"Nafe" is a similar game. There is a lot more scoring as you get a point (in the standard version) for simply hooking your opponent. In the advanced version you have to get him to foul. Here is an article I wrote about it:
Nafe -- A Safety Game
by Bob Jewett
For many players, the skills needed for playing safeties are among the last to develop. I remember seeing top players for the first time and being amazed by some of the iron-clad lock-ups they achieved. While some players tend too much towards safety play, I think it's an important part of the game to learn well -- a single well-timed, well-played safe has won many a match.
The game "Nafe" was invented by Mike Page who is a pool instructor in Fargo, ND. It is named by combining nine ball and safe, and that's how its rules go as well. First, the basic vesion.
To score points, you must hook your opponent. Pocketing balls may be a useful strategy, but that's not the way to score -- not even the nine ball. If you do leave your opponent hooked, which means there is no direct path to hit the lowest ball (banks, swerves and jumps are "indirect"), you get one point. You also get to take ball in hand as if your opponent had fouled. You then either try to get another hook or run a few balls and then play a hook.
If you fail to either make a ball or get a valid safe, your opponent starts with ball in hand. Also, the first shot after the break begins with ball in hand for whoever has the shot.
The flow of the game is a little hard to understand from just a description, so here is a typical rack. You break and make the four ball. You take ball in hand, and because the one ball is in the jaws of a pocket, you pocket it and get the cue ball over by the two. Playing a stop on the two knocks it to the other end of the table leaving the cue ball behind the eight for a snooker, and you score one point. You take ball in hand and pocket the two and three which are open, and then try a safe on the five, but you just leave the edge of the five visible to your opponent. He takes ball in hand, and safes you on the five, knocking it to the other end of the table, near the six. Instead of running the five and six, he knocks the five back to the other end of the table, leaving you stuck behind the six. He takes ball in hand, and tries to play a safe on the five but leaves it open, so you begin your turn with ball in hand. There is no clear way to play safe, so you clear the table and break the next rack.
Mike points out that one of the skills you will learn with this game is to plan ahead for a safe play. Too often you see players who try for difficult position in a situation that is almost impossible to run out when they could have easily played a safe in the middle of the run to make things easy. They take the hero's route rather than the smart play. This game will let you start to see the smart plays.
In the first form of Nafe described above, the definition of "safe" is pretty lax. Your opponent may have an easy kick at the ball, but as long as he can't see any part of it, you get a point and ball in hand. In "Pro Nafe," your opponent has a chance to test the safe -- if he gets a legal hit, you don't get credit for the safe and he gets ball in hand to start his inning. Mike didn't mention it, but when your opponent has his shot to test your safe, I think it's OK for him to take any shot he chooses that might improve his chances by reducing your chance play another safe. That adds another layer to the strategy.
You can play the game to some number of points such as 10 or 20, which will probably take several racks. Whoever pockets the nine breaks the next rack. While you can practice the game alone, I think you will find it much more interesting against an opponent. Let me know how you like the game, and I'll pass your comments and/or suggestions on to Mike Page.
(This article appeared in the On The Break News family of regional pool newspapers: The Break, Rack'em and Stroke.)
