8-ball pool game is the first choice for pool game
beginners. So, if you have never played any pool game before, here is
a complete and easy to understand guide to 8-ball pool rules. After
mastering the rules of the 8-ball pool game, you can try playing other
pool games.
8-ball pool is played by two players or two groups
of players. Your goal is to be the first who pockets one group of
either solid or striped balls and then send the 8-ball into a pocket.
The 8-ball pool game is played on a standardized
pool table that has 6 pockets. There are 15 billiard balls in addition
to the cue ball. The balls numbered 1 through 7 are in solid colors
and the balls numbered 9 through 15 are striped. The 8-ball is usually
black and the cue ball is always white.
The player who performs the first shot is called
the breaker, and his opponent will be called the incoming player.
Before the break shot, the balls are racked in a triangle shape. If
the breaker makes a legal shot he continues shooting, but if he fails
in making a legal shot on the first break, then the incoming player
gets his turn.
In order to be considered a legal shot, the breaker
must either sink a ball into a pocket or move at least four balls to
contact the rail. If the breaker fails in doing so, it is a foul.
On the break shot, the breaker may pocket any ball
besides the cue ball and the 8-ball. After the first ball is sent to a
pocket after the break, the choice of group of balls is established
according to the ball that has been pocketed; if the player had sunk a
striped ball, then the group of striped balls becomes his object balls
and his opponent's object ball will be the solid balls. What happens
if two balls of different groups were pocketed? Then, the shooter may
choose any group of balls.
After the choice of groups of balls has been
determined, pocketing the opponent's object ball is a foul. Each time
a player fouls, his turn ends and his opponent's turn begins, and so
on until the latter fouls, etc.
There are number of situations in the 8-ball pool
game considered an illegal shot i.e. a foul and cause the player to
lose his turn. In addition to pocketing the opponent's object ball, a
player fouls if he pockets the cue ball – scratch in pool lingo;
pocketing the 8-ball prior to pocketing the group of object balls;
failing to strike an object ball or a rail. If the cue ball contacts a
rail before it hits a legal ball – the shot is legal.
A player who has pocketed legally the group of
object balls, may pocket the 8-ball. Before aiming towards the 8-ball,
the player must call a pocket. The 8-ball must be shot into the same
pocket called by the player. In order to win the 8-ball game, the
player must shoot the 8-ball into the called pocket only after
pocketing the group of object balls.