How to Play American 8-Ball Pool - The World Billiards (2024)

Basic Rules of the Game

8-ball pool is one of the most beloved variations of pool and is enjoyed in a variety of settings, from casual games with friends to competitive play.

The rules of the game 8-ball have multiple variations. The non-profit organization WPA promulgates the World Standard Rules for both professional and amateur play. Still, many amateur leagues, both North American and European, use their own rules (many of them more or less based on those of the WPA), while millions of individual players play using more or less informal rules that vary from country to country and sometimes almost from venue to venue, all of which are equally valid.

Object of the Game 8-BALL is a called shot game played with a cue ball and fifteen colored balls numbered 1 through 15. One player must pocket the group of balls 1 through 7 (solid balls), and the other the group 9 through 15 (striped balls).

The player who pockets his group of balls first, then the 8 ball (black ball) legally, wins the game.

Placing the Balls The balls are placed in the triangle at the foot of the table with the 8 in the center, the first ball on the foot spot, a solid ball at one end of the triangle and a striped ball at the other.

Starting Order The order of play is determined by fliping a coin or by bringing the ball to the rail. The winner decides whether to break or make the opponent break.

In the following games the opening order will be marked by the type of competition, it can be alternating or winning

The break: to start an 8-ball game, a player breaks the rack, with the objective of pocketing a ball from any of the groups (solid or striped) while avoiding the 8-ball.

Claiming a group: after successfully pocketing a ball from a group, a player claims a group (solid or striped) as his own, regardless of the ball he has pocketed.

Play: the objective is to pocket all the balls in his claimed group. Once his 7 balls are pocketed, the player must move on to the 8-ball, the 8-ball must be pocketed all the way. To win, the player must pocket the 8-ball in the pocket he designates, once the pocket is designated if the player does not manage to pocket the ball, the turn changes and the players must pocket the 8-ball in the previously designated pocket. If the ball is pocketed in another one that does not correspond to it, he loses. If the 8-ball is pocketed together with the cue ball, the opponent automatically wins.

For this, the player must announce, on each shot, which coloured ball is intended to be pocketed and in which pocket. When announcing the shot, it is never necessary to indicate details such as the number of cushions, caroms, etc. However, obvious shots are not usually announced, only those in which there may be doubts about the player’s intention of the shot. However, the opposing player always has the right to ask the active player for the ball and pocket.

Failure to designate the pocket or not pocketing the ball where indicated is a loss of turn but not a foul. If the coloured ball goes into the pocket that has been announced, any other ball or balls pocketed will be considered legal, except the black and white.

A player will continue to play until he commits a foul or fails to pocket a ball. Then it is the next player’s turn, continuing in this way until the end of the game.

After each foul, the next player has a ball in hand from anywhere on the table.

Fouls

• If the cue ball enters a pocket with that player’s ball
• The shooter fails to hit one of his object balls (or the 8-ball if he has already pocketed the previous seven) with the cue ball, touching a ball from the opponent’s group or touching the 8-ball if he still has balls from his group or not touching any ball.
• The shooter pockets the 8-ball in a place other than the one announced and/or designated automatically wins the opponent

Note: A simultaneous hit of the cue ball with the object ball from the group and the ball from the opponent’s group is considered a legal shot and therefore is not a foul.

• After the shot, neither the cue ball nor any of the object balls or the 8-ball touches a rail or enters a pocket (for these purposes, if the ball being shot is touching a rail, it will not count and one of the balls must touch another rail or be pocketed).
• If the cue ball is pocketed
• The shooter does not touch the ground with at least one foot. This requirement may be waived if the shooter is disabled, or if the facility does not have a bridge or extension cord.
• The cue ball is shot when all the balls on the table have not yet come to rest completely due to the previous shot.
• The cue ball is hit twice on the same shot.
• Illegal jump: The cue ball jumps completely or partially over an obstructing ball or balls. An illegal jump is considered if the cue ball is hit below the middle, “leveraging” the cue ball to achieve the jump.
• The player touches the cue ball with anything other than the tip of the cue or sole, except as necessary to place it when holding the ball in hand.
• The player touches any other ball (body, clothing, or cue).
• The player knocks the cue ball off the table with his shot, provided there are colored balls remaining.
• On the serve, no ball is pocketed and less than four of them touch a cushion (in which case the other player can choose between replacing the balls in the triangle and serving himself or playing the position in which the balls were after the illegal serve with ball in hand).
• When a player pockets the 8-ball after touching any other ball in this game he automatically loses the game.