Good practice game for beginners

alstl

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My videography, like my pool game, is a work in progress. I just got my camera set up yesterday (duct taped to the wall) :) and shot this video.

The game is called equal offense. It resembles straight pool but with some important diffences. First, you break the balls like you would in 8 ball. Because of that the balls tend to spread all over the table which means you are moving the ball around the table unlike straight pool where you shoot 75% of your shots in two pockets.

Ball in hand behind the headstring, you can't shoot a ball in the kitchen on your first shot. After that you are playing straight pool. Maximum for one inning is 20 balls, 10 innings is a set.

The game does not practice your safety play but a workaround for that is to continue shooting after you miss a shot and keep track of your misses until all the balls are gone. If you successfully kick a ball it doesn't count as a miss, only after you have already missed a ball.

The video isn't the best, but neither is my pool game, and it was my first day with the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ppb1NvERiU

Shoot a couple sets of this a day if you are a beginner and your shotmaking and position play will improve.
 
alstl said:
Thanks, first one I've ever posted. I think I fixed it now.

Let me know if it works.
Click to expand...

Looks good, I am a beginner (well I stink so I consider myself a beginner even though I have been stinking for a long time) and just got my table setup properly. I am also trying to teach my son who is 8 how to play. We will try this out.

When him and I play I am moving away from 8 Ball as he does not always have a shot and for a kid it is not as fun when you never make a ball. So he has more choices with straight pool.

What is a good game for teaching kids so they develop skills, but also enjoy the game because they can pick some easy shots also? I tend to tell him what to shoot and try to mix it up some with the occasional easy shot and throwing in more difficult shots.
 
I can see it now. In the future I would try to find a position for the camera where you can see the whole table and maybe put up a slide or two stating the rules for the game while you are doing the editing for the video. (pretty good for 1st video) All in all it seems like a interesting game and I think I'll give it a try tonight when i get home. Thanks for posting this. :grin:
 
alstl said:
My videography, like my pool game, is a work in progress. I just got my camera set up yesterday (duct taped to the wall) :) and shot this video.

The game is called equal offense. It resembles straight pool but with some important diffences. First, you break the balls like you would in 8 ball. Because of that the balls tend to spread all over the table which means you are moving the ball around the table unlike straight pool where you shoot 75% of your shots in two pockets.

Ball in hand behind the headstring, you can't shoot a ball in the kitchen on your first shot. After that you are playing straight pool. Maximum for one inning is 20 balls, 10 innings is a set.

The game does not practice your safety play but a workaround for that is to continue shooting after you miss a shot and keep track of your misses until all the balls are gone. If you successfully kick a ball it doesn't count as a miss, only after you have already missed a ball.

The video isn't the best, but neither is my pool game, and it was my first day with the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ppb1NvERiU

Shoot a couple sets of this a day if you are a beginner and your shotmaking and position play will improve.
Click to expand...

I like it. Why make a maximum run per inning 20 though? Tough to stop a run in progress! If you can keep going that should be a bonus to your inning score. That long run will help your playing in many ways too.
 
I remember when the BCA was in Coralville, Iowa and we would get together with them at the University of Iowa and run Equal Offense tourneys over the internet. This was somewhere around 1996-1997. We'd have groups from all over the US (and maybe a few international) playing at the same time with live scoring updates.
 
atthecat said:
I like it. Why make a maximum run per inning 20 though? Tough to stop a run in progress! If you can keep going that should be a bonus to your inning score. That long run will help your playing in many ways too.
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying but the rules call for 20 maximum per inning. It punishes you for dogging a shot, especially early in an inning. Get a couple 3's or 4's and you have a tough time getting a good score for a set.

There is no doubt straight pool is a great practice game and more popular among high speed players but this isn't straight pool. Of course there is no law preventing anybody from creating their own version which allows you to keep going past 20 although I always stop at 20 (when I'm lucky enough to get to 20).
 
mosconiac said:
I remember when the BCA was in Coralville, Iowa and we would get together with them at the University of Iowa and run Equal Offense tourneys over the internet. This was somewhere around 1996-1997. We'd have groups from all over the US (and maybe a few international) playing at the same time with live scoring updates.
Click to expand...

That's cool. Do you remember what some of the high scores were and if you were going to rank players based upon their average equal offense score what would that be?
 
Yeah, I hear ya. I'm gonna try it without stopping at 20 per inning. I would think it's pretty easy to get 20 if you're breaking hard.
 
I was thinking you had to run the last 5 in rotation, might have that confused with Fargo. Fargo is played near the same but the last balls are played in rotation. You pick a point (probably has to be at least 5 left) and shoot them in rotation. You get 1 point for every ball but you get two points in rotation. The quicker you switch to rotation, the higher your score. If you miss, the rack or inning is over. 300 hundred is a perfect score for 10 innings.

You have to make good decisions and know what balls to shoot off before you switch to rotation. It makes you think before just randomly shooting off balls and playing break outs and position. Playpool dot com, when it existed had 10 weeks of tournament play. I never beat that guy Andy but I was close on his heels. His average was over two hundred and mine was just over two hundred as I recall.

Rod
 
Rod said:
I was thinking you had to run the last 5 in rotation, might have that confused with Fargo. Fargo is played near the same but the last balls are played in rotation. You pick a point (probably has to be at least 5 left) and shoot them in rotation. You get 1 point for every ball but you get two points in rotation. The quicker you switch to rotation, the higher your score. If you miss, the rack or inning is over. 300 hundred is a perfect score for 10 innings.

You have to make good decisions and know what balls to shoot off before you switch to rotation. It makes you think before just randomly shooting off balls and playing break outs and position. Playpool dot com, when it existed had 10 weeks of tournament play. I never beat that guy Andy but I was close on his heels. His average was over two hundred and mine was just over two hundred as I recall.

Rod
Click to expand...

Yes there is a version which I believe was created by Alan Hopkins where you can switch to rotation at some point and count each ball made as two points. Different from equal offense where you have to execute a 14.1 break shot to get to 20.

For a beginner equal offense is easier until you get to the 14.1 breakout shot required to get to 20.

Similar concept but different. Both are good practice games although neither help your safety game unless you modify them a little.
 
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