What the hell? No, no, no unexpected natural births of any kind, rather the slow and rather enjoyable evolution of the game of the billiards…
But let’s start at the story’s beginnings: stranded as we were in Levuka, our stay was predictably extended mid-afternoon as the Captain informed the crew that passage to the south was still likely to be on the rough side tonight and that, as the forecast predicted, we were over the worst of it, it would be better to (motor) sail early tomorrow morning (like 6am early) to make the isle of Wenger (I’m hoping not like the manager….) by mid afternoon.
Fair enough, but « que faire » the crew of the good ship Soren in the interim?? As a fellow crew mate suggested, two routes opened wide in front of us: drink eat and drink, or drink eat and drink.
We opted for the latter, and quickly a small group set forth to revisit the Royal Hotel, scene of yesterday’s festivities. The bar waitress seemed genuinely happy (in the sense of more money, more hassle) to hear the Soren was delayed at port for a further 12 hours. Nonetheless, our group installed itself at the snooker table and quickly set about developing and refining the rules of billiards for groups of more than 2: suffice to say the blind leading the blind, but your blogger here sought to develop the rules below with the able and much accomplished assistance of Sheila, Vince, Paul, Dave and our American latecomer, Franklin (aren’t they always??).A good night was had, of which no clear winner emerged, only the succinct and clear rules of the association sport which are recorded for posterity purposes below - and subjected to common approval, quite naturally:
Halliards: from Tallships to Billiards…
Article 1: General Principles
1. Each player (un)wisely commits himself to honest and gentlemanly conduct (in accordance with Anglo-Saxon accepted practice, implying subsequent flexibility in the rules’ interpretation);
2. Each player commits to be drinking the larger variety of Fijian beers only (or any consequent quantity of accepted volume, broadly 2 pints or relative spirit dosage).
3. The game is recommended for play on a full size snooker table.
Article 2: Rules of the Game
1. Each player takes a cue ball from the non-red colours. The cue-ball is specific to each player;
2. A red ball is placed on the black spot, acquiring the status of the target ball on the table;
3. Each player in turn cues off from the D with the objective of scoring points along the following principles (a player continues his turn until he scores no points):
a) Canon: a player scores 2 points if the cue ball strikes two separate balls following a shot, with the points increasing to equal the number of strikes (ie 3 points for 3 strikes etc)
b) A player potting the red receives 3 points. The red is respotted on the black spot.
c) A player potting any other ball apart from the red receives 2 points, and the potted ball goes dead for the rest of the player’s shots. At the end of player’s round, it is his responsibility to ensure the potted ball(s) are replaced on the black (or which ever spot of decreasing snooker ranking is available). The order of the respotting will follow the order of the initial potting.
d) In-off: a player potting his cue ball in-off a shot will receive two points and will be able to take a subsequent shot from the D with his cue ball. Points will be increased to 3 in the event of an in-off from the red, with the cue ball again respotted in the D.
e) A player missing any ball on the table will receive the penalty score of minus 4. The penalty is applicable at all times.
4. Winner: the winner is the first player to reach the sum total of 25 points.
Article 3: Supplementary Provisions
1. Timing allowances: a player taking more than 5 minutes to execute a shot shall forfeit that shot; a player taking more than 10 minutes to execute the next shot shall forfeit their position in the game with immediate effect.
2. The founding members submit « HASSLE » as the Halliards Association and Leagues as their associate body.
As of effect, the South Pacific, 24 August 2008.
Rob
No comments:
Post a Comment