Hoyle's Games Modernized Part 35

The various strokes are as under:

1.--A _winning hazard_ is made by the player causing his own ball to hit an object ball and forcing the latter into a pocket.

2.--A _losing hazard_ is made by the player causing his own ball to hit an object ball and forcing his own ball into a pocket. {290}

3.--A _cannon_ is made by causing the player's ball to strike the two object b.a.l.l.s. By Billiard a.s.sociation rules, when two object b.a.l.l.s are struck simultaneously, the stroke shall be scored as if the white had been struck first. Under National Rules, such a stroke counts as if the red were struck first.

4.--A _coup_ is made by forcing the player's own ball into a pocket without first striking another ball.

A _miss_ counts one, a _coup_ three, to the opposite player.

The scores are counted as follows:--

A.--A two stroke is made by pocketing an opponent's ball--_i.e._, a winning hazard; or by pocketing the striker's ball off his opponent's--_i.e._, a losing hazard; or by making a cannon.

B.--A three stroke is made by pocketing the red ball--_i.e._, a red winning hazard; or by pocketing the striker's ball off the red--_i.e._, a red losing hazard.

C.--A four stroke may be made by pocketing the white and spot-white b.a.l.l.s; or by making a cannon and pocketing an opponent's ball; or by making a cannon and pocketing the striker's ball, the opponent's ball having been first hit.

D.--A five stroke may be made by scoring a cannon and pocketing the red ball; or by a cannon and pocketing the striker's ball, after having struck the red ball first or both b.a.l.l.s simultaneously; or by pocketing the red ball and the opponent's ball without cannoning, or by making a losing hazard off the white and pocketing the red ball.

E.--A six stroke is made by the red ball being struck first, and the striker's and the red ball {291} pocketed; or by a cannon off an opponent's ball on to the red and pocketing the two white b.a.l.l.s.

F.--A seven stroke is made by striking an opponent's ball first, pocketing it, making a cannon, and pocketing the red also; or by making a cannon and pocketing the red and an opponent's ball; or by playing at an opponent's ball first and pocketing all the b.a.l.l.s without making a cannon; or by playing at the red first, cannoning, and pocketing your own and the opponent's ball.

G.--An eight stroke is made by striking the red ball first, pocketing it, making a cannon, and pocketing the striker's ball; or by hitting the red first and pocketing all the b.a.l.l.s without making a cannon.

H.--A nine stroke is made by striking an opponent's ball first, making a cannon, and pocketing all the b.a.l.l.s.

I.--A ten stroke is made by striking the red ball first, making a cannon, and pocketing all the b.a.l.l.s.

Reverting to the terms used in the game, the "cue" is the stick with which the player strikes the ball. It varies in length from 4 ft. 6 inches to 5 ft. The thick end or b.u.t.t has a diameter of about 1 inches. The small end or tip varies from to inch in diameter. The average is about 3/8 of an inch.

The tip is formed of two pieces of leather glued together. When the tip gets greasy or too smooth, it should be rubbed with a piece of chalk.

THE REST.--The real "rest," that is, the support on which the cue is raised in order to strike the ball, is the left hand. This, however, is more {292} generally termed the "bridge"; what is known as the "rest," or "jigger," is a cross of wood fixed at right angles to a handle about the same length as the cue, in order to enable a player to strike a ball when it is too far away to allow him to use his hand as a bridge. Special rests, and cues of extra length, are made to meet exceptional positions of the b.a.l.l.s.

IN HAND.--A ball is said to be in hand when it is off the table, and the player has to play from the half-circle or D.

BREAKING THE b.a.l.l.s.--Whoever plays, being in hand, when the red ball is on the spot and the other ball also is in hand, is said to break the b.a.l.l.s.

IN BAULK.--A ball is said to be in baulk when it is between the baulk-line and the bottom cus.h.i.+on.

BREAK.--The series of scores terminating with the stroke in which the player fails to score is called a break.

SCREW AND SCREW-BACK.--This is putting a rotatory motion on a ball, causing it to spin on a horizontal axis backwards. Screw is put on by striking the ball _below the centre_.

FOLLOWING STROKE.--This is putting a rotatory motion on a ball, causing it to spin on a horizontal axis forwards instead of backwards. The stroke is made by striking the ball high up _above the centre_.

SIDE.--This is a rotatory motion put on a ball, making it spin on a perpendicular axis.

In each of the foregoing cases the ball is made to take, after striking another ball, or a cus.h.i.+on, a direction different from that which it would take did no such rotatory motion exist.

In order that the learner may the better understand the meaning of screw, screw-back, following stroke, {293} and side, we will ill.u.s.trate them by means of a diagram.

In Fig. 1 we will suppose the red ball to be placed on the middle spot in the table, M. The player places his own ball in the centre spot in the baulk-line, K, and aims his ball, first of all, so as to strike the object ball with the ordinary HALF-BALL STROKE--that is, the centre of his ball advances towards the extreme edge of the object ball.

