The English-originating version of eight-ball pool, also known as English pool, English eight-ball, blackball or simply reds and yellows, is a pool game played with sixteen balls (a and fifteen usually unnumbered ) on a small pool table with six . It originated in the United Kingdom and is played in the Commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool".
The English version of eight-ball has two main sets of playing rules used in professional play; those of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), known as "blackball rules", and the code of the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF), known as "international rules".
History
American-style eight-ball arose around 1900, derived from basic pyramid pool. In 1925, the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company began offering ball sets specifically for the game using unnumbered yellow and red balls (in contrast to the numbered and found in most pool ball sets), a black , and the white cue ball. These were introduced to make it easier for spectators to identify the two sets in early professional games held in casinos, and became known as "casino-style" sets. In the years following World War II, playing eight-ball on small coin-operated pool tables became a common pub game in American bars, a pastime which spread to Britain by the early 1960s. In the years following, the British game diverged from the American in equipment (including the use of casino-style balls, which had died out in the US) and rules.
Equipment
The game uses unnumbered, solid-coloured object balls, typically red and yellow, with one black ball. The black ball typically bears a number "8", though numberless variants are not unknown. They are usually 2 inches (51 mm) or inches (52 mm) in diameter – the latter being the same size as the balls used in snooker and English billiards – often with a slightly smaller cue ball, e.g. inches (47.6 mm) for a 2-inch set, a convention originally created for the ball return mechanisms in coin-operated tables.
British pool tables come in 6 × 3 foot (1.8 × 0.9 m) or 7 × 3.5 ft (2.12 × 1.06 m) varieties, with 7 feet being the regulation size for league play. The table has pockets just larger than the balls and rounded, as in the game of snooker, whereas the international-style (or "American-style") table has pockets significantly wider, with pointed .
Tournament rules may require the presence of more than one type of (mechanical bridge), as in snooker.
Rules
There are currently two competing standards bodies that have issued standardised rules.
The English Pool Association (EPA) uses the rules of the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF). Since 2022 the EPA and WEPF have adopted a ruleset known as "International Rules", which are used in all events organised by the Ultimate Pool Group. Prior to 2022 these organisations used a different set of rules known as "World Rules".
The English Blackball Pool Federation (EBPF) uses the rules of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) under the game name "Blackball" to better distinguish it from the American-style game (for which the WPA also promulgates the world-standardised rules). Since 2013 these rules are used in all events organised by the International Professional Pool Association (IPA).
Basic rules
Despite various differences between the competing rulesets, the basic objectives and rules of the game are mostly the same.
The balls are racked with (the 8 ball) on the (or "black spot"), in contrast with US-style eight-ball, nine-ball and most other pool games, in which the apex ball is placed on the foot spot.
One player begins the game with a "break shot", which involves shooting the cue ball from the baulk area towards the object balls and "splitting the pack".
The aim of the game is to pot all the balls of a certain colour (either reds or yellows), followed by the black eight-ball. The winner is usually the player who legally pots the black first, although it is possible to win the game by the opponent committing a sufficiently serious foul, such as potting the black eight-ball and the cue ball in the same shot.
A foul can be committed in numerous ways, such as potting the cue ball, potting the black eight-ball before the last colour in the set, hitting the wrong colour ball first or touching any ball with anything apart from the tip of the cue. After a foul, there is a penalty awarded to the other player. This penalty varies by ruleset, but could be winning the frame, gaining an extra shot or visit, being able to hit any ball on the table, or being able to move the cue ball to another location.
