Cake Pool Rules
“The game of
golf would lose a great deal if croquet mallets and
billiard cues were allowed on the putting green.” -Ernest Hemmingway, 1899-1961
Except when clearly
contradicted by these additional rules, the
General Rules of Pocket Billiards apply.
OVERVIEW [ top ]
Cake is a game for 4-6 players. The game consists of frames and the person
with the most frames won is the winner of the game. At the beginning of the game
the order of the play is decided the following way: The numbers from 2 to 7 are
written on separate paper pieces which are folded up so that the number cannot
be seen, put into the ball case and shuffled. Then each player takes one piece
and the order of the play is the order of the taken numbers. The paper pieces
are put back, they will be needed during the game, too.
START OF THE FRAME [ top ]
At the beginning of each frame, all the object balls are set up to form
a triangle with 6 red balls on the edges and the colors in the middle
(hence the name "cake"). The triangle is placed like in snooker, but
the apex red stands on the pink spot. The first shot of the frame,
played from the quot;D", should look like a breaking in pool and at
least two object balls must hit a cushion or a red must enter a pocket
or the shot is a foul (oh poor cue tip and poor balls, but this was the
worst part of the game, I promise you ;-). Every player has zero points
at the beginning of the frame, and each foul counts as minus one (this
is best handled by setting the pointers of the scoreboard to ten
initially).
SPOTTING [ top ]
If a player is below two points, he can only pot colours into the two center
pockets and reds into any of the six pockets (this means that every object ball
is "on" in snooker terms). Each red potted scores one point, but no points are
given for the colours. If a player reaches two points at the first time in the
frame, he takes one paper piece, but he doesn't show it to the other players.
The number taken indicates a colour ball, and from this point on this ball will
be his. This is very important as the winner of the frame is the person who pots
his own ball into a corner pocket.
If a player has two or more points, he may pot any of the object balls into
any of the pockets. If he pots his colour into a corner, he then shows his paper
piece to the others and the frame is over.
OTHER RULES [ top ]
In cake, it is not allowed to use equipment other than the cue. Shots made
using them are foul shots. (It is interesting but one often forgets this rule,
resulting in minus one point...) Potting a colour into a pocket having less than
two points is a foul if he didn't want to pot it there. unfair play if the shot
was deliberate. In this case he is disqualified from the frame being played. The
frame is over and there is no winner if no colour remains on the table and none
of the players have announced a win (see above).
Apart from these, the normal snooker rules apply. That is, it is a foul to
touch balls, to force balls off the table, to cause the white enter a pocket, to
shoot with none of the legs touching the floor and so on. The player remains at
the table if he could pot a ball "cake-legally". There are no such rules as
"free ball", "you fouled, please shoot again" etc. For better players the
two-point limit for potting colours can be raised to three.
There is quite a bit of luck involved in "cake", which enables weaker players
to win. Of course this game has completely different tactical approaches than
snooker, but this is what makes it "interesting". For example, it is sometimes a
good idea to pretend that you're trying to pot your colour into the center
pocket (making sure you don't, of course). If your colour is no longer on the
table (or it wasn't there even when you took the paper piece ;), try to get rid
of all the other colours, so that the others can't win. Always try to guess what
colour is whose and play according to this, if you can.
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