I developed a solitaire game for pool (pocket billiards) that stresses the importance of making every shot count and developing your balls-per-inning potential for those of us who often run between 2 and 10 balls, based on straight pool.  I call it “Penalized-x”, where “Penalized-5” would specify 5 penalty balls. The rules:

1. Rack all 15 in the standard way, start with cue on the head spot.
2. Choose a number of penalty balls, a number of balls from 1 to 14.
3. All shots except the break must be made with the intention of sinking a called ball in a called pocket; shots taken explicitly to spread the balls are not allowed.
4. On any miss, foul, or scratch return the number of penalty balls to the table, spotted in the standard way starting at the foot spot along the foot line to the foot of the table, and continuing at the foot spot toward the head of the table.
5. On a scratch, additionally, the cue is placed on the head spot if unobstructed, else on the center spot if unobstructed, else in the kitchen.
6. The game ends when the last ball is potted with a legal stroke.
7. The game is scored by the two numbers balls/innings, which also gives balls per inning. For example, 78/23=3.39 indicates 78 balls potted in 23 innings for 3.39 balls per inning.

Leave a comment to let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions for improvement. My games so far: Penalized-5 (date – balls/innings=bpi)

1. 20081230 – 78/23=3.39, end run 9,11
2. 20081231 – 45/12=3.75, end run 15
3. 20090101 – 71/21=3.38, end run 15
4. 20090101 – 61/15=4.07, end run 15
5. 20090102 – 270/63=4.28, end run 7,13 (made it to 1 ball 3 times)