Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Eight Ball |
Eight BallNoun1. A black pool ball bearing the number 8; should be the last to go in certain pool games. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definitions |
Aerospace | Common name given to a flight attitude indicator. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Eight ball is a billiards game played with a cue ball and 15 billiard balls on a pool table with 6 pockets. There are seven solid-colored balls numbered 1 through 7, a single black ball numbered 8, and seven striped balls numbered 9 through 15. The cue ball is solid white. Two persons or two teams play against each other. One plays the solid balls, the other the striped ones. They hit the cue ball in order to hit one of their balls and to sink one of their balls in a pocket of the table. If they succeed, or if at least one ball hits the side of the table, they may play again. If a player has sunk all his balls, he has to sink the black 8 in order to win the game. If he sinks the black 8 earlier, he loses.
If the breaker pockets a ball, it is still his turn. Area of substantial disagreement in rules: say the breaker pockets the seven ball (a solid). Some people play that the breaker now has solids as his group. Others (including the BCA) say that the table is still "open" until someone legally pockets a ball.
Other areas of substantial disagreement in rules:
One possible set of rules follows, but it doesn't exactly match the BCA rules:
Winning situation:
After a foul stroke in the UK, the offending player will miss his next turn - known as the "two shots" rule. A common exception to this is "one shot on the black", that is a player who has only the black left to pot does not get this advantage.Lines and points on the table
Imagine the pool table divided into two equal halves the long way by an imaginary line (called the "long string"). Also imagine two lines crossways to the long string one quarter of the way from each end. These are called the "head string" and "foot string". The intersection of the long and head strings is called the "head spot", and the intersection of the long and foot strings is called the "foot spot".Start of the game
To start the game, the colored balls are placed in a triangle. The base of the triangle is parallel to the short end of the pool table, the ball in the tip of the triangle is placed on the head spot. The balls in the triangle are pressed into contact with the head ball, and remain in contact after the triangle is removed. The cue ball is placed anywhere the player to break desires in the "kitchen": the "kitchen" is the area between the foot string and its nearest short side (that is, the quarter of the table farthest from the rack).Break
One person is chosen to shoot first ("break" the balls apart; note that this is a different definition of the word "break" than in other billiards games, notably snooker) by any number of methods: flip of a coin, loser of last game breaks, winner of last game breaks, "lag", etc. If the shooter who breaks fails to make a legal break (usually defined as at least four balls hitting cushions) then the opponent can either re-rack and break, or play from the current position.Turns
The players now take turns. The turn is over if a player makes a fault or fails to pocket one of the object balls.Faults
When one player commits a fault, the other player gets "ball in hand", that is, may place the cue ball. Area of substantial disagreement in rules: some (including the BCA) play that (after the break) the cueball may be placed anywhere, and shoot at anything. Others play that the person with ball in hand may only place the cue ball in the "kitchen", and must shoot out of the "kitchen" before hitting any ball (that is, they may not shoot at a ball inside the "kitchen" directly). However, if all their balls are inside the "kitchen", they can request that the one closest to the head string be placed on the head spot. Under BCA rules, if the cue ball is pocketed on the break, the cue ball must be placed in the "kitchen" and shot out.Possible set of rules
Note: The rules for this game may be the most contested of any billiard game; MAKE SURE that you and your opponent agree on the rules before playing. Many people and leagues in the USA use the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) rules as their standard. The place where you are playing may also have their own house rules, though you should still consult your opponent on whether or not to play by them.
Losing situations:
Possible fault situations:
A legal stroke is defined as:
Differences between UK and US
In the UK, plain unnumbered red balls and yellow balls often replace the solid and striped balls. The black ball, however, still bears a number eight. Another difference is that the UK table has pockets just larger than the balls, whereas the American table has pockets significantly larger.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Eight ball."
Crosswords: Eight Ball |
| English words defined with "eight ball": Pitch farthing ♦ The Liberty Bell. (references) |
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Screenplays | Barney can be Eight Ball, Lenny will be Twelve Ball, and Moe, you'll be Cue Ball. (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Eight Ball (1972) Behind the Eight Ball (1942) Eight Ball (1992) Behind the Eight Ball (1991) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "eight ball"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Pig Latin | eightay allbay.(various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: eightball. | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-g-h-i-l-l-t" | |
-2 letters: tillage. | |
-3 letters: aiglet, albeit, albite, alible, alight, ballet, begall, billet, blight, blithe, gallet, gelati, giblet, habile, halite, labile, lethal, liable, ligate, taille, telial, thalli. | |
-4 letters: agile, aglet, bagel, baith, bathe, begat, belga, bight, bilge, blate, bleat, blite, eight, gable, gleba, glial, habit, ileal, label, laigh, laith, lathe, lathi, legal, legit, libel, light, lithe, table, telia, thill. | |
-5 letters: abet, able, alit, baht, bail, bait, bale, ball, bate, bath, beat, bell, belt, beta, beth, bile, bill, bite, blae, blah, blat, blet, eath, egal, elhi, gait, gale, gall, gate, gelt, geta, ghat, gibe, gill, gilt, glia, glib, haet, hail, hale, hall, halt, hate, heal, heat, heil, hell, hila, hill, hilt, ilea, late, lath, lati, leal, lilt, lite, tael, tail, tale, tali, tall, teal, tela, tell, thae, tile, till. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-e-g-h-i-l-l-t" | |
+1 letter: eightballs. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)45 69 67 68 74 42 61 6C 6C |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000101 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01000010 01100001 01101100 01101100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)E i g h t   B a l l |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0045 0069 0067 0068 0074 0042 0061 006C 006C |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3975737486236677878 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Translations: Modern 7. Anagrams 8. Orthography | 9. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
