Seven-ball

File:Seven-ball hex rack with black 7 ball.jpg

Seven-ball rack showing specially designed 7 ball.

Seven-ball is a Template:Glossary link pool game with rules similar to nine-ball, though it differs in two key ways: the game uses only seven Template:Glossary link as implied by its name, and play is restricted to particular pockets of the table. William D. Clayton is credited with the game's invention in the early 1980s.

Rules

At the start of the game, balls one through seven are Template:Glossary link in a hexagonal configuration, with the 1-ball placed at the rack's Template:Glossary link, centered over the table's Template:Glossary link, the 7-ball placed at the rack's center, and all other balls placed clockwise (see photo top right). Immediately following the Template:Glossary link, the opponent must elect three pockets along one of the table's Template:Glossary link, and the player who broke is automatically assigned the three pockets situated along the opposite long rail. Once that selection is made, balls 1–6 may be Template:Glossary link in any pocket in rotation, starting with the one, as the object ball. Balls pocketed via combinations off of the object ball are legal. The 7-ball must be pocketed in player's assigned side to be a legal win. Scratches on any object ball allow the opponent ball-in-hand, but the sunk ball remains potted. Scratching on the 7-ball is a loss. Pocketing the 7-ball in any other pocket than one on the called side is a loss.

A special 7-ball was designed for television matches by Charles Ursitti (billiards historian, referee and Willie Mosconi's one time manager) to more easily distinguish the 7-ball from the 3 on television. The ball adopts the Template:Glossary link of the Template:Glossary link with the color of the Template:Glossary link black Template:Glossary link, the "Template:Glossary link" of their respective namesake games.

File:Seven-ball diamond rack 1a.jpg

Racking up a game with the diamond rack and a regular 7 ball

No special equipment is required for play; a regular set of pool balls and a nine-ball diamond rack turned sidewise are adequate.

The original informal incarnation of seven-ball led to a variant professional ruleset that enjoyed a brief heyday in the series Sudden Death Seven-ball, broadcast on the American cable TV network ESPN from 2000 to 2005.