Bar billiards is played on a special bar billiards table without side and corner pockets, but with 9 holes in the playing surface which are assigned certain point values (from 10 to 200).
There are eight balls for play - seven white and one red. Potting the red ball in any hole scores double points.
On the playfield are normally placed three pegs (skittles)with a horizontal wire through the peg. There are two white pegs, one either side of the 100 hole, and one black peg in front of the '200' hole. Earlier versions of the game used mushrooms instead of pegs, as they used to have a thin stalk and a flattish rounded cap. In this version they mushrooms were normally placed just in front of the 50 and 200 holes, often with a fourth mushroom in front of the 100 hole. This version was often referred to as 'Russian Billiards', probably named after the very siimilar French game 'Billard Russe' which has a longer history. There are a couple of leagues that still play this version in east Anglia in the Norwich and Sudbury areas.
If a white peg is knocked over then the player's break is ended and all score acquired during that break is discarded. Knocking down the black peg ends the player's break and all points are lost. In the case that a white and a black peg are both knocked over, then only the first peg to be knocked over is used.
All shots are played from one end of the table so access to all sides of the table is not necessary (ideal for a smallish bar or pub). A white ball is placed on a starting spot, then another ball (the red ball, if available) will be placed on a spot a few inches in front of that. Players take alternate turns at the table, the 'turn' being known as a 'break. If the player fails to pot a ball then the break has ended and the second player takes his break by placing another ball on the first spot. If all balls are in play, then the closest ball to the 'D' (the semicircle around the first spot) is removed and put on the spot. If a player fails to hit a ball, then the break ends and all points earned in that break are lost.
The play is time-limited (normally a coin will give 15-17 minutes of play). After this time a bar drops inside the table stopping any potted balls from returning, leading to a steady decrease in the number of balls in play.
The last ball can only be potted by getting it into the '100' or '200' point hole after bouncing off one side cushion.
