Do you like 15-Ball Rotation

ceebee

ceebee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Do you like 15 Ball Rotation as a gambling game?

I think it is overlooked as a Major Game. In 9-Ball, the focus is one one ball. In Rotation, the focus is on 61 points.

Give this game a try & see what you think.

You might also try SHORT RACK 8-BALL (4 stripes, 4 solids & the 8-Ball, racked like 9-Ball). If you have a great break shot, this is great game for running racks...
 
ceebee...I have loved rotation for more than 35 years! It's the first thing I do, when I want to practice playing...either through all 15 balls out, or rack them for rotation, and break. What a great game...it teaches shotmaking, position play, caroms, and combitions!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
I very much enjoy it, but I have a difficult time getting people to play it.

But my favorite way of playing rotation is accumulating the points over a number of racks, like 14.1. I typically like to play a 300 point game.
 
15 ball rotation was the first game I ever played as a kid. Is a great game but nobody wants to play now.
 
I also really like the game but have trouble finding people willing to play it. I think it has more to do with counting to 61 (which I've been able to do for many years:D) It's one of those game that can help EVERY aspect of your play. I think most people would rather just play than try to count... but I think it gets pretty easy (the counting part) after you play for a while. I love the game and when it's played correctly (efren vs busta) it's truely a thing of beauty.
 
We used to play a version at it at the bowling alley as a kid....5-10-15....rotation with no defense, up to six players, the 5, 10, and 15 are money balls.....all it cost you is $3 a game, each money ball made pays a buck from every player....fun game, inexpensive, and players can rotate out as they run out of money....used to play for hours, it was fun.....

Played a bit of Chicago or something like that, similar game, but more money balls, can't remember exactly how it goes, didn't play much...and a few other versions.....15-ball rotation is a blast in all of it's games....good fun and great practice....
 
My old man tells me it was the regular game back in St. Louis in the '40s. Don't know anybody who plays it, though a fellow from Honduras got me to play it the other night in a bar, strangely enough. Well, the version where you put the balls on the diamonds, that is ..
 
Rotation doesn't work as a gambling game because of the weighted numbers, i.e. the fifteen counting 15 points, etc. The more difficult balls to pocket are the balls with the least number value, like the 1, 2, or 3.

One reason I came up with the game of Rotation Continuous was to include all fifteen balls in the game instead of only nine or ten. I weight every ball with one point only, and you play to a certain number of points, like 75 or 100, shooting the balls in rotation.

It really makes the game playable and interesting. Each player comes to the table with cue ball in hand, so no funny rolls, you have to go for every shot. No safeties. Some terrific shots are made.

I'll be having another Rotation Continuous tournament in my room in a couple of months.

I now have the game copyrighted, and plan on having a major event in a couple of years (I hope).

Danny
 
Odd Ball

When I first began playing the big ring game was Odd Ball...probably because it cost a dime a rack and it lasted longer...lol am I dating myself??

It's the game of Rotation...rack the 1-ball in front and the 2-ball and 4-ball on the back ends...play consecutive balls from the 1-ball to the 15-ball...non-call shot game...hit the lowest ball on the table anything goes in counts and belongs to the shooter...every odd-numbered ball is a money ball...plus Count, which is the player with the highest total points of balls pocketed. It's a very good ring game.

Mike
 
atthecat said:
Never played. What are the rules and how do you rack the balls?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

I used to be able to use the Wei table...now I'm lost so I can't use that to illustrate...

I think my first post pretty much spelled out the basic rules and how to rack...non-call shot game...play balls in succession...each odd-numbered ball is a money ball...1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15...plus High Count, which is how many points each player has after adding up the numbers on the balls he/she made.

We usually played double money for running a full rack...

Questions???

Mike
 
In my game, Rotation Continuous, the balls are racked like 8 ball, with the one in front, 8 in the center and alternating stripe and solid on the corners and in the rack itself. This is to keep the balls separate after the balls are broken, so you don't have the one near the two, or another solid, or lower ball. It makes it a little tougher to run the rack.

After the break, if the shooter makes a ball on the break, he takes cue ball in hand and resumes shooting. If he makes nothing, his opponent has cbih.

If you foul, your opponent can take cbih, or make you shoot the shot again with cbih.

This takes a lot of the luck away that exists in nine ball, because often times when your opponent misses an easy shot you have nothing but a kick or hard shot.

