ENGLISH BILLIARDS.
This game is played with three balls, one red and two white. Every winning hazard off the red counts 3; hazards off the white count 2, and all carroms count 2. If a player makes a carrom and a losing hazard on the same stroke, it counts 5 if the red was the object ball; 4 if the white was the object ball. A player may make 10 on one stroke by playing on the red, making a carrom, and pocketing all three balls. A miss counts one for the adversary; but if the player who makes a miss runs into a pocket or jumps off the table, his adversary counts 3.
The secret of success in the English game is not in gathering shots or rail nursing, but in repeated position; that is, playing shots so that the object ball returns to its position, the cue ball falling into a pocket and being played again from an advantageous position in the D. If the red ball is left in a good position for a losing hazard in either of the side pockets, the player should place his own ball in such a position in the D that he can drive the red to the bottom cushion and back again, leaving himself another easy hazard in the side pockets.
If the red is near a bottom pocket, and the player’s ball is in hands, the beginner will invariably leave the red ball in baulk, even if he makes the hazard. The reason is that he strikes with just force enough to reach the red and go into the pocket, and this force is just enough to drive the red about the same distance in the opposite direction, leaving it where the cue ball came from—in baulk.
The English do not understand gathering shots, nursing, and cushion carroms so well as the Americans, and play chiefly for the winning and losing hazards. The objective point of the expert is the spot stroke, which consists in getting exactly behind the red ball when it is on its spot, and then driving it into the corner pocket, returning the cue ball to its position with a light draw shot. If the cue ball fails to come back exactly behind the red the position may be recovered in several ways, some of which are shown in the diagrams.
No. 1 is the perfect position for the spot stroke; the dotted lines in the others show the course that must be followed by the cue ball to recover the initial position.
Man-of-war Game is a variety of English billiards in which there are three white balls, each belonging to different players.
The following LAWS are taken, by permission, from the rules published by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co.
ENGLISH BILLIARD LAWS.
1. The choice of balls and order of play shall, unless mutually agreed upon by the two players, be determined by stringing; and the striker whose ball stops nearest the lower [or bottom] cushion, after being forced from baulk up the table, may take which ball he likes, and play, or direct his opponent to play first, as he may deem expedient.
2. The red ball shall, at the opening of every game, be placed on the top [or red] spot, and replaced after being pocketed or forced off the table, or whenever the balls are broken.
3. Whoever breaks the balls, i. e., opens the game, must play out of baulk, though it is not necessary that he shall strike the red ball.
4. The game shall be adjudged in favour of whoever first scores the number of points agreed on, when the marker shall call “game”; or it shall be given against whoever, after having once commenced, shall neglect or refuse to continue when called upon by his opponent to play.
5. If the striker scores by his stroke he continues until he ceases to make any points, when his opponent follows on.
6. If when moving the cue backward and forward, and prior to a stroke, it touches and moves the ball, the ball must be replaced to the satisfaction of an adversary, otherwise it is a foul stroke; but if the player strikes, and grazes any part of the ball with any part of the cue, it must be considered a stroke, and the opponent follows on.
7. If a ball rebounds from the table, and is prevented in any way, or by any object except the cushion, from falling to the ground, or if it lodges on a cushion and remains there, it shall be considered off the table, unless it is the red, which must be spotted.
8. A ball on the brink of the pocket need not be “challenged”: if it ceases running and remains stationary, then falls in, it must be replaced, and the score thus made does not count.
9. Any ball or balls behind the baulk-line, or resting exactly upon the line, are not playable if the striker be in hand, and he must play out of baulk before hitting another ball.
10. Misses may be given with the point or butt of the cue, and shall count one for each against the player; or if the player strike his ball with the cue more than once a penalty shall be enforced, and the non-striker may oblige him to play again, or may call on the marker to place the ball at the point it reached or would have reached when struck first. [The butt may also be used for playing a ball in hand up the table in order to strike a ball in baulk.]
11. Foul strokes do not score to the player, who must allow his opponent to follow on. They are made thus: By striking a ball twice with the cue; by touching with the hand, ball, or cue an opponent’s or the red ball; by playing with the wrong ball; by lifting both feet from the floor when playing; by playing at the striker’s own ball and displacing it ever so little (except while taking aim, when it shall be replaced, and he shall play again).
12. The penalty for a foul stroke is losing the lead, and, in case of a score, an opponent must have the red ball spotted, and himself break the balls, when the player who made the foul must follow suit, both playing from the D. If the foul is not claimed the player continues to score, if he can.
13. After being pocketed or forced off the table the red ball must be spotted on the top spot, but if that is occupied by another ball the red must be placed on the centre spot between the middle pockets.
14. If in taking aim the player moves his ball and causes it to strike another, even without intending to make a stroke, a foul stroke may be claimed by an adversary. (See Rule Fifteenth.)
15. If a player fail to hit another ball, it counts one to his opponent; but if by the same stroke the player’s ball is forced over the table or into any pocket it counts three to his opponent.
16. Forcing any ball off the table, either before or after the score, causes the striker to gain nothing by the stroke.
17. In the event of either player using his opponent’s ball and scoring, the red must be spotted and the balls broken again by the non-striker; but if no score is made, the next player may take his choice of balls and continue to use the ball he so chooses to the end of the game. No penalty, however, attaches in either case unless the mistake be discovered before the next stroke.
18. No person except an opponent has a right to tell the player that he is using the wrong ball, or to inform the non-striker that his opponent has used the wrong ball; and if the opponent does not see the striker use the ball, or, seeing him, does not claim the penalty, the marker is bound to score to the striker any points made.
19. Should the striker [whose ball is in hand], in playing up the table on a ball or balls in baulk, either by accident or design, strike one of them [with his own ball] without first going out of baulk, his opponent may have the balls replaced, score a miss, and follow on; or may cause the striker to play again, or may claim a foul, and have the red spotted and the balls broken again.
20. The striker, when in hand, may not play at a cushion within the baulk (except by going first up the table) so as to hit balls that are within or without the line.
21. If in hand, and in the act of playing, the striker shall move his ball with insufficient strength to take it out of baulk, it shall be counted as a miss to the opponent, who, however, may oblige him to replace his ball and play again. [Failing to play out of baulk, the player may be compelled to play his stroke over again.]
22. If in playing a pushing stroke the striker pushes more than once it is unfair, and any score he may make does not count. His opponent follows by breaking the balls.
23. If in the act of drawing back his cue the striker knocks the ball into a pocket, it counts three to the opponent, and is reckoned a stroke.
24. If a foul stroke be made while giving a miss, the adversary may enforce the penalty or claim the miss, but he cannot do both.
25. If either player take up a ball, unless by consent, the adversary may have it replaced, or may have the balls broken; but if any other person touches or takes up a ball it must be replaced by the marker as nearly as possible.
26. If, after striking, the player or his opponent should by any means obstruct or hasten the speed of any ball, it is at the opponent or player’s option to have them replaced, or to break the balls.
27. No player is allowed to receive, nor any bystander to offer advice on the game; but should any person be appealed to by the marker or either player he has a right to offer an opinion; or if a spectator sees the game wrongly marked he may call out, but he must do so prior to another stroke.
28. The marker shall act as umpire, but any question may be referred by either player to the company, the opinion of the majority of whom shall be acted upon.