Full-Rack Pool

Full-Rack Pool is a variant of pool billiards, played with 15 numbered striped and solid balls and the same standard equipment and basic customs of other pool games. In this game, players take turns attempting to pocket balls, with play alternating between players on unsuccessful shots. Like in Nine Ball Pool, all balls are open to both players to pocket; this is in contrast to Eight Ball Pool where each player is assigned their own suit (stripe or solid).

Unique to Full-Rack Pool, the balls must be pocketed in an alternating-suit manner. That is, a stripe followed by a solid followed by a stripe (or solid-stripe-solid) and so on. The first ball pocketed sets the lead suit of a game, which is the suit each player must start with each time play passes to them. This inevitably results in a phase of the game when only balls in the following suit are on the table. During this phase, the balls are potted by numerical order, from the number farthest from 8 to the nearest.

As in Eight Ball Pool, the winner is the player who successfully pockets the 8 ball. The shot potting the 8 ball must be called, while no other shots must be called. When a foul is made during a shot, play passes to the other player who gets cue ball in hand for the next shot.

The official rules below are written complimentary to the WPBA Rules of Play, the official rules of pool games such as Eightball and Nineball.

Official Rules

Use of WPBA Rules

Except where contradicted in these Rules, sections 1 (General Rules) and 7 (Rules for Wheelchair Competition), as well as definitions in sections 6 (Fouls) and 8 (Definitions used in the Rules) of Version 15/03/2016 of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPBA) Rules of Play shall apply.

Suits

The balls are divided into two suits: _solids_ numbered 1 to 7 and _stripes_ numbered 9 to 15. The 8 ball has no suit at the start of the game, but joins the Following Suit when the Leading Suit is pocketed.

Racking the Balls

The fifteen object balls are racked as tightly as possible in a triangle, with the apex ball on the foot spot and the eight ball as the first ball that is directly below the apex ball. One from each suit will be on the two lower corners of the triangle. The other balls are placed in the triangle without purposeful or intentional pattern.

Determining the Break

The player who wins the lag shot (WPBA 1.2) shall break the first rack.

Break

A break shot is only good if it meets the following conditions:

Begin with the cue ball placed behind the head string
If no ball is pocketed, at least four object balls must make contact with a rail

If a foul is committed during the Break shot then it is illegal; the balls are racked again and the other player will break. After the Break, play always passes; it does not continue. If the breaking shooter made a legal Break and pocketed balls, then play passes to the same player. Otherwise, it passes to the other player.

Continuing Play

If the shooter pockets a ball and the shot is legal then the shooter will continue at the table for the next shot. If the shooter does not pocket a ball and the shot is legal then the play passes to the other player who must make the next shot with the cue ball from the position left by the previous player. If the shooter makes an illegal shot then play passes to the other player and the other player, who will then have cue ball in hand (WPBA 1.5) for the next shot. If the shooter legally makes a Winning Shot then the shooter wins the game.

Winning and Losing

A Winning Shot is a legal shot in which the 8 ball was potted in the pocket called by the shooter. To call the shot, the shooter must only identify a pocket and does not need to call any banks, kicks, kisses, caroms, or so forth. If during any shot other than the Break the shooter pockets the 8 ball in an uncalled pocket, fouls during a shot pocketing the 8 ball, or drives the 8 ball off the table then that shooter loses.

Leading Suit

At the beginning of the game, neither suit is Leading or Following. The first shot in which one or more balls are pocketed, irrespective of whether the shot was legal (with the exception of an illegal Break, which resets the rack), sets the Leading and Following Suits for the game. The Leading Suit will be the suit for which more balls were pocketed on the shot, otherwise if an equal number of balls from each suit were pocketed then the breaking shooter will choose the Lead Suit. The other suit is the Following Suit. When the last ball of the Leading Suit is pocketed, the suit is said to be pocketed.

On Suit

Before the Leading Suit is set, both suits are On. When there is only one suit on the table, that suit is On. If the Leading Suit is set and there are two suits on the table, when play passes to a player the Lead Suit is On for the first shot, and the On Suit for each subsequent shot while that shooter continues play is the opposite suit of the previous shot. The Off Suit is the suit opposite the On Suit.

On Ball

Any ball is On if it is in the On Suit, except when there is only one suit on the table in which case the On Ball is the one with the numerical value farthest from 8. A ball is Off if it is not On.

Wrong Ball First Foul

It is a foul when an Off Ball is the first ball contacted by the cue ball during a shot.

Wrong Suit Pocketed Foul

If 1 or more balls are pocketed during a shot, they must all be in the On or Off Suit, with at least 1 of the balls being in the On Suit. Otherwise, it is a Wrong Suit Pocketed Foul.

Fouls

In addition to the Wrong Ball First and Wrong Suit Pocketed fouls in these Rules, the following standard fouls from the WPBA Rules of Play apply:

6.1 Cue Ball Scratch or off the Table
6.3 No Rail after Contact
6.4 No Foot on Floor
6.5 Ball Driven off the Table
6.6 Touched Ball
6.7 Double Hit / Frozen Balls
6.8 Push Shot
6.9 Balls Still Moving
6.12 Cue Stick on the Table
6.13 Playing out of Turn
6.14 Three Consecutive Fouls
6.15 Slow Play
6.16 Ball Rack Template Foul
6.17 Unsportsmanlike Conduct