8- BALL POOL

Eight-ball

Eight ball  (also8 ball or eight ball and sometimes called ,solids and stripes, spots an stripes,of highs and lows) is a poll billiards played on a billiard table with six balls and sixteen billiard balls; a cue ball  and fifteen object balls . The object balls include seven solid-colored balls numbered 1 through 7, seven striped balls numbered 9 through 15, and the black 8 ball. After the balls are scattered with a break shot , a player is assigned either the group of solid or striped balls once they have legally pocketed a ball from that group. The object of the game is to legally pocket the 8 ball in a "called" pocket, which can only be done after all of the balls from a player's assigned group have been cleared from the table.

The game is the most frequently played discipline of pool, and is often thought of as synonymous with "pool". The game has numerous variations, mostly regional. It is the second most played professional pool game, after nine-ball, and for the last several decades ahead of straight pool .

^{Equipment rquired} 

There are seven solid colored ball numbered 1 through 7, seven striped balls numbered 9 through 15, an 8 balll, and a cue ball. The balls are usually colored as follows:

• 1 and 9: yellow
• 2 and 10: blue
• 3 and 11: red
• 4 and 12: purple
• 5 and 13: orange
• 6 and 14: green
• 7 and 15: maroon
• 8: black
• Cue: white

Special sets designed to be more easily discernible on television substitute pink for the dark purple of the 4 and 12 and light tan for the darker maroon of the 7 and 15 balls, and these alternative-color sets are now also available to consumers.

Rule To Play

American-style eight-ball rules are played around the world by professionals, and in many amateur leagues. Nevertheless, the rules for eight-ball may be the most inconsistent of any billiard game as there are several competing sets of "official" rules.

The non-profit World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), which has continental and national affiliates around the world (some of which long pre-date the WPA, such as the Biilliard Congress Of America) promulgates standardized rules as Pool Billiards – The Rules of Play.^[6] These are used for amateur and professional play.

Meanwhile, many amateur leagues – such as the American PoolPlayers Association (APA) and its affiliate the Canadian Poolplayers Association (CPA), the Valley National Eight-Ball Association (VNEA) and the BCA Pool LEague (BCAPL) – use their own rulesets which have slight differences from WPA rules and from each other. Millions of individuals play informally, using informal "house rules" which vary not only from area to area but even from venue to venue.

placement of 8 ball

Once all of a player's (or team's) group of object balls are pocketed, the player attempts to sink the 8 ball. In order to win the game the player first designates which pocket the 8 ball will be pocketed into and then successfully pockets the 8 ball into that pocket. If the player knocks the 8 ball off the table then the player loses the game. If the player pockets the 8 ball and commits a foul or pockets it into another pocket than the one designated, then the player loses the game. Otherwise (i.e., if the 8 ball is neither pocketed nor knocked off the table) the shooter's turn is simply over, even if a foul occurs. In short, a world-standardized rules game of eight-ball, like a game of nine-ball, is not over until is no longer on the table. The rule has been increasingly adopted by amateur leagues

Selection of the target ball.

The table is "open" at the start of the game, meaning that either player may shoot at any ball. It remains open until one player legally pockets one or more object balls (excluding the 8) after the break. That player is assigned the group, or suit, of the pocketed ball – 1–7 (solids), or 9–15 (stripes) – and the other suit is assigned to the opponent. Balls pocketed on the break, or as the result of a foul while the table is still open, are not used to assign the suits. If a player pockets balls from both suits on an open table, they may claim either suit as their own.

Once the suits are assigned, they remain fixed throughout the game. If any balls from a player's suit are on the table, the player must hit one of them first on every shot; otherwise a foul is called and the turn ends. After all balls from the suit have been pocketed, the player's target becomes the 8 for the remainder of the game.

Winning 

Any of the following results in a player winning the game:

• The player legally pockets the 8 ball into a designated pocket, after all of that player's object balls have been pocketed
• The opposing player illegally pockets the 8 ball
• The opposing player knocks the 8 ball off the table

Because of these rules, it's actually possible for a game to end with only one of the players having winner