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Cribbage Pocket Billiards
Type of Game
Cribbage Pocket Billiards is a combination of a call-shot game and a set-order game. A score can be made (with two exceptions) only by pocketing two consecutive balls which add up to fifteen.
Object of the Game
To score five points (cribbages) out of a possible total of nine. The seven regular cribbages are worth 1 point each, and the final 15-ball is worth 2 points.
Players
2 players
Balls Used
Standard set of object balls 1-15, plus cue ball
The Rack
Standard triangle rack, with the 15-ball in the center. No two of the three corner balls shall add up to a total of fifteen points. All other balls may be placed entirely at random.
Definition of a Cribbage
A cribbage is a pair of object balls, legally pocketed in the same inning, numerically totaling fifteen. There are just these seven regular cribbages:
- 1-14
- 2-13
- 3-12
- 4-11
- 5-10
- 6-9
- 7-8
No other ball combinations can be cribbages except that when all seven regular cribbages have been legally pocketed, the 15-ball becomes a legal cribbage by itself and is worth 2 points.
Scoring
Each of the seven regular cribbages counts as one point for the scoring player. The 15-ball, when legally pocketed after all seven regular cribbages, counts as two points.
Opening Break
The starting player must attempt an open break. Failure to do so is a breaking violation. The starting player is not required to call the shot; if any balls are pocketed on the break shot, they accrue to him, and he may continue at the table.
Rules of Play
- Rule 1: To legally pocket a cribbage, the two balls must be pocketed in the same inning. When a player has legally pocketed a single ball on a shot, he must legally pocket the appropriate companion ball on his next shot, or it is a foul.
- Rule 2: If a player scores a legal cribbage, he can continue his inning and attempt to score more cribbages in the same inning.
- Rule 3: When not "on a cribbage," if a player pockets two or more balls on a shot that do not constitute a cribbage, he may next pocket any of the proper companion balls as he chooses, but must successively pocket each of those companion balls if he is to continue at the table. If he fails, it is a foul.
- Rule 4: When a ball is pocketed legally, but the player fails to complete the cribbage legally during the same inning, the ball is spotted.
- Rule 5: On all shots, the player must cause the cue ball to contact an object ball and then either pocket a numbered ball, or cause any numbered ball or the cue ball to contact a cushion. Failure to do so is a foul.
- Rule 6: A player loses the game if he commits three successive fouls.
- Rule 7: If the 15-ball is pocketed before all the other cribbages have been legally pocketed, it is an illegally pocketed ball and is spotted immediately following the stroke (not inning) on which it was pocketed. No penalty. When legally pocketed after all seven regular cribbages, the 15-ball is worth 2 points.
- Rule 8: When a player has the cue ball in hand behind the head string (as after a scratch) and all the object balls are also behind the head string, the object ball nearest the head string may be spotted on the foot spot at his request.
Illegally Pocketed Balls
All spotted; no penalty.
Object Balls Jumped Off the Table
All spotted. The stroke is a foul, and the penalty for fouls is followed.
Cue Ball After Jumping Off Table or Scratch
The incoming player has cue ball in hand behind the head string.
Penalty for Fouls
Inning ends; no point or ball penalty (Exception: See Rule 6 of Play). The incoming player has the option of accepting the table in position and shooting, or shooting with cue ball in hand behind the head string.