

One player begins the game with a "break shot", which involves shooting the cue ball from the baulk area towards the object balls and "splitting the pack".

The balls are racked with the black (the 8 ball) on the foot spot (or "black spot"), in contrast with US-style eight-ball, nine-ball and most other pool games, in which the apex ball is placed on the foot spot.
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Since 2013 these rules are used in all events organised by the International Professional Pool Association (IPA).ĭespite various differences between the competing rulesets, the basic objectives and rules of the game are mostly the same. The English Blackball Pool Federation (EBPF) uses the rules of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) under the game name "Blackball" to better distinguish it from the American-style game (for which the WPA also promulgates the world-standardised rules). Prior to 2022 these organisations used a different set of rules known as "World Rules". Since 2022 the EPA and WEPF have adopted a ruleset known as "International Rules", which are used in all events organised by the Ultimate Pool Group. The English Pool Association (EPA) uses the rules of the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF). There are currently two competing standards bodies that have issued standardised rules. Rules Pool table with balls placed in their starting positions. Tournament rules may require the presence of more than one type of rest (mechanical bridge), as in snooker. The table has pockets just larger than the balls and rounded, as in the game of snooker, whereas the international-style (or "American-style") table has pockets significantly wider, with pointed knuckles. 1 + 7⁄ 8 inches (47.6 mm) for a 2-inch set, a convention originally created for the ball return mechanisms in coin-operated tables.īritish pool tables come in 6 × 3 foot (1.8 × 0.9 m) or 7 × 3.5 ft (2.12 × 1.06 m) varieties, with 7 feet being the regulation size for league play. They are usually 2 inches (51 mm) or 2 + 1⁄ 16 inches (52 mm) in diameter – the latter being the same size as the balls used in snooker and English billiards – often with a slightly smaller cue ball, e.g. The black ball typically bears a number "8", though numberless variants are not unknown. The game uses unnumbered, solid-coloured object balls, typically red and yellow, with one black ball.

Note the pattern of reds and yellows (colours can be reversed) Pool tables are a common feature in British pubs such as this one in Wetherby, West Yorkshire. In the years following, the British game diverged from the American in equipment (including the use of casino-style balls, which had died out in the US) and rules. In the years following World War II, playing eight-ball on small coin-operated pool tables became a common pub game in American bars, a pastime which spread to Britain by the early 1960s. These were introduced to make it easier for spectators to identify the two sets in early professional games held in casinos, and became known as "casino-style" sets. In 1925, the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company began offering ball sets specifically for the game using unnumbered yellow and red balls (in contrast to the numbered solids and stripes found in most pool ball sets), a black eight ball, and the white cue ball.
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The English version of eight-ball has two main sets of playing rules used in professional play those of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), known as "blackball rules", and the code of the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF), known as "international rules".Īmerican-style eight-ball arose around 1900, derived from basic pyramid pool. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool". It originated in the United Kingdom and is played in the Commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa. The English-originating version of eight-ball pool, also known as English pool, English eight-ball, blackball or simply reds and yellows, is a pool game played with sixteen balls (a cue ball and fifteen usually unnumbered object balls) on a small pool table with six pockets. A blackball player performing a kick shot Not to be confused with English billiards.