In Fig. 2, O is the object ball; S, the striker's ball. In order to play the half-ball stroke, it is necessary that the player should aim at the point E, the extreme edge of the horizontal diameter of the object ball. Of course, as the diagram shows, he will not strike the ball in the point at which he aims (this is never done save in the case of the ball being struck exactly in the centre), but as S_1, in the point C. When the object ball is thus struck, the striker's ball, supposing there is no screw on the ball, will take the direction indicated in Fig. 2 as S_2. This angle is called the natural angle; about this natural angle we shall have to say more by-and-by. Suppose the stroke played thus. After playing, the ball will follow the line M P (Fig. 1). Now suppose some strong screw had been put on the ball by hitting it low down. The ball, owing to the _hit_, and to its after-contact with the ball at M, would follow the line M P; but, owing to the rotatory motion making the ball revolve or spin backwards, it has a tendency to run back again towards K, the point from which it started.

Under the influence of these two forces, the ball takes the medium course shown by the dotted line M P_1. In other words, the striker, although he hits the object ball a half-ball stroke, screws into the middle pocket.

{294}

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.]

Now suppose, instead of hitting the ball _below_ the centre, he hits it high up above the _centre_, so as to make the ball rotate forwards. After the b.a.l.l.s have come in contact, the rotatory motion forwards has a tendency to make the striker's ball run onwards {295} towards the top cus.h.i.+on and away from K, the point from which it started; but the contact with the object ball would--did no rotatory motion exist--cause it to follow the direction of the line M P. Under the influence of these two forces the ball takes a medium course, and follows the line M P_2.

If the player hit the ball at M full, that is, played at it quite straight and hit the ball at M in its nearest point, then, if he put on screw, his own ball would, after striking the ball at M, stop and run back towards K, fast or not according to the amount of rotatory motion he succeeded in putting on his own ball when he struck it.

If the player hit the ball at M full, and hit his own ball high up and above the centre--the following stroke--his ball, after striking the ball at M, would _follow on_, and, if he hit it exactly, would go on in the direction of the spots, P and S.

In putting on _side_, the ball is caused to rotate on a perpendicular axis.

For instance (_vide_ Fig. 1), suppose the player places his ball on the centre spot in baulk, K, and hits the cus.h.i.+on in the point T without putting on any side, then the ball would rebound in the direction of T R, just as the angles of incidence and reflection are equal. Suppose, however, the player strikes his ball on the right-hand side, causing it to rotate on a perpendicular axis. When the ball touches the cus.h.i.+on at T, this rotation, owing to the friction between the ball and the cus.h.i.+on, causes the ball to take the direction shown in the diagram by the line T R_1. If, on the other hand, the player hits his ball on the left-hand side, the ball will rebound in the contrary direction shown by line T R_2. This latter stroke is what every player {296} has to make when he wishes to give a miss in baulk.

When a great deal of _side_ is put on a ball, this side has but little effect till the ball touches a cus.h.i.+on.

FLUKE.--When a player plays for one thing, misses it, and gets another, the stroke is called a fluke. Thus, if a man plays for a cannon, misses the cannon and his ball runs into a pocket off the other ball instead, it is a fluke. If, however, he plays for the cannon and _makes_ it, and _then_ his ball runs into a pocket, it is not regarded as a fluke, although he gets what he did not play for.

A JENNY is a losing hazard into one of the middle pockets off a ball near to one of the lower-side cus.h.i.+ons. A long jenny is a losing hazard off a ball similarly placed into one of the top pockets.

SPOT STROKE.--A stroke by which a player pockets the red ball from the billiard spot, at the same time bringing his own ball into position to pocket the red again, when the latter is replaced on the billiard spot.

ALL-IN GAME.--A game in which, by prior agreement, any number of spot strokes may be consecutively scored.

SPOT-BARRED GAME.--By the Billiard a.s.sociation Rules, "if the red ball be pocketed from the billiard spot twice in consecutive strokes by the same player, and not in conjunction with any other score, it shall be placed on the centre spot; if a ball prevent this, then on the pyramid spot, and if both centre and pyramid spots be covered, then on the billiard spot. When the red ball is again pocketed it shall be placed on the billiard spot."

Furthermore, "if when the billiard spot is {297} occupied, a player pocket the red ball from the pyramid spot twice in consecutive strokes, and not in conjunction with any other score, it shall be placed on the centre spot.

Should the player, with his next stroke, pocket it again, it shall be placed on the pyramid spot."

TO GET ON THE SPOT.--When a player gets his own ball into an easy position for playing the spot stroke, he is said to get "on the spot."

KISS.--When the b.a.l.l.s come in contact a second time they are said to kiss.

A NURSERY.--A series of cannons made when all three b.a.l.l.s are very close together is called a nursery of cannons.

SAFETY.--When any one plays simply to leave the b.a.l.l.s in such a position that his opponent cannot score by his next stroke, he is said to play for safety.

TWIST.--Another name for screw.