Pool Rules 8-Ball
About 8-Ball
Eight-ball, sometimes called stripes and solids is a pocket billiards (pool) game popular in much of the world, and the subject of international amateur and professional competition. Played on a pool table with six pockets, eight-ball is the most common pool game in the world and is so universally known that beginners are often unaware of other pool games and believe the word "pool" itself refers to eight-ball. The game has numerous variations, including Alabama eight-ball, crazy eight, English eight-ball pool, last pocket, misery, Missouri, 1 and 15 in the sides, rotation eight ball, soft eight and others.
In its most common incarnation, eight-ball is played with sixteen balls: a cue ball, and fifteen object balls, consisting of seven striped balls, seven solid balls and the black 8 ball. After the balls are scattered on a break shot, the players are assigned either the group of solid balls or the stripes once a ball from a particular group is legally pocketed. The ultimate object of the game is to legally pocket the eight ball in a called pocket, which can only be done after all of the balls from a player's assigned group have been cleared from the table.
About Pool Rules
There are 2 main bodies governing the playing of the 8-ball game. They are the Billiards Congress of America ("BCA") and World Pool Association ("WPA"). As their name suggests, BCA is more widely recognised in the US while WPA rules are used around the world.While the rules from the 2 bodies are largely the same, they are some differences. In fact, there could be regional rules or even specific pool hall rules that you need to be aware of should you be in that location. However, these 2 sets of rules are the most universal pool playing rules that one cannot afford to ignore.
One must also know that there are general rules, in addition to the specific rules for the game-specific rules, that govern the game. The rules have to be read together and not on a standalone basis. Due to possible copyright violations, the links to the rules instead of the rules themselves are provided here instead.
For General Rules
For Game-Specific Rules
