Beginning the game

The game comprises two cue-balls (a plain and a dotted white) and a red ball.

To decide who starts, both players place a cue-ball on the baulk line in separate halves of the table, and simultaneously strike their cue ball up the table, bouncing it off the top cushion so that it returns towards baulk. The player who gets their ball closer to the baulk cushion then chooses which cue ball to use and whether to break or let the opponent break. If a player’s cue ball goes into the other player’s half of the table the stroke is invalid and the other player gets to choose.

The red ball is placed on the spot at the top of the table (the same as the black spot in snooker) and the first player begins by playing in-hand from the “D” behind the baulk line. The other cue ball stays off the table until the opponent’s first turn, when they too play in-hand from the “D”.

If playing in-hand from the “D”, the cue-ball must be played out of baulk.

Scoring

Points are awarded as follows:

• Cannon — striking the cue ball so that it hits, in any order, the other cue ball and the red ball on the same shot: 2 points.
• Winning hazard (potting, in snooker terms) — striking the red ball with your cue ball so that the red enters a pocket: 3 points; or striking the other cue ball so that it enters a pocket: 2 points.
• Losing hazard (in-off, in snooker terms) — striking your cue ball so that it hits another ball and then enters a pocket: 3 points if the red was hit first, 2 points if the other cue ball was hit first, and 2 points if the red and the other cue ball are hit simultaneously.

Combinations of the above may all be scored on the same shot. The most that can be scored in a single shot is therefore 10 — the red and the other cue ball are both potted via a cannon (the red must be struck first), and the cue ball is also potted, making a losing hazard off the red.

Other rules

• The red is re-spotted on its own spot (the billiard spot — the same as snooker’s black spot) after it is potted. If the billiard spot is occupied, the red is placed on the pyramid spot. If both the billiard and pyramid spots are occupied, the red is placed on the centre spot.
• If the same player pots the red twice in a row from any spot — i.e. twice in the same break, without missing in between, and without any hazard being scored — it goes to the centre spot; if potted again from the centre spot, it returns to its own spot, and so on. If the centre spot is occupied, the red shall be placed on the pyramid (pink) spot. (For the purposes of this rule, the red is on a spot only when it has been placed there after having been potted. If the red comes to rest on the billiard, pyramid or centre spot, it shall not be regarded as being on that spot for the purposes of this rule.)
• After a losing hazard (in-off), the striker plays their next shot in-hand from the “D”.
• If the opponent’s cue ball is potted, it stays off the table until their next turn, when they play it in-hand from the “D”.
• If the striker’s cue-ball remains touching another ball, the red shall be placed on the billiard spot; the non-striker’s ball, if on the table, shall be placed on the centre spot, and the striker shall play in-hand from the “D”.

Fouls

If a foul occurs, two points are awarded to the opponent, who may choose to play the balls as they lie or have them re-spotted. Re-spotting the balls means the red being placed on the billiard spot, the non-striker’s cue-ball being placed on the centre spot, and the striker playing in-hand from the “D”.

To ‘run a coup’ means a striker, when playing in-hand from the “D”, potting their own cue-ball without first striking a cushion. Striking the curved cushion of the pocket into which the cue-ball is potted is also a coup.

It is a foul to:

• play with the opponent’s cue ball, or strike the red as if it were a cue ball;
• force any ball off the table;
• fail to contact an object ball (unless double-baulked);
• make a double-hit or push shot;
• play out of turn;
• ‘run a coup’;
• strike when both feet are off the floor;
• play improperly from in-hand;
• jump the cue ball over an object ball;
• when playing in-hand from the “D”, fail to play out of baulk (to an object ball or cushion outside baulk) before contacting a ball in baulk.

When playing in-hand from the “D”, if there is no other ball not in baulk (double-baulked), failure to make contact with another ball is not a foul, but is deemed a miss unless the player has run a coup. A ball is either ‘in baulk’ or ‘not in baulk’. A ball is ‘in baulk’ when it rests centrally on the baulk line or between that line and the bottom cushion. If a player makes a miss, two points are awarded to the opponent, and the balls are played by the opponent as they lie.