WPA 4.1
Who breaks
The lag winner decides who breaks first.
8-ball
Fifteen object balls and the cue ball. One player takes the solids (1–7), the other the stripes (9–15). Clear your group, then legally pocket the 8 to win. Shots are called.
The short version
- Break: no call needed. If nothing drops, at least four balls must reach a rail.
- After the break the table is open until someone legally pockets a called ball — that decides the groups.
- You lose the rack if you pocket the 8 early, in an uncalled pocket, with a foul, or knock it off the table.
- Fouls give your opponent ball in hand anywhere. There's no three-fouls rule.
Jump to rule
8-ball rules
WPA 4.2
The rack
All 15 balls are racked tightly in a triangle with the front ball on the foot spot and the 8 directly behind the front ball, in the middle of the rack. The two back corners hold one solid and one stripe; the rest go in without any deliberate pattern.
WPA 4.3
The break
You break with ball in hand behind the head string, and you don't call a ball or have to hit any particular ball first. Pocket a ball without fouling and you keep shooting — the table is still open. If nothing drops, at least four object balls must reach a rail or it's an illegal break: your opponent may play the table as it is, re-rack and break, or have you break again. Pocketing the 8 on a legal break is no foul: you choose to spot the 8 and continue, or re-break. If you pocket the 8 but foul on the break, your opponent chooses to spot the 8 and take ball in hand behind the head string, or re-break. Object balls knocked off the table on the break are a foul and stay out (except the 8, which is spotted); your opponent may take the table as it is or ball in hand behind the head string. Any other foul on the break gives the same choice.
WPA 4.4
Open table and choosing groups
Until groups are decided the table is open and you must call your ball. Legally pocket the called ball and that group is yours. Miss it and the table stays open and play passes over. On an open table you may hit any ball first except the 8 — hitting the 8 first is a foul (unless a whole group is already off the table, in which case you may claim it and shoot at the 8).
WPA 4.5
Continuing play
You keep shooting as long as you legally pocket balls of your group, or until you win by pocketing the 8.
WPA 4.6
Calling shots
Every shot except the break is called. Call balls from your own group until it's cleared, then the 8. You may call “safety”: play passes to your opponent after the shot and any ball pocketed stays down.
WPA 4.7
Spotting balls
Only the 8 is ever spotted (when it's pocketed or knocked off the table on the break).
WPA 4.8
Losing the rack
You lose the rack if you pocket the 8 on a foul, pocket the 8 before your group is cleared, pocket the 8 in a pocket you didn't call, or knock the 8 off the table. None of this applies on the break.
WPA 4.9
Standard fouls
After a foul your opponent gets ball in hand anywhere on the table. The fouls are: scratch or cue ball off the table, wrong ball first (your first contact must be a ball of your group, except on an open table), no rail after contact, no foot on the floor, ball off the table, touched ball, double hit, push shot, shooting while balls move, bad cue ball placement, bad play from behind the head string, playing out of turn, slow play and the rack-template foul. See General rules & fouls for the details.
WPA 4.10
Serious fouls
The situations in 4.8 lose the rack. For unsportsmanlike conduct the referee chooses a fitting penalty. 8-ball has no three-fouls-in-a-row rule.
WPA 4.11
Stalemate
The player who broke this rack breaks again.