User:SMcCandlish/Incubator/Chinese eight-ball

Chinese eight-ball is a two-player pocket billiards game which combines the play of eight-ball (except by shooting object balls into the cue ball instead of the normal vice-versa) in the manner of Russian billiards.

The game is actually of American origin, and probably takes its name from the fanciful notion that things might be done backwards or differently on the other side of the world (cf. Chinese checkers, Chinese fire drill, etc.).

Play

The balls are set up exactly as in eight-ball. The first player breaks by shooting the cue ball into the rack as one normally would. The break is the only time any player will strike the white cue ball with their cue stick.

From this point forward, object balls are pocketed (potted) by striking the chosen object ball with the cue stick and causing it to carom off the cue ball, then go into a pocket. Alternatively, of course, the struck object ball might hit the cue ball then a third ball and be pocketed or pocket the third ball. The pocket, and even details of the shot, may or may not have to be called, per the adapted rules.

Each player is assigned one suit (group) – either solids or stripes (US and WPA), or reds or yellows (UK and Commonwealth) – determined depending upon the ruleset being adapted; e.g., the table might be open after the break, or the breaker may have to keep the suit from which the most balls were pocketed on the break), with the goal of pocketing all of one's suit and then being able to pocket the 8 ball to win the game.

Fouls

All normal fouls apply, by simply treating any legal object ball (i.e., a ball-on) as the cue ball would have been treated under normal play. As an example, for a shot to be legal, the object ball chosen must strike the cue ball before touching any other ball on the table. As another example, under US or WPA-style rules, if the object ball is in contact with the cue ball when the shot begins, the player must either strike the object ball from a 45 degree or so angle to avoid a double-hit foul, or shoot away from the cue ball and return to it by banking off a cushion; under British-style rules, shooting away from the cue ball would be mandatory, as the cue ball may not move before the object ball touches the cushion or it is a foul.

Logically some adaptations have to be made, since the game is not quite eight-ball in reverse – the goal is still to pocket object balls, not the cue ball (as is sometimes actually the case in Russian billiards, a superficially similar game in which object balls are shot directly with the cue stick). Scratching the cue ball into a pocket or off the table is a foul. The cue ball would necessarily have to be spotted on the foot spot (or as near as possible, in a straight line from the foot spot, perpendicular to the foot rail).

Penalties for fouls are as in the variant of eight-ball being adapted. As some examples:

• WPA style would call for the incoming opponent to take any opponent object ball-in-hand anywhere on the table, with no other penalty to the fouler.
• North American bar pool style would have the opponent take the table as it lies, with no penalty to the fouler, except after a scratch, in which any opponent object ball could be taken ball-in-hand but only behind the head string (i.e. in the kitchen).
• British Commonwealth style would, in the case of scratches, require one of the fouling player's potted balls to be returned to the table and spotted behind the cue ball, with no ball-in-hand; after a non-scratch foul the opponent would have the option to take the table as it lies (except that a ball pocketed on the foul would be spotted as if on a scratch) or move any opponent object ball, either (depending on regional style) to the center spot or the "D". Again depending on local rules in normal games, a scratch might also award the opponent two back-to-back shots, under the two-shot rule.
• Mexican style would take the table as it lies (except after a scratch, awarding an object ball-in-hand behind the head string), but require that all of the fouler's balls, if any, that were pocketed on the foul be returned to the table and spotted (depending on region, they might be be spotted against the foot cushion adjacent to the foot rail diamonds instead of behind the foot spot.
• And so forth.

If a player makes an illegal shot (which includes not striking the cue ball first with the object ball), his or her turn ends. The opponent may elect to play the balls where they sit. The opponent may also choose to move the white cue ball to the center spot, but only if it is unoccupied.

Winning and losing

Scratching while shooting the 8 ball does not result in a loss of game. The balls are replaced according to the foul rules stated above.

Pocketing the 8 ball through an illegal or foul shot, or when one has not yet pocketed all of one's object balls, does result in a loss.

The winner of the game is the one who successfully pockets the 8 ball with a legal shot.