Pool format
One pocket: rules and how to play
You get one corner pocket, your opponent gets the other. First to eight balls in their own pocket wins.
| Players | 2 |
|---|---|
| Length | 20–60 minutes a game |
| Equipment | Full rack |
| Difficulty | Advanced |
The object of the game
Pocket eight balls in your own designated corner pocket.
Setting up
- Rack fifteen. The breaker chooses a bottom corner pocket; the opponent gets the other.
- Balls in any other pocket are spotted back up.
The rules
Only your pocket counts
A ball in your pocket is a point. A ball in theirs counts for them, even if you put it there. Anywhere else, it comes back up.
Fouls spot a ball
On a foul you return one of your scored balls to the table and the opponent gets ball in hand behind the head string.
How a night of this actually runs
It takes 2 and runs about 20–60 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, 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?
Wrong for a bar in every way — slow, deeply tactical, and impenetrable to anyone watching. Listed for completeness and because the people who love it really love it.