Now this is a game that you won't find in any official rule book. It doesn't follow any of the guidelines or etiquette you've learned so far. This game is strictly for fun on your home table or to be silly with your amateur league. Some pool games have been invented by the younger generation just looking for some lighthearted rebellion. Cutthroat is one of these games. It is particularly popular on college campuses and goes by a couple of different pseudonyms, including “elimination.”

The game is played with three people. It's been said that the game was invented to include that extra person who stumbles in on two players shooting a few rounds of pool and wants to be included in the game. The invention of cutthroat was a way to include this extra player in a fun-filled and somewhat devious way.

Just like there have been some odd and interesting pool game inventions over the years, there have also been some bizarre pool personalities: In the eighteenth century, for example, a pool-loving prisoner in a French jail asked if he could stay in longer because it was the only place he knew that had a pool table.

The Break

The break is a traditional break with a triangular rack. The breaker chooses a group of balls that will be designated as “his” during the game. The balls are picked in numerical groups: 1 through 5, 6 through 10, or 11 through 15. The next player to pocket a ball during his or her inning gets to choose the next numerical group and the third player gets whatever group is left. The winner is the player who has at least one ball from his or her numerical group remaining on the table when all the other balls are pocketed. Now there's a twist!

This is the fun part: The object of the game is to pocket your opponent's balls and keep yours on the table. So you'll want to put your balls in tricky situations on the table. After everything you've learned so far, this will take a reversal in thinking. Bet you never thought you'd try to shoot safeties on yourself!

Scratching and Illegally Pocketed Balls

If you illegally pocket your opponent's balls, as with a scratch, you must spot that ball. If you illegally pocket your own ball, you don't get to spot it and it stays down. Keep in mind that when you shoot the cue ball, it has to make contact with an opponent's ball first, or it is considered an illegal hit. All fouls in this game result in cue-ball-in-hand behind the head string to the incoming player.