In 3-C (or any carom game) is hitting the 3 rd rail and the ball at the same time counted as a point or not?
this video is what makes me ask.
...
(Here is the video directly on YouTube without a Bing search:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu1dmE1Q1rA)
I think the general philosophy is that the referee must be sure that the point scored to award the point. This is somewhat different from pool where the referee must be sure that a foul occurred to call a foul, and a hit that may have been legal or not (wrong ball first at 9 ball, for example), is judged in favor of the shooter. At pool the saying is that "the tie goes to the runner" on simultaneous hits.
At carom, if the ball is on a cushion or very close, it can be very hard to tell which was struck first -- rail or ball. The usual advice is to judge by the angle of the cue ball as it comes off the cushion, so if it hits the cushion first the exit angle is more or less perpendicular to the cushion, while if it hits ball first and the cue ball has running english (as in the video), the cue ball will leave the cushion forward of the perpendicular.
The big problem with this rule of thumb is that if the cue ball hits the cushion just barely before the object ball, the cue ball will be in the cushion and going deeper at the instant it strikes the object ball. The object ball leaves quickly, but the cue ball continues to go into the cushion, starting more or less perpendicular into the cushion. The spin takes and moves the exit angle forward by the time the cue ball leaves the cushion.
If you want to run a frozen ball down the rail (like a shot to the corner pocket at pool) and use inside english on the cue ball, you have to hit cushion first to make the ball but the cue ball will go well forward of the perpendicular.
