Keeping score

Like the otherwise dissimilar (one shot per turn) several player pool game killer (also known as elimination), three ball is scored on a chalk board or piece of paper to keep track of who has how many points. Because of three balls backwards scoring (compared to other games, which typically have the more points are better scoring that most people are used to), it is customary to help keep score accurately by one or more players intoning the score so far after each shot, in the form thats [x], shooting [x+1] (e.g. thats three, shooting four; note the absence of for after shooting, since it is a potentially confusing homophone of four), or something similar.[citation needed] In the absence of this mechanism or an official scorekeeper, one would have to write down the score so far after every shot, which is disruptive of flow and concentration for the shooter, if required to do it, or onerous for other players to be responsible for. Verbal calling also eliminates score cheating.)