I came up with this a few months ago… at least I think I did. I’m *sure* it’s been done before, and it’s possible that I have seen it or read about it, but I don’t recall either. It’s a variation on standard pocket billiards (8-ball, 9-ball, whatever really) that helps develop carom skills and a better sense of what happens after the cue ball and object balls make contact. In short, the cue ball receives the object ball, rather than being sent into the object ball.

Standard rules apply as per any pocket billiards game (in other words, pick your poison… APA, BCA, ACS, etc…. whatever you’re comfortable with).

Break: Standard open break.
Play: Following the break, instead of using the cue ball to pocket an object ball, you send the object ball into the cue ball such that the object ball is pocketed via carom into the pocket of choice, and the cue ball remains on the table to be used again. Got it?
Foul: If the object or cue ball leaves the table and is not pocketed, or the cue ball is pocketed, then the opponent has cue ball in hand.

I find it incredibly enjoyable, and reminiscent of 3-cushion billiards, at least insofar as you have to think in terms of carom angles instead of direct angles. I’ve always though 3-cushion was a noble and elegant game, and finding a way to bring some of that elegance to pocket billiards, while at the same time learning a very important aspect of the game brings back a little of that passion I seem to have lost.

I showed this game to a friend of mine last night, and he seemed to enjoy it, but not quite as much as I do.

Is there a name for this variation? Surely it’s been done before, and sure it’s been done enough to have been given a name and noted somewhere.