Diagram X.
IX. Any one playing out of turn cannot score, and the one who should have played continues, without replacing the balls; but the former has a right to play in his proper turn, if he is not dead by knocking down a black pin.
X. Foul strokes are made as follows, viz.: by pushing a ball instead of striking it; by knocking down a white pin without striking a ball first, or before the balls have ceased running; by playing out of turn, or when all the pins are not in their places, or when the three balls are not on the table. Running in or jumping off the table is not foul.
XI. If (by mistake) the black and white pins are wrongly placed, the white scores and the black counts as dead if knocked down; but the pins must then be replaced in their proper places.
XII. Should the three balls be covered by the pins, so as to prevent their being played at, the red ball can be spotted; and then, if they are again covered, the spot ball can be spotted.
XIII. Any one, not being present at the commencement of the pool, has the right to join in it, provided that no player has had more than one stroke, and that no one has starred.
XIV. Baulk affords no protection.
The usual way of playing this game is to agree that the pool goes to the player who first makes exactly thirty-one, neither more nor less: if he exceeds that number he is dead, unless he likes to star, the number of stars being unlimited. Another method is to let the player who gets beyond thirty-one score backwards: e.g. if his score stands at thirty-four, he can win the pool by scoring three. Under either system the other players endeavour so to leave the balls as to make it difficult or impossible for him to knock down the skittle which will give him the desired number. The game may, however, be played with a sealed handicap, each player receiving a numbered counter at the beginning of a game, which he keeps secret but adds to his score. Thus a player whose counter was numbered six would produce it when his score reached twenty-five, and would claim the pool; part of the game then is to guess the handicaps of the other players, by observing which skittles each is trying to knock over when within range of thirty-one. Thus, if a player whose score on the board was twenty-four were seen to be incessantly playing for one of the skittles at either B or E, counting four, his handicap number would probably be three, and so on. This innovation seems to have come from the Italian way of playing skittle pool, which is very popular in Italy and Greece, and indeed in all the Levant. Directions for this game may be found in Dufton’s ‘Practical Billiards.’
The game may also be played without the black skittles, but there is less fun and excitement, as their presence adds considerably to its vicissitudes.