Blackball rules: the world pool code, explained

August 13, 2026 · the Playpit blog

Blackball is the international rulebook for the eight-ball pool played on British-size tables — reds, yellows and a black, on a 7 ft table. It’s the code the world governing body publishes, and the one you’ll be under at international events and in a lot of UK leagues.

Everything below is that rulebook, said in ordinary words. Where it differs from what people play in pubs, it’s flagged, because those differences are exactly what start arguments.

The short version

• Pot a ball on the break, or send two balls past the middle pockets.
• The first ball you legally pot decides whether you’re reds or yellows.
• Every shot: after the white touches your ball, something must be potted or a ball must reach a cushion.
• Foul, and your opponent gets a free shot, then a visit — and may move the white into baulk.
• Clear your seven, then pot the black.

The break

Break from the D, behind the baulk line.

A break is legal if you pot a ball, or at least two balls cross the halfway line of the table. If neither happens the break failed, the balls are re-racked, and your opponent takes over.

Potting the black on the break is not a win and not a loss. It’s a re-rack.

Picking a colour

There’s no nominating and no “table open” business. The first ball you legally pot is your colour, and that’s decided the moment it drops. If you pot one of each on the break, the colours aren’t settled yet — carry on until one goes down on its own.

A legal shot

Three things have to be true, every shot:

1. You hit one of your own balls first. (Or any ball, if it’s a free shot — see below.)
2. Then a ball is potted, or some ball reaches a cushion. This is the one people miss.
3. The white stays on the table.

Point 2 is the biggest difference between blackball and old pub pool. Under pub rules you can roll the white up gently behind one of your own balls and stop dead. Under blackball that’s a foul, because nothing was potted and nothing reached a rail. Safeties in blackball have to move something.

Potting one of your opponent’s balls is fine as long as you pot one of yours on the same shot. On its own it’s a foul, and their ball stays down.

Fouls

• Potting the white.
• Hitting an opponent’s ball first.
• Hitting nothing.
• No pot and no cushion after contact.
• Potting an opponent’s ball without potting one of your own.
• Knocking a ball off the table.
• Touching any ball with your hand, clothing, cue or anything else.
• Playing before the balls have stopped, or playing out of turn.
• Jump shots. Deliberately or accidentally lifting the white over a ball before it hits anything.
• Push shots. The tip still on the white after the white has started moving.
• Playing with both feet off the floor.

A deliberate foul loses the frame. Not just the shot.

What you get after a foul: the free shot

This is the part that separates blackball from every rulebook people grew up with. Your opponent fouls, and you get:

One free shot, and then one visit.

On the free shot you can:

• hit or pot any red or yellow ball, whoever’s it is;
• hit the black;
• pot the black — but only if you’ve already cleared your own colour.

You can also ask to have the white moved into the baulk area first, instead of playing it where it lies. Moving it doesn’t count as your shot.

When the free shot is done, if you didn’t foul, you get a normal visit. So it’s one free swing at anything, then your turn proper.

This is not two shots. Two visits was the old World Rules, used until 2022, and it’s still in plenty of pub house rules. Under blackball you get one visit — but the free shot in front of it usually makes it the better deal, because you can break a snooker with any ball on the table.

Every way to lose the frame

Not “lose your turn” — lose the whole frame, on the spot:

1. Potting the black before your own seven are down. (The break is the exception; that’s a re-rack.)
2. Fouling on the shot you pot the black with. Pot the black and go in-off, and you’ve lost.
3. Potting the white and the black on the same shot.
4. Clearly avoiding hitting your own ball — a deliberate miss, judged as such.
5. Touching a moving ball on purpose.
6. Two major fouls in the same frame, and unsporting behaviour.

Number 2 is the one that ends real matches. On the black, a pot that scratches is a loss, so the safe shot is worth a lot more than it looks.

How it differs from what your pub plays

Neither list is wrong. They’re different codes for the same game. What causes the row is two people assuming theirs is the only one, so agree the rulebook before the first break.

Where to practise

There’s no browser game that plays blackball properly, and this isn’t one.

Chalkwick is free pool in your browser that plays American 8-ball, 9-ball, or nothing at all — just a table with no turns and no fouls. What carries over to a blackball table is all the shot-making: the balls carry real spin, the cushions grip it, and there’s a guide line that shows you where a bounce will go. Since blackball punishes a weak safety harder than most codes, the half you want to practise is exactly that half.

Next

• English pool rules — the UK game generally, and which of the four rulebooks you’re likely playing under.
• Pool trick shots: seven you can actually learn — including the long safety, which wins blackball frames.