Pool format
Bank pool: rules and how to play
Every ball has to go in off a cushion. Nothing straight counts.
| Players | 2+ |
|---|---|
| Length | 15–30 minutes a game |
| Equipment | Full rack or a short rack |
| Difficulty | Advanced |
The object of the game
Be the first to bank an agreed number of balls — usually five or eight.
Setting up
- Rack as for eight-ball. Many houses play a short rack of nine for speed.
- Agree the target number before the break.
The rules
Banks only, and call them
Every scoring ball must hit at least one cushion before it drops, and you call ball and pocket. A ball that goes in straight is spotted and your turn ends.
No slop at all
Anything you did not call comes back up. Bank pool is the strictest commonly played game in this list.
House variants
This is a folk game with no governing body, so the version below is the common one and these are the variants you will meet. The only real mistake is not saying which you are playing before the first break.
Two-rail banks only
For strong players. Brutal, and it turns a short game into a long one.
How a night of this actually runs
It takes 2+ and runs about 15–30 minutes a game, which is the number that decides whether it suits your room more than any rule in it does. You need full rack or a short rack, and it sits at a advanced level — so think about whether the weakest player in the room will still be enjoying it an hour in.
Compared with three strikes, the format this site is built around: that one takes any number of players, keeps everybody in the room for roughly two hours, and needs nothing but a rack and a way to count lives. Most of the games on this site are better as the game inside a night than as the shape of the night itself.
Is it any good in a bar?
A great side game between two decent players and far too slow for a field. Good as the "game" inside a three-strikes night if your crowd is strong — it makes a single shot much harder, so lives disappear quickly.