Help with rules please.

[Souwester]

What happen if you are left with blue, pink and black. Miscue on the blue, touch the pick and knock in the black after that. The foul point is 5 or 6 or 7?

First impact of the cue ball is with a ball 'not on' and another ball 'no on' enters a pocket. The general rule covering all situations is, the penalty will be the highest of the ball on, the fist ball impacted, or the ball which entered the pocket (7 point penalty for the example given).

Good to know too: Miscue on the blue, touch the pink, then the black.
6 points to your opponent, not 7 like some people might think.

First impact of the cue ball is with a ball 'not on', end of story. It doesn't matter what balls get struck subsequently, unless one enters a pocket or is forced off the table (6 point penalty in the example given).

A similar scenario is when the cue ball DOES first make contact with a ball on, but then a ball 'not on' enters a pocket (eg with blue pink and black on the table, the blue is struck but then the black goes down): the penalty is the higher of the ball on or ball concerned (7 in this example).

[tommygunner1309]

I think that it would be more easily understood if the wording was something like "If the cue ball first makes contact with other than the ball on, then the penalty will be the higher of the ball on or, the ball first hit"




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Really Bluenose, all you have to remember with the wording is that a 'ball on' is a ball that can be legally hit. A ball 'not on' is a ball which, if struck first, would be a foul. I got confused too at first about ball on and ball not on but it is very simple once the term is fully understood. I asked a pal who was studying to be a referee what the definition of a foul was and he went off into a long explanation about hitting different balls and making the answer totally complicated. The answer is actually very simple. Q. what is the definition of a foul. A. An infringement of the rules - full stop. People make life difficult when there is no need