Poolhall Junkies

Everyone knows how to play 8-ball. Most know how to play 9-ball. A few have played cutthroat, and a select group might even be familiar with straight pool. But I have made up my own game! And it actually works out pretty well (in my opinion)! It might seem a bit complicated on paper, but is quite intuitive in practice.

BEHOLD: PUYO POINTO FEVER!!!

1. Balls must be sunk in ascending numerical order (henceforth refered to as the target ball for each shot). Points are awarded according to face value of the target ball. The one ball is the first target ball and is placed at the foot spot in the rack. Optional: to make subtraction of points easier, each player can start with 50 points.

2. The break shot must either pocket a ball (one point for each) or cause at least 4 balls to hit the rail.

3. To earn points, the first ball struck by the cue ball and pocket must be called. The first ball struck can be any ball, but the ball being pocketted must be the target ball. The first ball struck can be the target ball, and one or more balls can be struck in between the first ball and target ball without penalty (combinations). First ball and pocket need not be called off the break.

4. As long as conditions are met in rule #3, any other balls going down will earn points equivalent to the target ball for each extra ball pocketted (instead of the face value of the extra balls).

5. There are several types of "scratches". Scratch conditions: white ball pocketted, first ball called not first ball struck, target ball not moved at all, target ball pocketted in wrong pocket, each ball pocketted without target ball being pocketted in the correct pocket, each ball jumping table, no balls being struck, and a shot where no balls are pocketted or hit the rails. For each condition being met, an equivalent of target ball points are subtracted (instead of face value of ball scratched).

6. Balls pocketted unintentionally stay down, and are skipped in the order.

7. When a scratch involves pocketting the cue ball, the next player must shoot from behind head string. The ball must cross the head string before striking the first ball.

8. Game ends when all balls are pocketted and the player with the most points wins.

The important thing to remember is that points up or down depend on multiples of the target ball value, not the value of extra balls pocketted. The result of each shot can involve addition of points from pocketting balls, and subtraction for scratching. A common example is if the target ball is pocketted correctly, but the cue ball is also pocketted addition of points for the target ball, subtraction for scratch).

Since the first target balls are of little relative point value, and are often obstructed by other balls, early parts of the game is often slow. However, the game picks up since the higher values of later balls can turn the tides quite quickly. The possibility of scratching with subtraction of multiple target ball point equivalents also makes the game result unpredictable till the last ball is sunk!

FEVER!

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Bonus movie review: Poolhall Junkies

Christopher Walken is in it. Need I say more?

It even has Clint Eastwood's daughter.

Okay, it's even a good movie! Not the best movie and it's definitely fits well in the hustler/criminal movie cliches. Y'know, a hustler/criminal trying to start over, the younger brother/son following dispite advice otherwise, and the necessity to do one big job to save the brother/son in trouble. Just like the general theme of Gone in Sixty Seconds.

So why is it good if it's not original? Why does it have to be? It's fun, and well executed. No big names in the lead roles, which is a good thing. Everyone does a good job of making the characters accessible and relatable (mostly). It'll especially appeal to pool fans of course. And it even has a happy ending.

Did I mention Christopher Walken?

12/17 stars