The rules look great. You've put some work into the design! Thanks thanks
Some comments:
"Legal and illegal ball potting" (p.3) - This section doesn't clarify what happens if you call one ball, but sink multiple balls. Do the uncalled balls come up? Yes, the uncalled, illegally potted, balls are returnedafter, after the shot Or all the pocketed balls? No, because then it's always too risky to call another ball
What if you call multiple balls but only make one? Legally potted ball stays away.
Oh if I press enter the quote splits! Simplest would be: call max 1 ball, like normal. But it would maybe encourage tricky shots. It's great if you manage to make 2 balls in 1 shot. But maybe keep it simple.
"Bring a reservist into play" (p.3) - I think this section should clearly say that the balls are recruited in order from lowest number to highest, unless they were re-ordered. (Alternatively, a simpler option would be to let people recruit any ball.)
Ill further clarify.
"A reservist cannot be placed on the half where the enemy King is located." (p.3) - I don't think I like this rule. I can see the benefit of stopping the recruited ball being placed next to the king for a dead combination/carom, but it makes the rules complex. If the rule was simply you used your original half of the table, the opponent has a tactical reason to keep his king in his half, and you have a tactical opportunity to get the king into your own half. Then if you do recruit a ball and freeze it to the king, the king has the next shot and can get out of the situation.
Needs some testing to see what works. Im not so happy with balls being placed directly next to the King because I fear it will lead to lots of discussion about following shots being a foul or not. (That's a double hit!! - no man it was legal!!)
"The wall The 8-ball ... cannot be used in combinations or jumped over" (p.4) - Again, I can see the reason for this, but it does make the rules more complex, so my view is the rules might be better without these restrictions (and you might make jumpshots illegal anyway.
(I do like the line "The 8 is the wall and cannot be jumped over, you fool."!)
Needs testing as well. Is it fun to be able to hide? Or annoying and limiting?
It's a special ball! It has a couple of rules that come down to "you're safe behind it".
Maybe indeed jumpshots can be illegal alltogether. Jumpshots don't really seem to break (an aspect of) the game, though. So im not sure. Some people don't like them anyway... Next time testing i'll discuss it. My opponent did 1 jumpshot last time! I wasnt too worried about it while playing.
" -The Saboteur can also take on the role of the Assassin.
This is to clarify that you can make the 3 an assassin as well. 2 roles on 1 ball
- With the Saboteur, you cannot both sabotage and pocket a ball. You need to call one of them."
Are these rules necessary? (As usual, I'm against unnecessary complexity!)
I think so because doing both is a bit weird, in a way:" I call your 2 in the corner pocket and I call to sabotage it, in case I miss"
Where you talk about which ball can pot which, it may be worth stating that a ball can legally hit and move a higher-numbered ball from the opponent's group, if it doesn't pot it.
Yes good one. Needs to be state clearly.
For the simple game, 4 points feels very low. At most, people can only buy 2 balls.
Seems like a tight budget, but there are practically only 4 balls to recruit as the King is free. So you can do the 4, 3+1, 2+1 and recorder or 3 and reorder. Reordering barely makes sense though
Another thought that occurred to me: Alternative names for the kingslayer: "Hangman" or "Executioner". (Maybe we discussed these before?) I think both have interesting and slightly sinister connotations that give them added 'personality'. It also makes sense that you'd know who the hangman is, but the assassin would be a secret.
I think executioner sounds cool! And kings used to be executed..
