Using Reds and Yellows in American 8 Ball?

Hey All,
It's long been my belief that, especially for streaming online if the U.S. were to adopt the use of 'reds and yellows' instead of 'solids and stripes' for competition, that the game of 8 ball or as it's referred to in the U.K. 'black ball' would rise again and become a lot more popular here. When watching 8 ball being played on a live stream, there are many cases where solids and stripes are not recognizable.

What do you think?
A waste of time?
Silly?
Un-American?

I figure if there's anywhere that I might get an opinion it's on the great, AZ Billiard Forum!



Not un-American , but if ball makers would standardize the colors of the 4 and 6 and change the color of the 9 it would make it easier on my eyes watching streams.Don't like the cyclops sets.Light colored 4 and 6 balls and altered 9 work. Darker 4 and 6 make it harder to distinguish between the 4,6,7 and 8 sometimes.
 
Personally I love playing with the casino balls, but I can see why people might get a little confused when it comes to commentary. Either way, the bottom line is that its just not needed to make any game better so it probably won't ever gain popularity. And, any issue with un-numbered balls is the same as the issue with hard to recognize numbered balls; commentator and viewer just have to pay a little more attention.

Oh well. Like sands thru the hourglass, these are the days of our lives.
 
I use a set of "Reds & Yellows" at my home.... I really like the fact that it's different than solids n stripes. Just because it's different, I like things a little different, usually.

As far as it the game taking off due to changing the balls? I doubt it. Solids n stripes is the norm and usually people don't like things changing. That's my .02¢.... Not worth much, I suppose?!?! LOL
 
It could work well if you play APA rules (on the Reds & Yellows only) and BCA rules for the 8 ball.
 
Hey All,
It's long been my belief that, especially for streaming online if the U.S. were to adopt the use of 'reds and yellows' instead of 'solids and stripes' for competition, that the game of 8 ball or as it's referred to in the U.K. 'black ball' would rise again and become a lot more popular here. When watching 8 ball being played on a live stream, there are many cases where solids and stripes are not recognizable.

What do you think?
A waste of time?
Silly?
Un-American?

I figure if there's anywhere that I might get an opinion it's on the great, AZ Billiard Forum!


Yes, I think its an excellent. Idear! Actually I've been thinking about exact same thing for a long time now and kinda wondering why someone had not done it yet. Only thing id add to the idea is 8 Ball played with APA rules regardless of size of table. And no, I AM NOT one of those leaguers either lol :)
 
I think the 'what would commentators do' issue could be easily overcome. Thanks, Bob Jewitt for that bit of history.

I ask this forum, fully expecting the worst and the best of it. For the most part, is seems pool and billiard aficionados are somewhat resistant to change. I suppose that if I were to ask the same question of a non-pool player, a majority might say, "That makes more sense than having numbers on them."

I suppose, if you want to be accommodating, you could have reds and yellows AND put numbers on them...Hell, I guess you could even use reds and yellows and make the reds be stripes and the yellow's be solid. I have however, seen it time and time again, commentators look at a stack and get confused. And if the commentator is confused, then you can almost be certain that the viewer is too.

I guess the real question is... For 8 Ball/Blackball / Do the American ball designs diminish the excitement of the game during broadcast?

The real answer is no.

AS noted before, it was tried and rejected.

What is the source for your fascination with red and yellow?
Easier viewership for the 1% of 1% of pool fans who watch streaming ?

What is the benefit?

The resistance to change that you seem to be imagining could more
reasonably be resistance to a specific change that offers no hope of an improvement.

Dale
 
Use these balls:

disneyballs.jpg
 
I'm still having problems with cyclop balls when watching streams...so maybe red & yellow would work if the balls were also numbered?

Might be worth an experiment...
 
Yellow and Reds

Australian eight ball changed from solids and stripes to reds and yellows in the 80's. It was pretty quickly adopted throughout the leagues and bars. Solids and stripes are rare to see these days. I have a set so I can play rotation games, do drills or even to play Kelly Pool.

I think it improves the experience for players and viewers.

Commentary can be awkward at times, but that happens a bit in 9 ball too, unless the viewers are very familiar with the colors. Perhaps large numbers on the balls could assist, though they may not be very recognizable without close ups.

