It's time for a Change!!!!

AceHigh

Banned
I was thinking of a rule change that could be (but never will be) made to the game of 9ball that would definetely have an impact, IMO. Change the 3 foul rule so that instead of losing a game if you get 3 fouled, you lose the entire match.

Now I think this would be a terrible rule, but it would have an obvious impact on how the game is played. You would see more safety battles, and possibly quicker matches.

What changes to the rules of 9ball can you guys think of that would have a definite impact?
 
AceHigh said:
I was thinking of a rule change that could be (but never will be) made to the game of 9ball that would definetely have an impact, IMO. Change the 3 foul rule so that instead of losing a game if you get 3 fouled, you lose the entire match.

Now I think this would be a terrible rule, but it would have an obvious impact on how the game is played. You would see more safety battles, and possibly quicker matches.

What changes to the rules of 9ball can you guys think of that would have a definite impact?

lets really speed the game up......if you dont make a ball on the break.....you lose the game...........LOL

(don't let espn read this)

VAP
 
vapoolplayer said:
lets really speed the game up......if you dont make a ball on the break.....you lose the game...........LOL

(don't let espn read this)

VAP


Sudden Death Spot Shots! tomorrow on ESPN-OCHO!
 
Let's change it to.....

If you call a safety and get it, it's one foul or ball in hand for your opponent.

If you shit into a safety, it's 2 shot roll out.
 
vapoolplayer said:
lets really speed the game up......if you dont make a ball on the break.....you lose the game...........LOL

(don't let espn read this)

VAP

let's speed it up even more...... loser of the lag loses the match.
 
If your were to read some old billiard books from the 1800's, you would see that the game was radically different then. Sort of like carom billiards, except with pockets.

The game was played with just three balls. Points were scored for what we call a scratch (basically any time *any* ball was pocketed, you would get points), points were scored when an object ball was pocketed, and points were scored if you first hit one ball, then caromed off to hit another ball.

You would get more points for a carom shot (two balls hit) which then also resulted in the pocketing of a ball.

The first person to reach a set number of points won.

The only problem with all this is that balls were spotted back on the table just as soon as they were pocketed. And each game took quite a while to play.

This would wreck havoc with the current coin-op bar table business where quick games make more money and once the balls are down, you need to pay to get them back.

So I would not imagine that sponsors would ever want to see such a game on TV....
 
Roach said:
Let's change it to.....

If you call a safety and get it, it's one foul or ball in hand for your opponent.

If you shit into a safety, it's 2 shot roll out.

That is a pretty good idea. But what would you consider a safety? What I mean is often times you see someone miss a nineball but leave it in a postition where it almost cant be made. Could the opponent push out if they wanted to?

One change I would make is if you make the nine and scratch on the break it should be a loss of game. Why is it that you can win in one shot on the break but you cant lose in one shot?
 
A safety is anything called. If he calls safety, shoots the shot, it's a safety, whether he makes a ball or not. From there the opponent is shooting with 1 foul rules.

If he shits into a hook or snooker, not called, the opponent is shooting with roll out rules.

Just an attempt to make "the bad rolls" more palatable.
 
Forgive me for being so predicatable, but how about a fifteen second shot clock?
 
sjm said:
Forgive me for being so predicatable, but how about a fifteen second shot clock?

no one wants to watch kid delicious running around the table.
 
AceHigh said:
while I do agree with you, all the running around the table might get kid delicious in good shape.

let's see now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

running approx 9' per shot x 11 shots per game x 15 games/hr x 5 hours per day x 365 days(that's one year) x 2 calories per shot,,,,,,,,,MINUS 8 DOUBLE CHEESEBURGERS AND SHAKES, 3 WHOLE PIZZAS, FIVE GALLONS OF ICE CREAM, 3 LITERS OF MOUNTAIN DEW, 34 POTATO KNISHES,,, AND A CARROT STICK,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,YEAH, IN ABOUT 20 YEARS!!!!!!!!
 
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bruin70 said:
let's speed it up even more...... loser of the lag loses the match.

Or just toss a coin to see who wins. That way we don't have to suffer through watching those boring warm-up strokes. You won't even have to wait for the players to put their cue's together!

An average game of 9-ball probably takes about 4 to 5 minutes. How fast does it have to be??? It's no wonder you can't find a good game of 14.1 any more!
Steve
 
Billy_Bob said:
If your were to read some old billiard books from the 1800's, you would see that the game was radically different then. Sort of like carom billiards, except with pockets....The game was played with just three balls.....

It still is. It's called Billiards, as played on an English 12' billiard table, arguably to a standard never bettered, even in the Lindrum era - see Mike Russell.

Billy_Bob said:
The first person to reach a set number of points won....The only problem with all this is that balls were spotted back on the table just as soon as they were pocketed. And each game took quite a while to play.

Quite a while indeed. Weeks in fact. The professional game now is invariably played over a set number of timed (2 hour) sessions.

Billy_Bob said:
This would wreck havoc with the current coin-op bar table business where quick games make more money and once the balls are down, you need to pay to get them back.

It is impossible to play billiards meaningfully on a small table anyway. On holiday, if I say a few balls left on a coin operated pool table I would often mess around playing white in-offs. Even though the size/weight of the white is all wrong, it was only if I inadvertently lost a coloured ball into a pocket that even I could not do this indefinitely. The obscure pub game Bar Billiards was the closest attempt, which was as close to skittles/bagatelle as billiards, and required you to score as highly as possible before the timed ‘bar’ dropped, preventing the balls returning.

Billy_Bob said:
So I would not imagine that sponsors would ever want to see such a game on TV....

Nor the public at large unfortunately. Billiards is just not a television sport. Only a devotee could appreciate the sublime skill and touch required watching Geet Sethi play repetitive cross cannons between two balls, rocking but not moving them, or Russell's all round mastery of the floating white, every shot a complete demonstration of millimetre perfect subtle hints of corrective and transferred side, and all lost to the blind eye of the camera . The most infamous attempt at making a palatable product I remember involved staging a series of races to 50 points. An insult to those who measure their breaks in the thousands, and the pool equivalent of first pot wins.

Boro Nut
 
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