Seven-ball

Seven-ball is a contemporary Cuegloss|Rotation|rotation pool game with rules similar to nine-ball, though it differs in two key ways: the game uses only seven Cuegloss|Object ball|object balls as implied by its name, and play is restricted to particular pockets of the table. William D. Clayton is credited with the game's invention,cite book | last = Shamos | first = Michael Ian | year = 1993 | title = The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards | publisher = Lyons & Burford | location = New York, NY | pages = pp. 206 | isbn = 1-55821-219-1] ca. the early 1980s.Fact|date=August 2007

Rules

At the start of the game, balls 1 through 7 are Cuegloss|Rack|racked in a hexagonal configuration, with the 1 ball placed at the rack's Cuegloss|Apex|apex, centered over the table's Cuegloss|Foot spot|foot spot, the 7 ball placed at the rack's center, and all other balls placed randomly "(see photo top right)". Immediately following the Cuegloss|Break|break shot, the opponent must elect three pockets along one of the table's Cuegloss|Long rail|long rails. Once that selection is made, that player may only Cuegloss|Foul|legally Cuegloss|Pocket|pocket (Cuegloss|Pot|pot) balls in the selected pockets, and the player who broke is automatically assigned the three pockets situated along the opposite long rail.

A special 7 ball was designed for television matches by Charles Ursitti (billiards historian, referee and Willie Mosconi's one time manager) to address the problem that the color of the 7 and 3 balls in a standard set of pool balls are nearly indistinguishable when viewed on a TV screen. The ball adopts the Cuegloss|Stripes|stripe of the Cuegloss|9 ball|9 ball with the color of the Cuegloss|Solids|solid black Cuegloss|8 ball|8 ball, the "Cuegloss|Money ball|money balls" of their respective namesake games.

The original informal incarnation of seven ball led to a variant professional ruleset that enjoyed a brief heydayClarifyme|date=August 2007 in the Sudden Death Seven-ball series of pro tournaments, broadcast on the American cable TV network ESPN.

Informal play

and a nine-ball-style diamond rack turned sidewise are adequate. When racking with an eight-ball triangle rack simply place an extra ball at the top of the triangle and remove along with the rack.

References