Five-pin billiards
Five-pin billiards or simply five-pins or 5-pins, is today usually a carom billiards form of cue sport, though sometimes still played on a pocket table. In addition to the customary three balls of most carom games, it makes use of a set of five upright pins arranged in a "+" pattern at the center of the table. The game is popular especially in Italy, but also in some other parts of Latin America and Europe, with international, televised professional tournaments. It is sometimes referred to as Italian five-pins or Italian billiards, or as simply . A variant of the game, goriziana or nine-pins, adds additional skittles to the formation. A related pocket game, with larger pins, is played in Scandinavia and is referred to in English as Danish pin billiards, with a Swedish variant that has some rules more similar to the Italian game.
History
Until the late 1980s, the game was a form of pocket billiards, known in English as Italian skittle pool, and was principally played in pubs, with an object ball that was smaller than the two cue balls. Professional and regulated amateur play today exclusively uses pocketless tables and equal-sized balls. Professional competition began in 1965, and play is centered in billiard parlors, with players competing in provincial, regional, and national federations. The pocket version is still favored by some in amateur play.Equipment and setup
The regulation game is played on a normal pocketless carom billiards table, with standardized playing surface dimensions of 1.42 by 2.84 m, plus/minus 5 mm, from to cushion. The slate of the table must be heated to about 5 degrees C above room temperature, which helps to keep moisture out of the cloth to aid the balls rolling and rebounding in a consistent manner, and generally makes the table play "faster". In informal play, an unheated table is often used.Like most other carom games, five-pins requires three standard carom billiard balls of equal diameter: a for the first player, typically plain white, another cue ball for the second player, historically white with a spot but now typically yellow, and a red,. The balls are in diameter and weigh between ; 7.5 oz is average). The white cue ball is given to the starting player, who may place it anywhere on the head side of the table —i.e., anywhere unobstructed between the and the. The red object ball is placed at the cue ball of the opponent is placed on the long string, in a position that can be labelled the "foot rail spot", 10 cm from the.
As the name implies, the game makes use of five upright pins called skittles in English, birilli in Italian and quillas in Spanish, which look like miniature bowling pins, tall, and with round, flat-bottomed bases. There are traditionally four white pins, and one red. The red pin is placed on the , and the four white pins are placed equidistant from the red in a square diamond pattern around it. Two whites are aligned along the center string with the and s, as well as the rail diamonds in the center of the head and foot rails, and with the red object ball, and red pin. Meanwhile, the other two whites are placed on the, aligned with the diamonds in the center of the long rails, and again with the red pin. The final pattern looks like a plus sign. This arrangement of pins on the table is referred to as the "castle". Tables have the precise castle positions for the pins, and for the starting positions of the balls, permanently marked, as they must be placed back into position before every shot if any have been knocked over or moved.
Each player uses a cue stick to shoot the appropriate cue ball; average cue length is 140 cm A may be used to reach long shots.
Rules
Though there are variants in Central and South America, the Italian five-pins rules are the best codified. Because the [|Italian-rules championships] organized by the Italian Federation of Billiard Sport are international, televised events, and often hosted outside of Italy, the FIBiS rules are the global de facto standard, and have been incorporated into the rules promulgated by the Union Mondiale de Billard.Object
The goal of the game is to earn a required number of points, before one's opponent does, by using one's cue ball to cause the opponent's cue ball to knock over pins, and by contacting the red object ball with either cue ball, after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent, and/or by causing the object ball to knock over pins, again after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent.Play
The game is played by two players or by two teams. Determining who goes first can be done by any means. Each player or team is assigned one of the two cue balls; this is the only cue ball they may hit with the cue stick. The first player or team always uses the white cue ball, the opponent the other ball. Unlike in many games, shots are always taken in rotation – the same player or team never shoots twice in a row even if they have scored. Play continues until one player or team wins by being the first to achieve or exceed a specific number of points, either agreed upon beforehand by the players, or set by tournament organizers. In informal play, the number is often lower, such as 25.In order to score, the incoming player or team must the assigned cue ball to off the opponent's cue ball — either directly or off a cushion — with the goal of secondarily having the opponent's cue ball, directly or by way of rebounding off a cushion, next hit the pins and/or the red object ball.
Unlike in the major carom game three-cushion billiards, there is no requirement to hit one or more cushions at any time.
Scoring
Knocking over pins, by any of the acceptable prescribed manners, earns cumulative points as follows:- Each white pin is worth two points.
- The red pin is worth four points, if white pins were also knocked over.
- The red pin is usually worth eight points, if it is the only pin knocked down. In professional settings, the points are 10 since 2013.
- Knocking over pins with the object ball without hitting the opponent's cue ball first, or with one's own cue ball, does not earn the shooter any points, and in the latter case is a foul that awards points to the opponent.
The object ball itself is also worth points:
- If struck by the opponent's cue ball, it is worth 3 points.
- If struck by the shooter's cue ball, it is worth 4 points.
- If both a casin and a carambola are achieved in the same shot, only the earliest of the two to occur earns points; they are not combined, though either may still combine with points scored from pins.
Fouls
- Knocking over pins with the shooter's own cue ball, after having hit the opponent's cue ball—this foul awards the point values of those pins to the opponent. ; opponent does not receive.
- Failure to hit the opponent's cue ball at all with the shooter's own—opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
- Hitting the pins directly with the shooter's cue ball before any contact with the opponent's cue ball; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
- Hitting the object ball directly with the shooter's cue ball before any contact with the opponent's cue ball; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
- Knocking any ball off the table; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
- the cue ball entirely or partially over an interfering ball; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
- Standard billiards-wide fouls also apply and yield ball-in-hand plus 2 points. An extra 2 points go to the opponent if the object ball was correctly hit on an otherwise foul stroke. Ball-in-hand on fouls is not entirely free; the incoming shooter after a ball-in-hand foul can only place his/her cue ball on the opposite half of the table from the other cue ball, and must shoot from the end not side of the table. The cue ball does not have to be placed in the , just within the proper half of the table.
Strategy
and are essential when attempting to score, with the goal of leaving the balls in such a position that the incoming opponent is and will have a difficult,, or shot to perform.
Because kicks and banks are so common, players must be more skilled at these shots than they would need to be for most other cue sports. The game also requires a good understanding of and the effects of "" on the cue ball.