Pirates Billards

A dexterity game by Reinhold Wittig, for 2 - 4 players of 8 years or over.

CONTENTS
1 Board, made from solid wood
32 Wooden balls, 8 in each of 4 different colours
1 Black wooden ball
4 Mallets
1 Set of Rules

GAME
The board is divided into numerous compartments, the base of the board is a stretched linen cloth.
The mallets are used to strike the bottom of the board, and so move the balls as quickly as possible
towards their goal. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins this unusually attractive
dexterity game.

PREPARATION
First screw the four wooden legs firmly into the board. Then, each player takes 8 balls in one colour and
places them in 8 different compartments along one side. If there are only two players they choose two
opposite sides as starting positions. Each player should also take a mallet.
starting position player A

board across to the opposite side. With a little practice, players will find that they can move a ball several
rows with one blow. The player may continue to strike with the mallet until he causes one ball to leave the
compartment that it is in. Then the next player takes his turn.
Once a ball reaches the row on the opposite side of the board, it has achieved it's goal, and is
immediately removed from the board and placed to one side. If the compartment already contains a
ball, it is not captured.
If a ball is knocked off the board, it is lost, and plays no further part in the game.
If a ball lands in a compartment that already contains a ball, other than in a starting row, the ball already
there is captured. The player who hit the ball into the compartment takes the ball that was already there
and puts it to one side ready for exchange or scoring.
If a ball is hit either to right or left, into another player's starting row, it is captured by that player. Balls
in a player's starting row may never be captured.
Captured balls should be put to one side. Captured balls may be exchanged by the capturing players at any
time during the game. Exchanged captives are returned to a compartment in the starting row and start
again.

GAME END
A player is finished when he has no more balls on the board. He scores 4 points for every one of his own
balls that has reached it's goal, and 2 points for every captured ball he has. The other players carry on, but
subtract 1 point from their score for every further turn that they take before they too are finished.

SCORING FOR PROFESSIONALS

For more advanced players, a different scoring system may be used. The game ends as soon as one player has
no more balls left on the board. Balls that have reached the other side of the table score 20 points each.
Any balls left on the board score points according to their position, balls still in the starting row score one
point, one extra point is scored for every row that they have moved forward, up to a maximum of 9 points
for a ball in the penultimate row. Captured balls score 5 points each for the capturer. Balls that have left the
board score no points. The player with the most points wins.

VARIANT 1
Place the black ball in one of the four central compartments of the board. If a ball is hit into the same
compartment as the black ball, it is removed from the game. Alternatively, a player may choose to hit the
black ball, rather than one of his own, in an attempt to hit it into the same compartment as an opponent's
ball and so capture it. If the black ball is hit off the board, or into one of the starting rows, it is returned to
the centre of the board and the player who hit it must remove one of his own balls from the board.

VARIANT 2
If a ball is hit into a compartment already containing a ball, the first ball is captured by the owner of the
one already there rather than vice versa.
opposite side player A

COURSE OF PLAY
First choose which player starts. Play then continues in a clockwise direction. The player whose turn it is
strikes the bottom of the board with his mallet in an attempt to move one of his balls from his side of the

1989 ABACUSSPIELE Verlags GmbH & Co. KG, D-63303 Dreieich. All rights reserved. Made in Germany.