good pointers here. when it gets boring just playing for fun, throw out the offer to your buds to make the game more interesting. remember that its all in fun though, just to keep things more competitive when things get dull.

if you enjoy playing 9 ball, i recommend playing a 9 ball 'ring game'. its a fast paced game and is IMO the funnest multi-person gambling game, and is really fun with 3-4 people. standard '9-ball' is played by hitting the balls 1-9 in sequential order (look up 9 ball rules on wikipedia or whatever source for more specifics) although, a '9 ball ring game' is played a slightly different from standard rules. rules in ring games are informal and can vary from party to party, so be sure to have the rules set with all participants before engaging. not really rocket science here, but ill try my best to explain over the computer. this is the way i was taught to play a 9 ball ring game-

let us say we have 4 people playing a '9-ball ring game': you must first determine the order of who shoots 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. this can be determined by everyone flipping quarters on the pool table at once- with the odd man of the bunch to break. so this usually takes a few coin flips from everyone to get- 3 tails and 1 head/3 heads and 1 tail. the remaining players flip for 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the same manner.

after this process, the game is played by normal 9 ball rules. except, if you miss, the next person in line is up to shoot. although, here are a few differences from standard 9 ball rules:

1.lets say 'player 1' shoots and misses, and leaves 'player 2' with a crap shot: 'player 2' has the option to decline the shot, and let 'player 1' shoot again, as many times as needed until 'player 2' is satisfied with a decent shot.

1. "what happens when someone scratches?" first off, 'table scratches' do not apply. but if the cue ball accidentally falls into a pocket, the cue ball is placed behind the 2nd diamond, or, 'in the kitchen'. AKA you cannot shoot at a ball inside the kitchen.

3."so what happens whenever 'player 1' scratches and 'player 2' has to shoot behind the 2nd diamond BUT, the object ball is in the kitchen?"- when the object ball is 'in the kitchen', it must be placed on 'the spot'. IF there is a ball already on the dot, it is placed directly behind the impeding ball or balls blocking 'the spot'.

1. if 'player 1' makes a ball/balls but scratches, then the ball/balls must be spotted on the spot, and 'player 2' is required to shoot behind the 2nd diamond AKA 'in the kitchen'

2. honor code- no safeties allowed. meaning, its all offense. no defensive shots- if there is a cluster, you take a whack at it and pray for something to go in.

3. certain balls have certain values. so usually people play with values on certain balls. such as such: the 5 ball is worth 1$ and the 9 ball is worth 1$, or whatever yall want to play for. (5 and 9 are typical money balls)

4. "who pays when the game is over?"-well that all depends. assuming we played for a dollar on the 5 ball, and a dollar on the 9 ball. this means that whoever made the 5 ball and 9 ball get paid. so if 'player 1' made the 5 ball, and 'player 2' made the 9 ball, then both players break even and dont owe each other anything. whereas, player 3 and 4 pay one dollar separately to both player 1 and 2.

5. "what happens if a money ball is made on the break?"- then that ball or balls are spotted on 'the spot'.

9."what happens if someone 'slops' the 9 ball in before all of the other balls have been made "- then the 9 ball is spotted.

1. if a money ball other than the 9 ball is legally 'slopped' in, then it stays down and the shooter is rewarded.

i know it looks like a lot of rules, but really- when you play a few times you will get the jist of things and it becomes really fast paced and fun. also, its a game where you can gain and loose money quickly and most importantly teaches you to take every shot seriously.