WPA Eight-ball Rules (Abridged)
This is an abridged summary of the official WPA eight-ball rules. I wrote it because I wanted a short reference for the most important rules to play in an “official” style, for those already familiar with the bar rules. The corresponding full rule’s number is cited in [brackets].
Racking and the Break
- Rack with the 1 ball at the apex, the 8 ball in the middle, one solid and one stripe in each of the other corners, and the rest randomly. The 1 is placed on the foot spot. [3.2]
- Lag to determine order of play. Winner chooses to break or have opponent break. [1.2] [3.1]
- Table remains open even if a ball is pocketed. [3.3]
- Fouls on the break are opponent’s choice: [3.3]
- Accept the balls in position.
- Ball-in-hand, behind the head string.
Play and Winning
- The intended ball and pocket must be called if they are not obvious. [1.6] [3.6]
- The shooter continues as long as they pocket shots as called and do not foul. Pocketing additional balls is not a foul and does not end the turn. [3.5]
- The shooter may call “safety”, in which case the turn changes even if they pocket a ball legally. [8.17] [3.6]
- Fouling while pocketing the 8 ball is a loss. [3.8]
- Fouling on an 8 ball attempt without pocketing the 8 ball is treated as a normal foul. (My clarification; implied but not stated explicitly in the rules.)
Fouls
All fouls are ball in hand without restriction, except as noted during the break.
- Scratch (pocketed cue). [6.1]
- Wrong first ball. [6.2]
- No contact. [6.3]
- No rail after contact. [6.3]
- Bad play from behind the head string. [6.11]
- Jump shots by “scooping”. [8.16]