Eight Ball

• American-style eight-ball rules are played around the world by professionals and in many amateur leagues. Nevertheless, the rules for eight-ball may be the most contested of any billiard game. There are several competing sets of “official” rules. The non-profit World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) – with national affiliates around the world, some of which long pre-date the WPA, such as the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) – promulgates standardized rules as Pool Billiards – The Rules of Play for amateur and professional play.Meanwhile, many amateur leagues – such as the American Poolplayers Association (APA) / Canadian Poolplayers Association (CPA), the Valley National Eight-ball Association (VNEA, international in scope despite its historic name) and the BCA Pool League (BCAPL) – use their own rulesets; most of these are at least loosely based on the WPA/BCA version. Millions of individuals play informally, using informal house rules which vary not only from area to area but even from venue to venue (“house rules“).

The regulation size of the table’s playing surface is 9 by 4.5 ft (2.7 by 1.4 m), though exact dimensions may vary slightly by manufacturer. Some leagues and tournaments using the World Standardized Rules may allow smaller sizes, down to 7 by 3.5 ft (2.1 by 1.1 m). Early 20th-century 10 by 5 ft (3.0 by 1.5 m) models are occasionally also still used. WPA professional competition generally employs regulation tables, while the amateur league championships of various leagues, including ACS, BCAPL, VNEA, and APA, use the 7-foot tables in order to fit more of them into the hosting venue.

There are seven solid-colored balls numbered 1 through 7, seven striped balls numbered 9 through 15, an 8 ball, and a cue ball. The balls are usually colored as follows:

• 1 and 9: yellow
• 2 and 10: blue
• 3 and 11: red
• 4 and 12: purple (TV: pink)
• 5 and 13: orange
• 6 and 14: green
• 7 and 15: maroon (TV: tan)
• 8: black
• Cue: white

Special sets designed to be more easily discernible on television substitute a rather light tan shade for the normally darker brown of the 7 and 15 balls, and pink for the dark purple of the 4 and 12; these alternative-color sets are now also available to consumers.

The Valley National 8-Ball League Association (VNEA) is one of the world’s largest amateur pool (pocket billiards) leagues. As of 2010, there are nearly 100,000 individual members in some 1,400 weekly local leagues playing in over 10,000 pool halls, bars, and other venues in around 400 different cities, towns and suburbs in 36 U.S. states, and abroad.
The organization was founded in the United States in 1979 by equipment manufacturer Valley-Dynamo as the Valley 8-Ball League Association. It was later known as the Valley National 8-Ball Association, a name the league still uses sometimes (and as of 2012, the organization still retains the “VNEA” acronym in prose and in its logo). Despite its name, it is neither national, having leagues in eleven countries,[1]nor limited to the game of eight-ball, as team nine-ball, as well as an individual artistic pool and speed pool, are all now VNEA disciplines (some on a league basis, some only on a tournament basis). An annual, week-long VNEA International Pool Championships series (team, doubles and singles eight-ball, singles artistic pool) is held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The organization is headquartered in Bay City, Michigan. The president of VNEA’s board of directors is Michael Fowler (as of June 2010) and its executive director is R. Gregg Elliott (as of June 2010).