Chess pool - ver. 0.50

For two players

by Robert Price

                                     9

                                   4  12

				11   8   3

                                   2  10

                                     1

Players alternate, taking only one shot per turn. On every shot, the player strikes the cueball which must strike a friendly piece, and must not first collide with an opposing piece or the 8-ball -- unless the player has no friendly pieces remaining, in which case the cueball must strike the 8-ball before any other. Violation of any of these conditions incurs a foul. If the cueball ever lands in a pocket, the shooter has scratched.

Whenever the 8-ball is pocketed or captured, except in case of a foul or scratch, the shooter puts it back into play in place of an opponent's piece, which is removed from the game. If the shooter's opponent has no pieces remaining, then the shooter has won the game.

Balls pocketed on the break remain pocketed except in case of a scratch; and the 8-ball is replaced as usual after the breaker chooses which pieces to control. Regardless of whether pieces were pocketed, the second player has the first shot after the break.

The Turn

Slop

Move

  1, 9 (Yellow)  - Rook
  2, 10 (Blue)   - Knight
  3, 11 (Red)    - Bishop
  4, 12 (Violet) - Queen
  8 (Black)      - King

The shooter names a friendly capturer and a target, which can be an enemy piece or the 8-ball. The target must lie in a space to which the capturer could legally move in Chess (ignoring the restrictions about putting one's King in check and jumping over intervening pieces). The shooter may name the King as a capturer if and only if there are no frindly pieces remaining on the table. After making the call, the shooter shoots.

If the cueball hits another ball before the capturer, or if the capturer then hits another piece before the target, the shot is considered a slop. Otherwise, for every collision between opposing pieces, the piece that was at rest is "captured" (If both were in motion, both are "captured").

Note the following clarifications:

• A ball is considered at rest until it participates in a collision. Then it is considered to be in motion until the end of the shot, even if it stops rolling before that time.
• "captured" pieces can still cause others to become "captured" - thus, for example, the target can take the capturer to the grave with it.
• The King is considered to be the shooter's piece if it was named as the capturer. It is considered to be an opponent's piece if it was named as the target. Otherwise, it is neither, and so cannot become "captured", nor cause another piece to become "captured". This resistance to capture is called the 'diplomatic immunity' of the king.
• Note that the King can be named capturer only if the shooter has no other piece left on the table, but that it can be the target no matter how many pieces the opponent has.

Endgame

Scratching

Fouling

See also:

• Sample game - with running commentary.