American Style Pool Tables

AMERICAN POOL

Overview     History of American Pool     Rules of American Pool

Overview

There are as many designs, finishes and styles of American Pool tables as there are British. However, there are certain features that distinguish the American pool table.

Originally, American billiards was played on tables comparable in size to British snooker tables and it is still usual for American tables to be either 8ft or 9ft in length - although the modern home market has seen the development of the 7ft American pool table.

American Pool tables are usually fitted with "drop pockets" - this means that once a ball is potted it collects in a netted pocket rather than returning to one end of the table. This is due to the differing rules between British and American pool and with other billiard table rules, like Snooker. The American table will feature marks along the cushion rails - usually in the shape of diamonds or spots. These are for lining up shots and are used to determin areas of the table, such as the "head string" that the cue ball is placed behind when breaking.

American Pool - "Net" Drop Pocket                                                    American Pool - "Diamond" Cushion Marks

There are now a number of American Pool tables available tailored for different markets and uses. For example, MDF based tables have been developed that are smaller and lighter than full size tables and are perfect for use in peoples homes. Full size slate bed tables are also available, including coin operated tables that have been designed with commercial premises in mind. For those who want nothing but the very best, there is also a range of "luxury" tables - these full size tables take advantage of the 8ft or 9ft table being a games room centre piece to use the highest standard woods and materials to assemble a table that is the best of the best!

As American Pool tables often use 3 piece slates these tables are delivered and assembled by dedicated fitters who are fully qualified and experienced with American Pool tables.

History of American Pool

While it is not known exactly when Billiards made its way to America, it is more than likely the game arrived with British and Dutch settlers. It is known that American based manufacturers were making billiard tables in the 1700s and the game quickly spread throughout the Colonies.

By the 1830s public rooms devoted to billiards had appeared and soon different versions of rules were developing, such as Pin Pool, played with small wood targets and 15 Ball Pool. An early figure in American pool was Michael Phelan, an Irishman who was influential in devising rules and standards of play, and as a writer and inventor he wrote newspaper columns on the subject and even developed new tables.

As with its British counterpart, Billiards became colloquially known as "pool" due to its association with "poolrooms" - a place where people gathered to bet on horses, pool referring to a collective bet, or "ante". Having a games table in these establishments became the norm and the billiards table became known as the poolroom, or "pool", table.

The most popular game until the late 1800s was American 4 Ball, played on an 11-12 foot table with four pockets and four balls, a precursor to Carom pool, or "Straight Rail", played with 3 balls on a table without pockets. The other game that achieved huge popularity was 15 ball pool; played with 15 object balls, the player received points equal to the value of each ball, meaning the winner is the first to 61. This version of the game was used at the first American championship pool tournament in 1878. A decade later this game had changed so that the score was kept by the number of balls pocketed rather than the value of the ball. This variation is also known as "continuous" pool as the point total can be kept continuously from one rack to the next.

In the early 1900s there came a succession of new rules for pool; 8 Ball, Straight Pool, 9 Ball and from 1878 to 1956 pool and billiard championships were held annually and the American game became such a phenomenom that players became personalities, even with their own series of cigarette cards.

After World War II the game of American Pool went into something of a decline. The personalities had been called into military service rather than competing in tournaments and returning soldiers were looking to buy homes and build careers rather than while away the hours at the local pool room.

American Pools eventual resurgence was due in part to its association with other cultural phenomenan - in particular film. With the Hollywood Studio system in decline, more youth orientated and independent features were developed, and when The Hustler starring Paul Newman was released in 1961 it re-ignited the publics interest in the game. While the Vietnam war proved a similar deterrent as WWII, it was a sequal to The Hustler, Martin Scorsese's The Color Of Money, starring Newman and Tom Cruise, that once again prompted a longer lasting public interest in American Pool.

American 8 Ball Pool Rules

The most popular, albeit still widely contested, rules for American Pool is the 8 Ball rules, invented in America in the early 1900s. In its most common incarnation 8 Ball is played with 16 balls - a cue ball and 15 object balls, consisting of 7 striped and 7 solid balls and the black 8 ball. After breaking the players are assigned either stripes or solid balls depending on the first legal pocket - the aim is to clear your assigned balls from the table and then pocket the black.

Set Up

Start the game by "racking" the object balls in a triangular rack. The 8 Ball should be placed in the centre, while the 2 lower corners of the rack must be a striped ball and a coloured ball (see below).

Break

The player to break is chosen by a predetermined method (eg. flipping a coin). The player takes the shot from the "headstring" - an often "imaginary" line that runs across the top of the table, horizontally between the second set of "markers" along the long cushion rails. A "legal" break is defined as at least four balls hitting cushions or an object ball being pocketed, if the break is not legal then the opponent can request a re-rack and become the "breaker" or can elect to play from the current position of the balls.

If a ball is pocketed then it is still that persons turn and the table is considered "open", meaning that player can still pocket another ball before electing whether they are to be "stripes" or "colours". If the breaker fails to pocket during their turn then the table is "open" until a ball is pocketed.

If the 8 Ball is pocketed on the break, then the breaker can ask for a re-rack, or to have the 8 Ball returned to the spot and continue shooting. If the cue ball is pocketed simultaneously ("Scratched") then this option goes to the opponent.

Turns

The player continues to shoot until commiting a foul, taking a safety, or failing to pocket an object ball. Then it becomes the opposing players turn to shoot, and play alternates in this manner for the remainder of the game. Following a foul, the incoming player has ball-in-hand anywhere on the table (the cue ball can be placed anywhere before shooting).

Pocketing the 8 Ball

Once a player has pocketed their object balls they may attempt to sink the 8 ball and win the game. The player must clearly designate a pocket they plan to sink the 8 Ball into and then successfully pot the ball into that pocket to be declared the winner. If the ball falls into an undesignated pocket, is knocked off the table, or a foul occurs when the 8 ball is pocketed then the player loses the game. Otherwise, the players turn is over.

This is a contested area of 8 Ball rules as in some American league rules if a foul occurs on an unsuccessful attempt to pocket the 8 ball then that foul will mean the player loses. This is not the case in the World Standardised Rules though.

Fouls

* The shooter fails to strike one of their object balls (or the 8 ball if object balls are already pocketed) with the cue ball.

* No ball comes into contact with a cushion, or is pocketed, after legal cue ball contact with object or 8 ball.

* The cue ball is pocketed ("Scratched")

* The shooter does not have at least one foot on the ground

* The cue ball is shot before all the balls have come to rest from a previous shot

* The cue ball is struck more than once during a shot

* The cue ball is "jumped" entirely or partially over an obstructing ball

* The cue ball is "pushed", with the cue tip remaining in contact more than momentarily

* The shooter touches cue ball with something other than the cue tip

* The shooter touches any other ball with body, clothing or equipment, other than what is necessary to move cue ball for "ball-in-hand" shots

* The shooter knocks a ball off the table

* The shooter takes a shot out of turn

* On the break, if no balls are pocketed and fewer than 4 balls reach a cushion. (In this instance the opponent can demand a re-break, take the re-break themselves or take a "ball-in-hand" shot from behind the "head string").