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Scratchball rules are relatively new in the world of cue sports. The scratchball rules are broken into two main parts; general scratchball rules and tournament scratchball rules. With the exception of a scratch not being considered a foul shot, Billiard Congress of America (BCA) General Rules of Pool apply to ScratchBall billiards.
The object of scratchball is to actually pocket the cue ball. Scratchball is played with a set of scratchball billiard balls which consists of 14 black balls, one orange ball, and one cue ball. Balls are racked as they are with 8 ball, with the orange ball in the center of the rack. See the diagram below.
The object of scratchball billiard rules is to scratch while you sink the counter balls or the dead ball in order to gain points. When you fail to scratch in a game of scratchball billiards, your inning ends, and the next player approaches the billiard table. The game of scratchball is best played with two to three players.
As you can see, the scoring rules for scratchball billiards are fairly simple. Here are some of the other basic rules of scratchball billiards:
The scratchball tournament rules are the same as the official 8 ball rules, and the scoring is the same as the easy-play version of scratchball rules as listed above. Scoring is cumulative for each game, and the highest score after three games of play is granted the win.
When a player neglects to scratch in a game of scratchball pool rules, his or her turn ends. When a player commits a foul, his or her turn comes to an end.
The cue ball may follow any other ball into a pocket except on a reset shot. (see reset shot) When shooting the dead ball, the player must scratch and pocket it, otherwise their turn ends.
The player resets the cue ball anywhere on the table or the dead ball on the foot spot. On the reset shot, the object ball cannot be the dead ball. If the player shoots the dead ball or the dead ball is accidentally pocketed, that ends your turn. On the reset shot, if the cue ball goes in the same pocket as a counter ball then your turn is over.
When shooting the dead ball, the player must scratch and pocket the dead ball, otherwise his or her turn is terminated and he or she forfeits all points earned from that shot. In easy play rules the dead ball can be sunk by accident. With tournament rules, the dead ball must be a call shot. If the dead ball is sunk by accident, even if you scratch, you lose your turn and receive 0 points for the shot.
When one ball is left alone on the table, or the table is cleared, the game ends.
To break a tie game, the players compete in a game of sudden death scratchball. To begin the scratchball sudden death match, reset the table with only the dead ball and the cue ball, set the dead ball on the foot spot, and shoot the cue ball from behind the head string. Each scratchball sudden death player gets only one shot. The table is reset after each shot. After each player has a turn and the tie is not broken, another game of scratchball sudden death shall be executed. If it is still a tie game after 3 games of sudden death and the scratchball game is to be considered a stalemate.
There are several alternate rules for playing a game of scratchball billiards.
If you have any questions about scratchball billiard rules, please post them in our billiard rules forum.
The scratchball billiard rules article was posted on 7/9/2008 6:40:00 AM and updated on 4/13/2009 8:52:00 AM. The scratchball billiard rules article was edited by Billiards Forum Editor.
The information for the scratchball billiard rules article was sourced from David, scratchballbilliards.com Administrator, david@scratchballbilliards.com.
Here is a little history of the game. We, that is, the 3 Fenske brothers, were avid 8-ball players. Not necessarily good but players all the same. On one particularly bad game, we scratched so often that one of us said "If we could win by scratching, we'd be kings". And that started the thought process going. We searched the internet and couldn't find a game with those parameters so we made our own game. Now it is the only game we play so we decided to share it with the world to see if it would catch on. Because the game relies heavily on trying to sink the cue balls while sinking the object ball, it seems to have had a big impact on my playing skills especially with using side english. Selling of the regulation balls was a secondary idea. Probably not a lot of profit in that end but it makes the game look cool. That is about it for the story.
The scratchball billiard rules are predominently observed in North America.
ScratchBall Billiard Rules belong to the pocket billiards category of cue sports. Pocket billiards is a class of cue sport game commonly referred to as pool.
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We play a game here we call "Reverse 8-ball" and it's similar to yours, but also very different. We've enjoyed it here since about April 2008. Our official rules are written up this way: "This game is exactly like that of 8-Ball with the following exception: 1. Reverse Striking Order 1. The ball struck by the cue stick must be any ball of your group (stripes or solids). The struck ball must strike the white ball before any balls are sunk and before any other balls are struck. Any shot with the cue stick striking any ball that is not of your group is a scratch. Any shot in which the white ball is not struck, or in which it is not struck before any other ball, is a scratch. When the table is open, you have either group, but still the 8 ball cannot be struck with the cue stick. 2. The above rule does not apply on the breaking shot: The rack is as in 8-Ball, with the white ball placed "in-the-kitchen" and struck by the cue stick. If the breaking shot results in the white ball sinking, the opposing player gets the white ball "in-the-kitchen," and must strike with the cue stick any ball outside of the kitchen, with that ball first striking the white ball, as above. If all balls are in the kitchen, then the highest numbered ball can optionally be spotted. FAQ's 1. What if the white ball goes down? As in the 8-ball rules, it is a scratch and the opposing player gets "ball-in-hand" (places the white ball anywhere). 2. What if someone misses the white ball? As above, it is a scratch, so as in 8-ball, it results in the other player getting "ball-in-hand." 3. Does the ball I call have to be the ball I strike? Certainly not. Arbitrarily complex combo shots are enjoyed by players and spectators alike." If you have any questions, just answer them with the rules for 8-ball -- it actually works. Simple, but play it a couple times and the subtleties will come out.
We have played "Reverse 8-Ball" and love the game. The familiar feel of the two games comes from the fact that, in both games, the ball struck with the cue stick is the ball you are trying to pocket. But as you noted, outside of that similarity, they are two very different games. The most striking difference, besides the point structure and that you are trying to scratch, is that ScratchBall players try to pocket 2 balls with every shot. So, in effect there are two object balls. Therefore, shots tend to be faster with more english. I highly recommend both games. They are fun and worth learning.
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