Nineation, better than a vacation of sensation, from your friendly neighborhood Guide to Pool & Billiards, adds spice to your Nine Ball playtime.
Growing more and more popular since its invention in the 1920's, Nine Ball's fast action was a speed improvement on the ancient billiards game, Rotation, made for slow play on coin-operated tables and tables rented by the game. Nine Ball was designed to speed play instead and it surely did so!
Why Nine Ball Gets Annoying
Much of Nine Ball's charm lies in its wild and at times unpredictable action. If the Nine Ball drops at any time during a legal stroke, you win.
The trouble is that a skilled player can make the first 8 balls of the rack, miss, and lose on the last ball if the opponent sinks the nine. Many players have painful stories of scoring 27 balls or so in a race to three match of Nine Ball, only to lose when the opponent scored 3 or 4 balls in total, at the right time, at the end of the games. Not fun!
Related to this trouble is a lack of discipline from the players. Players sleepwalk through early balls, their discipline shot through until late in the game when the 9-ball becomes open to shoot.
The thoughtful pool shooter does not take a Nine Ball long run unless they see clear to sink the nine, as I've alluded to in my recent Nine Ball advice for better competitive play.
Nineation Becomes A Problem Solver
How to get my students to better plan runs both early and late in each game? While building a custom Nine Ball action plan for a student to take to their national championship final, I was lecturing on Rotation Pool and struck gold.
I matched my Gopher Eight Ball making Eight Ball more fun with Nineation, a new Nine Ball creation. Not mere decoration, Nineation demands shot formation and idea generation for every game occasion!
All you need do to take your billiards skills and play theory to the next level with Nineation is:
1. Rack and play Nine Ball according to the rules you usually enjoy but
2. Score the game exactly as in Rotation Pool as described on this site and then
3. The winner reaches 23 points first and the 9-ball is worth 9 points and might not end the game if sunk
Nineation Advantages:
1. Unlike Rotation with 120 points available, all nine balls in Nineation together provide 45 points, an odd number score. It is not possible, therefore to ever have a tie game with two players.
As I first calculated here at About.com, Rotation ties average just more than 2% of possible games, but do occur, which at times provides no clear game winner.
2. Nineation forces players to consider runs far more carefully than in regular Nine Ball. Running lower balls provides some score rather than no score, so moves are more thoughtful in general.
3. A less skilled Nine Ball player who is unable to run the 9 balls may still have a thrilling run by pocketing the first 7 balls for 28 points. But if they miss the 7 after running the first 6 balls, the opponent has to make the 7, 8 and 9 balls for the win with 24 points, and not just one lousy striped ball.
4. Nineation provides more strategy, the 9-ball winning the game with only a split score such as 1-2-3-5-6 (17 points) against 4-7-8 (19 points). It might not need to be played at all, for example, 1-2-3-4 (10 points) loses to 5-6-7-8 (26 points). Consider that the 7-, 8- or 9-ball varies as a game winner if not scored early in the game. And the player would almost have to break in the 7, 8 and 9 to win instantly. The unique scoring helps players concentrate through the early object balls.
5. Even at a pro level, the average lay of 9 balls provides a significant obstacle to a break and run at least 50% of the time. Skilled players below the pro level can win running through the 7-ball, however. A good player can also be rewarded with a win for a skillful shot and with more than the 9-ball available, there is still room for exciting and risky play.
6. Allowing a rule addition of safe breaks where two and not four object balls must be driven to a cushion opens the possibility to a more calculating style of play, much like in One Pocket or Straight Pool.
7. Nineation lends itself easily to 3 players (over 15 points wins, with very rare three-way ties possible, i.e. 1,2,3,4,5 vs. 6,9 vs. 7,8) or 4 players (first person to achieve 12 or more points wins) or even 5 players where the first person to reach 10 points wins, with an amazingly rare five-way tie of 9 points each possible (1,8 vs. 2,7 vs. 3,6 vs. 4,5 vs. the last player sinks the 9-ball). If a five-way tie happens, try to capture it on YouTube video.
I'm open to and appreciate your feedback on this exciting new game. Enjoy.
Nineation rules and variations are (c) Matt Sherman 2009, licensed to About.com, Inc.
