Speed Pool Rules
Billiard rules for speed pool. Sometimes referred to as speedball pool rules.
As its name suggests, Speed Pool rules indicate that one pockets all the balls on the table as quickly as possible. Speed Pool can be played using a stopwatch or a specially made billiard speed pool timer.
Speed Pool Rules
- Rack all balls making sure the 8 Ball is in the middle while the head ball is on the spot
- As soon as you hit the cue ball, the timer starts
- The cue ball must not be in motion when shooting. Any other object ball, however, can still be moving.
- Any ball may be pocketed, but the 8-ball must be last.
- All balls pocketed must be called, and fluke shots are not allowed.
- Any other ball can be moving as long as the cue ball has stopped.
According to speed pool rules, a legal shot is any shot where the cue ball contacts an object ball and either drives it to a cushion, the cue ball strikes a cushion, or an object ball is pocketed.
Speed Pool Rules - Penalties
- Scratching on the break (5 Seconds)
- Scratching the cue ball (10 Seconds)
- Cue ball falls from the table (10 Seconds)
- Object ball falls from the table (10 Seconds, ball goes in a pocket)
- If you miss the 8-Ball while trying to sink it as your final shot (10 Seconds)
- Cue ball misses balls completely (10 Seconds)
- Push shot (10 Seconds)
- If the cue ball goes directly for the 8-Ball (10 Seconds)
- 8-Ball is pocketed out of turn - Loss of game
Speed pool rules, and the accompanying game, has a few options for strategic play. For example, many speed pool players employ a stop shot in order to ensure a speedy coming-to-rest of the cue ball so that the next shot can be executed as soon as possible. Bank shots, though legal, are avoided, as they typically take twice the amount of time of a typical shot. As an alternative, players typically nudge the object ball as such that a legal shot occurs, and they are left with a good shot on the next stroke.
The prevailing speed pool tournament is the International Speed Pool Challenge (Las Vegas, ESPN) which has offered speed pool players the chance to compete for $50,000. Speed pool is a billiard game played in VNEA pool tournaments. They use the VNEA speed pool tournament rules.
Speed Pool Rules
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Speed Pool Rules History
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The official Speed Pool Rules are predominently observed in North America.
How to Play Speed Pool
Questions about Speed Pool Rules:
- Title: Speed Pool Rules
- Author: billiardsforum (Billiards Forum)
- Published: 6/6/2008 6:40:00 AM
- Last Updated: 1/10/2017 5:04:49 PM
- Last Updated By: billiardsforum
- Source: Now defunct Speed Pool Tracker Dot Com
Speed Pool Rules
The Speed Pool Rules article belongs to the Pocket Billiards Rules category. Pocket billiards is a class of cue sport game commonly referred to as pool.
Speed Pool Rules Comments
Bulletbone from Wewahitchka, FL on 12/8/2008 9:30:41 AM
I cant seem to find all the rules for Speed Pool billiards (as they play in the speed pool championships on TV).
We want to start a speed pool tournament on coin-op pool tables but they want a printout of the rules. They want to play a set of 8-ball and a second set of "hit anything" or whatever.
This is where I am having trouble with finding the rules, being that there are two different games involved.
These games will be played on a coin-operated table.
Can you help?
billiardsforum from Halifax, NS on 12/30/2008 9:08:08 AMI sent you an email with a link that might help.
I also found out that in ESPN speed pool version rules, they play straight pool for the first set, 8 ball for the second set, and if a tie is encountered, a third set of straight pool is played as a tie-breaker.
Basically, you follow the rules of the game played in that set, with these speedpool rules applied to each.
Susan McCarthy from Camarillo, CA on 1/24/2009 11:25:55 AM
Where can I find a billiards speed-pool timer unit that can sit on a table or shelf near the pool table?
- billiardsforum from Halifax, NS on 2/1/2009 3:46:48 PM
Susan and Rod - What features, specifically, were you looking for in a speed billiards timer?
A third person or referee usually tracks the time using a stop watch and records it after each player is done. Time would be summed up at the end. If you want a device similar to a chess clock timer, you can get chess timers on amazon.com.
Rod Pearson from Singapore on 3/9/2009 10:41:13 PM
Could you please advise me where I can purchase a professional speed pool timer with display for a pub environment?
Casandra Ng from Singapore on 9/17/2009 4:34:45 AM
Yup I say this website is good for my project! Thank you for the information on speed pool rules.
Janice Marshall from Madison, WI on 1/11/2010 5:49:01 AM
We are running a 10-second pool tournament this Saturday and there seems to be some confusion on some of the rules.
Can you send me a link or e-mail a version of the 10-second rules? Also I see the rules for speed pool, but it does not state how much time they have to pick up their pool stick when it is the next person's shot.
Grant Stirling from Dunoon Argyll, Scotland on 10/11/2012 2:56:37 AM
I am looking to buy 4 billiard time clocks to use in my local pub pool league as we have just incorporated the time-per-shot rule.
I can't find shot clocks anywhere!
If anyone has any idea where I can purchase shot timer clocks for billiards, please let me know.
- billiardsforum from Halifax, NS on 1/10/2017 6:27:23 PM
Besides using a stopwatch, you would have the following options for speed pool timers.
Probably the most common electronic speed pool timers for pool halls and pubs would be the line of electronic billiard timers from Favero. In this catalog, you can see the 4 models favero offers; the PLAY6, PLAY6T, PLAY8, and PLAY14 (starting on page 31).
This commercial speed pool billiard timer was made by Geoff Hackett back around 2001, but the site is no longer online. Here is a document describing Geoff's commercial speed pool timer clock for pool halls. This is one that mounts on the wall and plugs into a standard power outlet. I believe there were two versions, a home version and an "arena" version.
Also, with the prevalence of smart phones, there are a few speed pool timer apps for the iPhone, most notably, the "PoolTimer app" by Performance Accountability, LLC of Austin, TX. It is mainly advertised for measuring individual shot times, but can be used as a timer for speedpool billiards.
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