~Arcade Pool Beginners' tips for any 9 Ball matches - By Simon Burrows `When faced with the problem of not being able directly to hit the `lowest numbered ball first (thus not being able to make a legal `shot), here are the three steps you should experiment with before `giving up hope. Failing these three ideas, number four (below) `gives some ideas about what to do to make the best of the `situation :- `(Alternatively, these tips may be used by more advanced players `in the attempt at potting a ball which would otherwise be `impossible to pot with a direct hit) ~`I. First of all you need to see whether it is possible to hit ~` the lowest numbered ball by bouncing the cue-ball off one or ~` more cushions. `If you have the aiming tool turned onto 'full', it is easy to see `whether this is possible, because the aiming line will point in `the direction the cue-ball will bounce off once it has hit the `cushion. If you can't quite see whether you will hit the lowest `numbered ball after coming off the cushion first, because the `aiming tool's lines don't reach that far, increase the power of `your shot and the lines will extend. ~`II. Next, you need to see whether the use of side-spin combined ~` with bouncing the cue-ball off one or more cushions will be ~` effective. `The use of side spin when hitting the cue-ball against the `cushion will affect the angle at which the cue-ball bounces off `the cushion. This means that if you couldn't hit the lowest `numbered ball with no side-spin because the angles you got off `the cushions weren't 'satisfactory', you could experiment with `the right and left spin options to see whether these give you the `right angles to hit the target ball with. ~`III. Finally, if the angles you can get off the cushions with and ~` without side-spin aren't enough to hit the required ball, ~` you can play around with the power of your shot too. `When playing shots with side spin against the cushion, the `severity of which the cue-ball deviates from the 'normal' angle `depends on the speed that the cue-ball is travelling - the `faster it's going, the more severe the angle is off the cushion. `This means that as well as deviating the angle that the ball `travels off the cushion with side spin, you can also do the same `by changing power. (As long as you use some side spin as well, `otherwise it makes no difference!!) This is particularly good `because it will change the angle in smaller chunks than fiddling `with the amount of side spin used, so it can be used for 'fine- `tuning' the shot. ~`IV. Failing all this, you need to decide how to make the best of ~` the situation. This depends on whether you are playing a ~` standard 9 Ball game, or whether you are in challenge mode:- `Standard Matches: In standard matches, the penalty for not ` hitting the lowest ball first is not too ` severe. Because of this, I think the best ` idea would be to simply thwack the cue-ball ` around the table and hope you fluke it and ` hit the desired ball off many cushions. `Challenge Matches: In 'Challenge Matches', the penalty for not ` hitting the lowest-numbered ball first is ` very high (three lives). The only way I've ` found which can limit the damage is to just ` simply pocket the cue-ball without hitting ` any of the other balls, because the penalty ` for this is only two lives!!! I really don't ` think it's worth trying a mad shot to hit the ` correct ball because the penalty is v.high if ` it doesn't work. ~By Simon Burrows `PS. In challenge modes, I've found that it is often not best to ` use full power on the first shot, because this tends to ` leave the cue-ball in an undesirable position for the next ` shot. Instead, using three-quarter or two-thirds power will ` still pot a couple of balls, but should leave the cue-ball ` nearer to the middle of the table, ready for your second ` shot.