Pocket Billiards (pool) encompasses various game modes, some more popular and others more reserved for competition. All of them have characteristics that resemble them and at the same time that differentiate them from the rest. Below we briefly describe each of the modalities of Pocket Billiards (Pool) and its main features.
What are the modalities of Pocket Billiards (Pool)?
Eight Ball
Undoubtedly the most popular and widespread of all modalities of Pocket Billiards. It’s played with the fifteen color balls and the cue ball.
- One player plays on the numbered solid balls, from 1 to 7, and the opponent plays on the striped ones, from 9 to 15.
- The first player to complete their set of balls and subsequently legally pocket the (black) 8-ball wins the game.
Due to its globalization, there are several variants of this modality, among which the “8-Ball last pocket” stands out, which consists in that once the game of assigned balls has been completed, the 8-ball must be pocketed in the same pocket where the last of the colored balls entered.
Nine Ball
The 9-Ball modality became popular throughout the world following the success of the movie The Color of Money starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. It is currently the modality par excellence for high competition.
- It is played with the first nine colored balls and the cue ball.
- Players must pocket the balls in strict numerical order from 1 to 9, the game being won by the player who manages to pocket ball number nine.
With the same game development philosophy, there are two reduced versions of this modality played with 7 and 6 colored balls, the winning ball also being the one with the highest number (7 and 6 respectively).
Ten Ball
The 10-Ball modality is a relatively recent evolution of the 9-Ball with some variation in its regulations, although it does not change the essence of the game itself.
- It is played with the first ten color balls and the cue ball.
- Here, unlike the 9-Ball, the winning ball is the 10-Ball.
14.1 (Straight Pool)
14.1 or Straight Pool was the predominant game in high competition until the mid-1980s. Its name 14.1 comes from the fact that once fourteen balls have been pocketed, the fifteenth remains on the table and is the ball that will frequently be used to continue the game until completing the pre-established distance.
- It is played with the fifteen color balls and the cue ball.
- Unlike the previous games, here the fifteen colored balls have the same prominence and, playing at a predetermined distance of balls (100, 125, 150 are the most common distances), the player who manages to pocket that number of balls first will win.
Full Rack Rotation
Rotation is a modality of Pocket Billiards mostly played in the Philippines and in some Latin American countries.
- It is played with the fifteen color balls and the cue ball.
- The colored balls must be pocketed in strict numerical order from 1 to 15, but unlike Ball-9 and Ball-10, here there is no winning ball, rather as many points are accumulated as indicated by the numbering of each ball potted, winning the game the player who manages to accumulate 61 points or more, since the total sum of the numbering of the fifteen colored balls is 120 and 61 is exactly half plus one.
One Pocket
One Pocket is a game basically played in the U.S.A. and it is played with the fifteen colored balls and the cue ball.
- Each player has only one designated pocket enabled as valid, winning the game the first player who manages to pocket 8 colored balls in the corresponding pocket.
- It is a game with a high tactical/strategic component.
Banks
Banks is a game basically played in the U.S.A. as is the One Pocket.
- There are two variants: one that is played with the fifteen colored balls and another in which it is played with only nine colored balls plus the cue ball in both cases.
- All colored balls must be pocketed “before rail”, winning the player who first manages to pocket 8 balls in the first variant and 5 in the second.
- It is a game with a high technical component.
This diversity of Pocket Billiards (pool) modalities enriches this game-sport and is a consequence, to a large extent, of being the billiards modality with the most practitioners in the world by far, above others that are also very popular, such as french billiards with all its modalities (Three cushion, Balkline, Free, Band, Artistic or Keels), english billiards and its two modalities (Snooker and Blackball), russian billiards as well as other minority billiards modalities.
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