Beginning the game

To decide who starts, both players simultaneously strike a cue ball up the table, bouncing it off the top cushion so that it returns towards baulk (the first quarter-length of the table). 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.

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”.

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 ball is respotted after it is potted. If it is potted twice in a row from the spot, it moves to the middle spot; if potted again, it goes to the pyramid spot.
• After a losing hazard (in-off), the striker plays their next shot in-hand from the “D”.
• A miss — failing to score or make a legal contact — gives 2 points to the opponent.
• 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”.
• Touching balls are respotted before play continues.

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 respotted. 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;
• jump the cue ball over an object ball;
• when in-hand, fail to play out of baulk (to an object ball or cushion outside baulk) before contacting a ball in baulk.