8Ball Pool Rules
8-ball pool is a 2-players game played with 15 colored and numbered balls, also known as object balls. The balls numbered 1-7 are the solid balls and the balls numbered 9-15 are the striped balls. The 8-ball is the black ball (and vice versa). Each player is assigned one group of balls.
Object of the Game
The object of the 8-ball pool game is to shoot the 8-ball into a called pocket only after shooting the entire group of object balls.
Opening Break Shot
Play89 random system determines which one of you players will make the first shot of the game, the opening break shot. To perform a legal break shot, the breaker must either pocket a ball or drive 4 balls (or more) to the rails of the table. In a legal break shot, the breaker turn’s continues. If the opening shot break fails, the turn is taken by the breaker’s opponent.
Solid or Striped?
The choice between the group of solid and striped object ball is made only after the first legal shot made after the break shot. Once the choice has been made, a player can only shoot either the striped or the solid balls.
Legal Shots
In a legal shot in 8-ball, an object ball must fall into a pocket or any of the balls has to hit the rails of the table.
Fouls
When it is an illegal shot, a scratch, the cue ball hits the 8-ball, or when the player shoots the opponent’s object balls, it is a foul. A foul leads to the end of the offending player’s turn and his opponent is rewarded with a cue ball in hand.
Shooting the 8-Ball
Once a player had finished pocketing his group of object ball, he may try to shoot the 8-ball. Before making the shot, a player must call a certain pocket into which the 8-ball will be pocketed.
End of the 8-Ball Pool Game
The player who legally pockets the 8-ball into a called pocket is the winner of the 8-ball pool game. A player who commits one of these following acts, automatically loses the game:
- Fouls when shooting the 8-ball
- Pockets the 8-ball into a different pocket that the called pocket
- Pockets the 8-ball prior to pocketing the rest of the object balls
- Pockets the 8-ball along with his last group of object balls