Try this nine ball game.

[Mensabum]

For those of you bored with 9 ball, here's a variation I learned from a 3C player that served me well over the years.
Play your regular game of 9 ball with a twist. For every time you hit the 9 with the cue ball after pocketing the OB you get one point.
Making the 9 on a carom or combo with the CB gets you 5 points. The object of the game is to touch the 9 with the cue ball after pocketing the OB on every shot without blowing shape so as to accumulate as many points as possible. You still run the balls in order. Making the 9 on a carom gives you 5 and a new rack. Winner breaks. It's not necessary or even possible to hit the 9 on every shot, but we play for a buck a point, so... We try harder.
You'll start to see all manner of ways to roll the cheese without blowing shape. Certain shots become real money makers if willing to roll the rails.
Anyhoo, that's it for me. Just thot I'd toss this out there cuz I had too much time on my hands.
Enjoy!!!

 

[skor]

Never played this properly or knew that it’s a thing, but I do that sometimes during practice if the 9 is near a pocket, trying to get it on every shot.

 

[straightline]

I like the idea of playing position via the 9. Similar control to trilliards - 4 ball billiards where you have to trilliard three balls.

 

[Biloxi Boy]

In our old-after-school, teenage, ring games, taking a carom at a money ball was de rigueur -- more often, "rolling" sure beat running out at our skill level. (Had a carom table been available, it would have provided our logical progression.) It was several years before I learned 9 Ball could be played differently and many more years before I ever encountered a carom table (thanks to the Vietnamese refugees moving to town). Such was my pool world growing up in Mississippi

 

[Mensabum]

Never played this properly or knew that it’s a thing, but I do that sometimes during practice if the 9 is near a pocket, trying to get it on every shot.

Absolutely.
I'm not a tourney player. My job is to get in and make the money, get out, however that's possible. Some players hate my 9 ball game bcuz I'm always moving the money around. Changing the lay of the table. I don't chance blowing shape, you have to be smart about it, but if you're trying to put racks together fast, say in short races, 5 or 7, this can't be beat. You can always run the rack if needed.
This just gets it done faster. I'm all for working as little and as fast as I can on table.
I know too many players that won't shoot a dead combo on the 9, preferring to run out. I don't have that much glass when gambling.

 

[garczar]

I gotta name but it might be taken: 'CheezWiz'

 

[skor]

Absolutely.
I'm not a tourney player. My job is to get in and make the money, get out, however that's possible. Some players hate my 9 ball game bcuz I'm always moving the money around. Changing the lay of the table. I don't chance blowing shape, you have to be smart about it, but if you're trying to put racks together fast, say in short races, 5 or 7, this can't be beat. You can always run the rack if needed.
This just gets it done faster. I'm all for working as little and as fast as I can on table.
I know too many players that won't shoot a dead combo on the 9, preferring to run out. I don't have that much glass when gambling.

I’m not a gambler but I did start playing pool when 9ball used to be more aggressive…
I love moving the CB around, my favorite aspect of the game.
I should have been a 3C player…