“No Conflict Rules”
For Racking and Breaking Eight, Nine, and Ten-Ball
- Players lag for the opening break.
- Players alternate breaks.
- The Random Racking Process is used for Nine and Ten-Ball.
- Breaker racks his own and then breaks the balls.
- The opponent has no rack approval rights.
- Two object balls must break the center string vertical plane.*
- The “game-ball” (8, 9, or 10-ball) made on the break is spotted.
- Breaker shoots after a legal break.
These rules are designed to make pool’s most popular games more fun. The winner of the lag is also the breaker in the hill-hill game. Alternating breaks makes pool more interactive. The Random Racking Process takes an extra 2 or 3 seconds. Not only is checking an opponent’s rack prohibited, it is also pointless. Balls pocketed on the break in the foot corner pockets are not counted toward the center string requirement. This also means that the break requires some degree of force. *If the breaker fails to meet the center string requirement on the break, he is then required to "push out" his next shot. A game cannot be won on the break. "Game balls" are spotted. The breaker is not required to make a ball on the break in order to keep his turn at the table.
The Random Racking Process is simple. Non-breaker gathers object balls and prepares the balls for final racking by the breaker. Breaker assists in gathering the object balls. Non-breaker places the object balls in the rack. Without looking down at the rack, non-breaker spins the rack once or twice. Non-breaker now looks down at the rack. Non-breaker gets his hands or knuckles behind all the balls and then pushes the balls up to the nine or ten-ball configuration. Non-breaker then moves the 1 and (9 or 10)-ball as follows: First, move the 1-ball to the head ball position and move the ball that was in the head ball position to the place where the 1-ball was located. Then move the 9 or 10-ball to the middle ball position and move the ball that was in the middle ball position to the place where the 9 or 10-ball was located. Non-breaker now steps away from the rack. Breaker steps in and pushes the balls up to the spot. He racks his own balls. He may not change the ball positions in the rack.
