Ball Rack

A 3 ball rack can be set up in either a standard sized triangular rack or in a diamond rack. There are also specially made three ball triangle racks. See the images below for racking rule details. To compile a three ball rack, no special ordering or placement of the balls are necessary. Most three ball rules prohibit players from racking the balls when it is his or her turn to break due to the known advantages of certain placement nuances such as tightness and small shifts of the racks angle. The breaking player reserves the right to request a new rack be built if he or she feels that the initial rack is not formed properly. A standard racking triangle is used to rack the three object balls used to play 3 Ball Billiards. One ball is placed at the head of the triangle, and the other two balls are placed directly behind it.Each game of 3 Ball begins as soon as the cue ball crosses the head string during a break shot. When a foul occurs, one additional shot is assessed to the offending players score.

To break, the cue ball is positioned on the head spot. The break shot counts as a shot in the players points total. The players score is the total number of shots it takes them to pocket all balls. There are no innings, and so a player goes until the table is clean. Once the shooting player has finished, the incoming player breaks and clears all balls. Once all players have done this their scores are compared. The player with the lowest score is the winner. Players need not send any ball to the cushion on the break shot.