Cowboy (billiards)
Encyclopedia
Cowboy pool, sometimes just called cowboy, is a hybrid pool
game combining elements of English billiards
through an intermediary game, with more standard pocket billiards characteristics. The game employs only four balls, the cue ball and three numbered balls, the 1, 3 and 5. It is played to 101 points, with points being awarded for a host of different shot types
.
games – the winning game, the losing game and the carambole game (an early form of straight rail) – and dates to approximately 1800 in England
. There are a number of pocket billiard games directly descended from English billiards, including bull dog, scratch pool, thirty-one pool and thirty-eight. Thirty-eight is the intermediary game from which cowboy is directly derived. This precursor game was first reported on in The New York Times
on January 21, 1885: 'there is a new billiards game called "thirty-eight." It appears to have met with special favor among the many devotees of pool.'
Cowboy is very similar to thirty-eight, with the major difference being that thirty-eight requires the use of two cue balls and is played to just 38 points, thus its name. It is unknown how thirty-eight transitioned to the modified ruleset mandated by cowboy pool, nor the derivation of its name
. What is known is that its first mention is in a 1908 rule book, published about the same time the well-known game eight-ball (under a prior name) was first gaining popularity. Although popular enough that its rules remain listed in authoritative rule books alongside just a handful of other games, apart from a small sanctioned tournament held in 1914, cowboy pool is strictly an amateur game.
, pocketed balls are immediately respotted to their starting position. Beginning with from the —the area behind a pool table's head string —the incoming player must contact the 3 ball first. If the player fails to do so, the opponent may either force the player to repeat the , or elect to break him or herself.
For the first 90 points of the 101 needed to win the game, points are scored in three ways: 1 point for the cue ball into any two object balls; 2 points for caroming into all three ; and a player scores the face value of any ball pocketed, i.e., if the 3 ball is pocketed, the player scores 3 points. Thus, the maximum score possible on any single shot is 11 points, achieved by caroming off and pocketing all three balls. The failure to score in one of the delineated manners on any shot ends the player's at the table. All in Cowboy pool result in the player losing all points scored during the inning (not just those on the fouled stroke), and the opposing player comes to the table with cue ball in position except in the case of a , which results in ball-in-hand from the kitchen.
The 90th point in cowboy pool must be reached exactly and the failure to do so is a foul resulting in a loss of turn. For example, this means that a player with 89 points, who then scores 2 points rather than exactly 1, has committed a foul. Once the 90 point benchmark is reached, all points up to the penultimate 100 must be made by caroms. The pocketing of balls during this phase of the game garners no points. The final point necessary to reach 101 and the win must be made by a – an intentional scratch made by caroming the cue ball off one of the three object balls.
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
game combining elements of English billiards
English billiards
English billiards, called simply billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as "the English game", "the all-in game" and "the common game".The game is for...
through an intermediary game, with more standard pocket billiards characteristics. The game employs only four balls, the cue ball and three numbered balls, the 1, 3 and 5. It is played to 101 points, with points being awarded for a host of different shot types
Billiard Techniques
Cue sports techniques are an immensely important aspect of game play in the various cue sports such as carom billiards, pool, snooker and other games...
.
History
The parent game of cowboy pool, English billiards, is itself a hybrid of three predecessor billiardsBilliards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
games – the winning game, the losing game and the carambole game (an early form of straight rail) – and dates to approximately 1800 in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. There are a number of pocket billiard games directly descended from English billiards, including bull dog, scratch pool, thirty-one pool and thirty-eight. Thirty-eight is the intermediary game from which cowboy is directly derived. This precursor game was first reported on in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
on January 21, 1885: 'there is a new billiards game called "thirty-eight." It appears to have met with special favor among the many devotees of pool.'
Cowboy is very similar to thirty-eight, with the major difference being that thirty-eight requires the use of two cue balls and is played to just 38 points, thus its name. It is unknown how thirty-eight transitioned to the modified ruleset mandated by cowboy pool, nor the derivation of its name
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
. What is known is that its first mention is in a 1908 rule book, published about the same time the well-known game eight-ball (under a prior name) was first gaining popularity. Although popular enough that its rules remain listed in authoritative rule books alongside just a handful of other games, apart from a small sanctioned tournament held in 1914, cowboy pool is strictly an amateur game.
Rules
Cowboy pool uses only four balls, the cue ball and three numbered balls, the 1, 3, and 5. The balls have a set opening placement: The 1 ball is placed on the ; the 3 ball on the ; and the 5 ball on the . As in the game of snookerSnooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, pocketed balls are immediately respotted to their starting position. Beginning with from the —the area behind a pool table's head string —the incoming player must contact the 3 ball first. If the player fails to do so, the opponent may either force the player to repeat the , or elect to break him or herself.
For the first 90 points of the 101 needed to win the game, points are scored in three ways: 1 point for the cue ball into any two object balls; 2 points for caroming into all three ; and a player scores the face value of any ball pocketed, i.e., if the 3 ball is pocketed, the player scores 3 points. Thus, the maximum score possible on any single shot is 11 points, achieved by caroming off and pocketing all three balls. The failure to score in one of the delineated manners on any shot ends the player's at the table. All in Cowboy pool result in the player losing all points scored during the inning (not just those on the fouled stroke), and the opposing player comes to the table with cue ball in position except in the case of a , which results in ball-in-hand from the kitchen.
The 90th point in cowboy pool must be reached exactly and the failure to do so is a foul resulting in a loss of turn. For example, this means that a player with 89 points, who then scores 2 points rather than exactly 1, has committed a foul. Once the 90 point benchmark is reached, all points up to the penultimate 100 must be made by caroms. The pocketing of balls during this phase of the game garners no points. The final point necessary to reach 101 and the win must be made by a – an intentional scratch made by caroming the cue ball off one of the three object balls.