Chicago: rules and how to play

The object of the game

Finish up on money.

Setting up

1. Everyone agrees a unit — a dollar, five dollars.
2. Nominate the money balls. The 5, 10 and 15 are the most common choice; some houses use the 8.
3. Rack fifteen and play rotation rules.

The rules

Lowest ball first

Rotation, exactly as in nine-ball, but with the whole rack and more players.

Pocketed balls pay

Every player pays the shooter the unit for an ordinary ball, and a multiple for a money ball. The multiple is house-set and usually between two and five.

Fouls pay out

Foul and you pay every other player a unit. It keeps the game honest.

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.

Last ball takes the table

Whoever pockets the 15 collects an extra unit from everyone. Gives the end of the rack some weight.

How a night of this actually runs

It takes 3–6 and runs about 20–40 minutes, which is the number that decides whether it suits your room more than any rule in it does. You need full rack, and money, and it sits at a intermediate 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?

Good with a settled group who all know the stakes, and a bad idea with strangers — the money moves fast and the rules are house-specific. Not something to advertise as a bar's weekly night.