Rules & match formats

A pocketless rectangle at 2:1. The long rail has 8 diamond intervals, the short rail 4. Diamonds are the ruler for every aiming system. Tournament tables are heated so the balls roll evenly.

Two cue balls (white and yellow, one per player) and one red ball, 61.5 mm each. Your opponent's ball and the red are your two object balls.

One point when the cue ball hits the first object ball, then contacts the cushions at least three times, then hits the second object ball. Ball and rail contacts may interleave as long as three rails come before the last ball. Score and keep shooting.

The cue ball may hit cushions before the first object ball (bank shot). All that matters is at least three rail contacts before the last ball. Repeated contacts with the same rail each count.

Touching the second ball before three rails scores nothing and ends the inning. Missing, jumping a ball off the table, touching a ball by hand or a bad stroke also end the inning. No penalty points; balls stay (except a jumped ball).

Red on the head spot, the breaker's cue ball on the opposite spot, the other ball beside it. Who breaks is decided by lagging: both players shoot to the far rail; the ball stopping closest to the near rail chooses.

In each inning you shoot until you miss. Consecutive points in one inning form a run. Average = points ÷ innings, the key skill measure (2.000 is world class).

If the player who broke reaches the target first, the opponent gets one equalizing inning from the opening position to tie. A tie is settled by the event format (short tiebreak or shoot-out).

A ball leaving the surface ends the inning. Only the jumped ball is respotted: red to the head spot, shooter's ball to the center spot, the other to the opposite spot; an occupied spot moves to the next.

If your cue ball is frozen to another ball you may shoot away from it or ask for all three balls to be respotted at the opening position. A ball frozen to a rail does not count a cushion contact as it leaves.

UMB events use a 40-second clock per shot with two 40-second extensions per player per match. Running out ends the inning. Jump shots over a ball are not allowed.

World Cup: qualifiers to 30 points, main draw to 40, single game. World Championship to 40, final to 50. Always with an equalizing inning. Win = reach the target first and the opponent fails to tie.

PBA plays 15-point sets (deciding set 11), usually best of 5 or 7. No equalizing inning. 40-second clock, and a bank shot (rail first) scores 2 points, the biggest difference from UMB.

World Cup: three qualifying rounds, then 16 groups of three; the top two go to a last-32 bracket → 16 → QF → SF → final. The bracket appears on the event page once pairings exist.