Goal of the game

The goal of the game is to score a greater number of points than opponent, by using the cue ball to pocket the red balls and colored balls.
There are 15 red balls and 6 balls with other colors that are not numbered.
Each pocketed red ball has a point value of one; each pocketed color ball has a point value. The Point values for colored balls are: yellow-2, green-3, brown-4, blue-5, pink-6 and black-7.
There are 2 ways to score points: fouls made by the opponent and pocketing red balls or color balls.

Breaking the rack

Starting player has cue ball in hand within the Half Circle. He must cause the cue ball to contact a red ball. It is not necessary to send a ball to a rail or into a pocket.

Rules of Play

• As long as reds are on the table, the player who takes his first stroke of an inning always has a red as his legal object ball (ball on).
• Any red balls potted on a legal shot are legally potted balls; the player does not need to call any particular red ball(s), pocket(s) or details of how the pot will be played.
• The player must cause the cue ball's first contact with a red ball. Failure to do so is a foul.
• After the player has scored a red ball, his next legal object is a color ball and he must declare which one. as long as reds remain on the table the player must alternate his play between reds and colors.
• If the striker's ball on is a red, and he hits a color, it is a foul.
• If the striker's ball on is a color, and he hits any other ball, it is a foul.
• While red balls remain on the table, each potted color is re-spotted prior to the next stroke. After a color has been spotted, if the striker plays while that ball is incorrectly spotted, the shot taken is a foul. The player is responsible for ensuring that all balls are correctly spotted before striking.
• When there are no red balls remaining on the table, striker's balls on become the colors, in ascending numerical order (2,3,4,5,6,7). These legally potted colors are not spotted after each is potted; they remain off the table.
• Re-spotting Balls: Reds are never re-spotted. Colors to be re-spotted are placed as at the start of the game. If a color's spot is occupied, it is placed on the spot of the highest value color that is unoccupied. If all spots are occupied, the color is re-spotted as close as possible to its original spot on a straight line between its spot and the nearest point on the top (foot) cushion.

Fouls

When a foul is made during a shot, the player's turn is ended and he will not receive any points for the foul shot. The opponent player will receive at least 4 penalty points, depending on the foul shot.
The following shots will be considered as fouls:

• Hitting a wrong ball with the cue ball, for example, hitting a colored ball when attempting to hit a red ball.
• Pocketing an unintended ball, for example, pocketing a colored ball when trying to pocket a red one.
• Pocketing the white ball.
• Hitting other ball than the white with the cue.
• Hitting a ball off the table.
• Touching a ball with something else than the tip of the cue.
• Hitting a "push shot" - a shot where the cue, cue ball and object ball are in simultaneous contact.
• Hitting a "jump shot" - which is where the cue ball leaves the bed of the table and jumps over a ball (even if touching it in the process) before first hitting another ball.
• Playing a shot with both feet off the ground.

Penalty Points

After a foul shot has been made the opponent player will receive at least 4 points. If the object ball of the foul shot was worth more than 4 points (5, 6, 7), the penalty would be according to its value. For example, when potting the cue ball while trying to pot the black ball, would result in 7 penalty points.
In addition, the opponent player would choose whether to hit the next shot or let the foul maker hit again.

Miss Shot
If a player commits a foul and the referee decides that the player did not do his best not to commit that foul, a miss shot is called. The other player has to choose between 3 different options:

•  Leave the balls as they are and hit him self the next shot.
• Leave the balls as they are and let the opponent hit the next shot.
• Bring back the all balls to their position prior to the miss shot and let the opponent hit again.

In any case, penalty points are awarded for the miss shot, as in any other foul shot.

End of Game
A game normally ends in one of the following ways:

• A concession, when one player gives up due to being too far behind to have a realistic chance of winning the game.
• When the pink is potted and the difference between the players' scores is more than seven points.
• The black is potted AND the seven points scored puts one player in front.
• A foul on the black AND the seven-point penalty puts one player in front. It is sometimes wrongly assumed that play continues after a foul on the black if there are then less than seven points in the scores. This is a mistake: the player who made such a foul lost the game.

If, however, the black is fouled or potted and the resulting seven points bring the scores even, the black is re-spotted. Play continues, with a coin flip for the first shot on the re-spotted black ball. Potting or fouling a re-spotted black ends the game.
There are two rare ways to end a game:

• A player will lose a game due to a failure to hit a ball three times in a row (Unless the player is snookered, in which case the player has as many opportunities as is required).
• Should a player refuse to take his turn at any stage, the referee would have the right to declare the game over.