A good telestrator would help a lot.
 
Commentary can be awkward at times, but that happens a bit in 9 ball too, unless the viewers are very familiar with the colors.

That is a good point. Most people who watched rotation pool on TV probably had no clue what the commentators were talking about when they said "well, he is going to have to do something with that 6-ball because the 8-ball is blocking his only pocket!" Often times commentary "with" the stripes and solids ends up being commentators having to explain "the 6 ball is the green solid on the upper rail" which is fairly lame in it's own right. I have never seen snooker have much of an issue with the reds and explaining the occasional issue they commentate on.
 
The real answer is no.

AS noted before, it was tried and rejected.

What is the source for your fascination with red and yellow?
Easier viewership for the 1% of 1% of pool fans who watch streaming ?

What is the benefit?

The resistance to change that you seem to be imagining could more
reasonably be resistance to a specific change that offers no hope of an improvement.

Dale

- I am originally from Britain, which is where the reds and yellows come from.
- Other than calling 'the 11 in the side', I see no reason why you can't just say, red off the yellow in the corner, or even red off the red in the corner, without your opponent being clueless as to what you are talking about.
- I work in a business that promotes pool, using video and I actually deal with this issue a lot more than you think I do.
- The 1% that you are assuming is the demographic that watches pool might actually grow to be larger if there was some aspect of the game which made it easier to understand and more enjoyable to watch. Hence, the purpose of my inquiry. And thanks for your opinion, by the way.
 
That is a good point. Most people who watched rotation pool on TV probably had no clue what the commentators were talking about when they said "well, he is going to have to do something with that 6-ball because the 8-ball is blocking his only pocket!" Often times commentary "with" the stripes and solids ends up being commentators having to explain "the 6 ball is the green solid on the upper rail" which is fairly lame in it's own right. I have never seen snooker have much of an issue with the reds and explaining the occasional issue they commentate on.
Great point regarding snooker reds! Have been enjoying the Champion of Champions live coverage the last few days.
 
- I am originally from Britain, which is where the reds and yellows come from.
- Other than calling 'the 11 in the side', I see no reason why you can't just say, red off the yellow in the corner, or even red off the red in the corner, without your opponent being clueless as to what you are talking about.
- I work in a business that promotes pool, using video and I actually deal with this issue a lot more than you think I do.
- The 1% that you are assuming is the demographic that watches pool might actually grow to be larger if there was some aspect of the game which made it easier to understand and more enjoyable to watch. Hence, the purpose of my inquiry. And thanks for your opinion, by the way.

Hope you trial it mate. It's so much easier to spot the patterns and problem balls in 8 ball with reds and yellows on screen.
 
Reds and yellows were used for the Accu-Stats "Make It Happen" 8-Ball event in August, 2012. Pagulayan finished on top of the field that also included Appleton, Archer, Deuel, Reyes, and Van Boening. I don't recall hearing about any objections from the pros on the use of the reds and yellows. Apparently the commentators did have a bit of an extra challenge.

Here's a thread about the use of the reds and yellows at that time: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=284554
 
I think it would be interesting – why don't make a poll out of this thread?


I would love the idea for 9-ball :killingme: runouts would be less difficult AND...
…pattern racking would become less important!!! :rotflmao1::rotflmao1:


:ok:

 
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Above APA 9-Ball ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The only place you can make the 9 and lose the game.
Yet they still call it 9-Ball. LOL
 
Reds and yellows was the standard at the (BCA) national 8-ball championships around 1980-1981. I still have a set somewhere, and Aramith still makes them. I think they are called "Casino" balls. The black ball was a regular 8 as I recall.

For TV I think they make seeing patterns easier. As I recall, "call shot" was suspended while they were used.

Curiously, eight ball was first (1925) played with reds and yellows, so in some sense it is the "original, traditional" way to go.

They are Casino balls and this set is from the BCA Team Championships that were held in Colorado Springs in 1979-1980.
 

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Red and yellow is the way to go.

For Professional 8 Ball you need 6 more balls for a total of 21 balls.

Bill S.
 
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