace any equipment that was provided by the home room. Is this a new rule or is the interruption wrong? Heck I have heard players swapping out playing balls and cue ball.

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Click to expand...


That's nowhere to be found in the current actual APA Team Manual, as best I can tell. Looks like a by-law to me.

My local league put in a by-law I prefer in terms of playing the game the way it's meant to be played, whereby no team can deny the use of a regulation cue ball if (1) the table's supplied cue ball is not regulation (oversize, "mud," etc), and (2) the regulation ball is readily accessible after a scratch (i.e., doesn't require additional coins to a pay table, etc).

Edit: looking at the bottom of the image, it appears to indicate (before it is cut off) that if multiple table sizes are available a 3 1/2 x 7 must be used unless....(?) - also not in the team manual. Either that's a by-laws guide, or a very, very old APA manual whose rules are no longer empowered.
 
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jeremy8000 said:
That's nowhere to be found in the current actual APA Team Manual, as best I can tell. Looks like a by-law to me.

My local league put in a by-law I prefer in terms of playing the game the way it's meant to be played, whereby no team can deny the use of a regulation cue ball if (1) the table's supplied cue ball is not regulation (oversize, "mud," etc), and (2) the regulation ball is readily accessible after a scratch (i.e., doesn't require additional coins to a pay table, etc). ...
Click to expand...
Actual "regulation" size for a cue ball is between 2.245 and 2.255 inches in diameter. Maybe less than 5% of all bar table cue balls in regular use are in that range.
 
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