Skittles

[davyp26uk]

Can anyone here remeber the rules for 21-up at skittles where you had 5 cigarette sized skittles arranged around the blue spot in the shape of a number five on a dice with the black skittle being on the blue spot and the others arranged one skittle length from the black skittle.

I know you could play this with almost any number of players but I can't remeber how you did this with a standard set of billiard balls.

[100-uper]

I have the rules which were first published in 1866. I don't think they changed at all over the years. The PDF is a bit bigger than the 19Kb upload limit so you will need to email me and I will send them to you that way.

Incidentally, a very interesting scoreboard came to light recently which caused a bit of speculation regarding its purpose. Beneath the normal billiard making board are six dials number 0-21 which the brains-trust eventually agreed must have been for marking Life Pool as we could think of no other game, including the Continental ones, which went up to this exact number.

Skittle Pool Scoreboard.JPG

[missneworleans]

Never heard about that game!

[davyp26uk]

Never heard about that game!

It's an old game but a couple of years ago I found a shop selling sets of skittles and I bought a set for the club I play in but some sod stole them.

It's a good game where 4 or 5 or more of you can play and it's generally played for a small monetary stake and is over quite quickly so lots of fun and the chance of making enough money for a pint or two.

[jb134]

Ah, a small monetary stake, music to mine ears.

[davyp26uk]

Ah, a small monetary stake, music to mine ears.

Can you remember the rules of this John? It been a few years since I played.

[jb134]

I can't even remember what balls were on the table, I remember you got two for knocking over a white pin and five for knocking over the black one but if you knocked down a white in conjunction with the black you were burst.

I used to play it with the manager of a club I played in after we had been at a quiz in his bowling club, so sadly I have never played it even nearly sober, hence the hazy memories.

We usually played slosh, which is a great game.

[davyp26uk]

I can't even remember what balls were on the table, I remember you got two for knocking over a white pin and five for knocking over the black one but if you knocked down a white in conjunction with the black you were burst.

I used to play it with the manager of a club I played in after we had been at a quiz in his bowling club, so sadly I have never played it even nearly sober, hence the hazy memories.

We usually played slosh, which is a great game.

Slightly different from what I remember. I think there were 3 balls on the table with the red on it's normal spot for billiards and the plain white on the pink spot at break off. We used to number the white pins 1 2 3 and 4. The black had no scoring value other than if you took a clean black, you lifted a double post from all players in the game. As far as I remeber you all played the same cue ball.

What's slosh then?

[standrewsjim]

Slightly different from what I remember. I think there were 3 balls on the table with the red on it's normal spot for billiards and the plain white on the pink spot at break off. We used to number the white pins 1 2 3 and 4. The black had no scoring value other than if you took a clean black, you lifted a double post from all players in the game. As far as I remeber you all played the same cue ball.

What's slosh then?

They still play this game in my golf club every Friday night - I can't remember what it's called though. You must finish with your score on 21 exactly, and at some point during the game you must have knocked over at least one skittle. If you knock over what davyp calls the "black pin" in conjunction with another skittle, your score returns to zero (this is called a strike, and you add extra money to the kitty). If you knock over the black pin on its own, yes - you collect a double post (this is very rare, as the skittles are set up just over one ball's width apart).

What you don't want to do is leave yourself on 20 - it can be awkward to hit the one-pin on it's own!

I've also played Russian Snooker, which is a great game, but can only be played at our novice level - I'm sure a good billiards or snooker player could stay at the table for days. Basically the red is worth 21, and the six other colours can only be potted in their designated pockets. You can score by potting, in-offs or cannons. The key to high scoring is getting the red off the cushion and using it for in-offs. Has anyone else played it?

[jb134]

Sounds a bit like slosh Jim. All colours on their spots and a red midway between brown and blue and a red midway between blue and pink.

If you touch either red during a shot you are burst (I suspect the reds were added to try to limit high scoring. Also if you touch the brown you are burst.

Pot or in off yellow or green into their pockets for their value same with blue into either middles or black into either black bag.

Any cannon between two scoring balls is two. The pink is the main ball, you may pot or go in off it into any pocket for six, however, if you play the pink and fail to score, you are burst and you MUST score off the pink during a game.

Every burst carries a financial penalty and the game is played to 31 exactly.

[davyp26uk]

They still play this game in my golf club every Friday night - I can't remember what it's called though. You must finish with your score on 21 exactly, and at some point during the game you must have knocked over at least one skittle. If you knock over what davyp calls the "black pin" in conjunction with another skittle, your score returns to zero (this is called a strike, and you add extra money to the kitty). If you knock over the black pin on its own, yes - you collect a double post (this is very rare, as the skittles are set up just over one ball's width apart).

What you don't want to do is leave yourself on 20 - it can be awkward to hit the one-pin on it's own!

I've also played Russian Snooker, which is a great game, but can only be played at our novice level - I'm sure a good billiards or snooker player could stay at the table for days. Basically the red is worth 21, and the six other colours can only be potted in their designated pockets. You can score by potting, in-offs or cannons. The key to high scoring is getting the red off the cushion and using it for in-offs. Has anyone else played it?

Hi Jim, can you confirm the starting positions of the balls please. If I have this confirmed, then I think 1 know the rest of the rules.

[standrewsjim]

That is the one thing I can't remember for sure, but I think the plain white is placed on the brown spot, with the spotted white in hand.

[jb134]

Does anyone have any idea of the dimensions of the skittles as am going to turn a set.