The break is a very important shot, and so the breaker racks his own balls.

No safeties are allowed. When you get out of line, you pay for it, or come up with a terrific shot.

This works well as a ring game as well. We play three handed for a buck a point and you always feel as though, if you're playing well, you have a chance to run numerous balls.
 
I have two sons that play pool. This is our game of choice (ring game style...200-300 points) when we all get together. It's a lot of fun, good practice and the slop factor really gets spread around (you can go 3-4 turns and never see the low ball, but then the whole table opens up for a big run). After all balls are cleared, if there is no winner, the last guy that made a ball breaks the next rack.

L8R...Ken
 
Big Perm said:
We used to play a version at it at the bowling alley as a kid....5-10-15....rotation with no defense, up to six players, the 5, 10, and 15 are money balls.....all it cost you is $3 a game, each money ball made pays a buck from every player....fun game, inexpensive, and players can rotate out as they run out of money....used to play for hours, it was fun.....

Played a bit of Chicago or something like that, similar game, but more money balls, can't remember exactly how it goes, didn't play much...and a few other versions.....15-ball rotation is a blast in all of it's games....good fun and great practice....
Click to expand...

It's been years since I have heard of that game. We use to play that a lot when I was a kid except we would use the 5,8,10, & 15 as money balls with the 8 paying double. Kind of a crap game at times but it was a lot of fun.
 
Danny, on the contrary, rotation is very much the gambling game in Manila only because of the flexible spots a superior player can offer. That is when the haggling starts. He may choose to offer balls to be picked up from the table to be initially added to the inferior player's score. Or since the sum of all the numbers is 120, he could offer a 50-70 spot. If the inferior player scores 50, he wins. Efren and all of the pinoy world champs will give a club "A" player below 20 points. The inferior player will have to make only a sum of 20 points. A club "O" player might be given anything below 30 points.

This is how the pinoys get tough in the game. Anyone can play a world champion given the right spot. Getting used to facing someone idolized in playing money games really boosts the confidence. We call the lost money "matricula" or tuition fee. Many times, toughness takes the better of skill and out goes the wallet. But when the skill kicks in with some hands-on lessons through experiences in fighting giants, there you will have one tough skilled player willing to play anyone.
 
What I think I meant is that rotation is not a fair gambling game, even though I'm sure in the Philipines they make it work with handicaps and all that.

It makes no sense, in my opinion, to count the easier balls to pocket the maximum number of points.

Of course, you can see why they become so good at pool, shooting rotation and playing it for money.

I came up with this game because (to me) it makes no sense using only nine balls when you have an entire rack to begin with. It's like using six or seven pins in bowling. Why make the game so much easier, when it becomes so much more interesting using the entire rack?
 
atthecat...I've always seen rotation racked this way: 1 in the front, and 2 & 3 on the back corners...15 in the middle, with the 13 & 14 underneath (this was how it was detailed in the old BCA rulebooks). Other balls at random. You have to hit the low numbered ball first, but you can play combos and caroms on other balls, to rack up points. CB always played out of the kitchen on scratch...no ball in hand. All the balls added together equal 120. First one to 61 wins.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

atthecat said:
Never played. What are the rules and how do you rack the balls?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
In the late 1960's to about 1979 I had two tables going on an average of ten hours a day with rotation games. They paid the rent, electric, and more.

We mostly played partners, with money being on the 1, 5, 10, 15, and total points (61)= five ways to get paid. Say I made the 1(money ball) and missed the shot when I got to the 5 (money ball). If the next guy sank the 5 we would become partners with me (owner of the 1-ball) for that game. Very fun game. We played $1 a way back then (time was $1.25) and if one player got all the money balls and total points (called a roundhouse), he got paid double from each of the other three players. So if you got all the money balls and total points, you had $30 coming to you.
Johnnyt
 
now THAT sounds like a good game. I think I'll have to try and convice "some of the boys" to give a try...
 
I played it in E. St. Louis in the 50's ...

Travis Bickle said:
My old man tells me it was the regular game back in St. Louis in the '40s
Click to expand...

We only played two variants of pool games in the 50's in E. St. Louis ... Straight Pool and Rotation.

It was a blast then and could be now if more people took an interest.

I am very pleased to see 14-1 making a strong comeback and would like to see more interest in Rotation as well.
 
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