Unfortunately for this particular scene in my story, I haven't spent any time playing pool nor hanging out in pool halls, so any help would be appreciated.
My character has a pool table in his home and I'm looking for casual terminology that would apply to what he is doing.
We all know the 8ball...cause we've been behind it.
You heard RACK which is what you do to put the balls in a triangle. The wooden or plastic triangle is the rack, a noun, but it is also used as a verb, "rack 'em!" But there is a rack on the wall as well that holds the assortment of cues.
Did anyone mention the cue Ball? That's the white one with no number. You hit it with the tip of your stick.
Cue - The stick. Some are cheap and solid and tend to curve. Some cost more than a new car, screw together in the middle, have replacable weights on the handle, and are kept in a case. Many good ones are custom balanced. Most are weighted and usually marked. You will always see someone choosing his cue by picking it up, staring down its body to see if it is straight, shaking it for rattles (some times the weights come lose and it changes the energy) and checking its weight. He will repeat this until he finds one he likes. You never use someones private cue - "
stole my daddy's cue to make a living out of playing pool."
Rod Stewart.
- you are safer using his wife. The right cue is important. The very next thing he does after chosing is chalks it. He might chalk it after every shot. I chalk every now and then.
Tip - the cork button on the end of the cue. They fall off a lot. Some glue on. On an expensive cue it will likely screw on.
You chalk the cue to keep it from slipping when it strikes the cue ball. When that happens it is a MISS-CUE. The chalk is the little square blue thing that is always setting on the rail...in the way.
The rail is actually the long rubber bumpers that run around the inside of the table. Some players insist on playing a certain number of rails...meaning you have to bank (bounce) every shot.
The slate is the hard surface that the balls roll on. Sometimes it really is slate.
But a lot of times it is just thick particle board.
The cloth is called the green. Some call it the green even when it is red.
There are 6 pockets. Now sometimes a pocket drains into a channel and collects the balls all together in a bin or hopper. That is a POOL TABLE. Sometimes the pockets are just drops into a net. Balls don't drain and have to be pulled from the pockets. That is a BILLIARDS Table. Usually you find pool tables in bars where you pay by the game...3-5 quarters in the silver slide. In pool halls you ordinarily pay by the hour so they can often be billiard tables.
There are REGULATION tables that are at specific dimensions. I do not know what the dimensions are. There are BAR ROOM tables that are small because bars don't want to give up their seating space for a big table. And home tables usually fall somewhere in between. The size of the table isn't so important but most are built on a scale...if the length is such-a-such then the width HAS to be so-n-so.
Most tables aren't level.
Some even have warped slate...well not usually the slate ones...that's why they use slate.
You often find a cheap table with a matchbook or coaster under one leg to try and level it.
If you want some terminology:
A duck - as in sitting duck - is any ball that is so close to the pocket you cannot miss. You usually leave these hoping your opponent will sink it accidentally. Shooting your ducks is like LOW. You don't want to let anyone think you passed up a skill shot to take a duck. It's embarrassing.
Spot the cue ball - when you SCRATCH, meaning accidentally sink the cue ball, you're opponent will SPOT the cue ball, meaning put it on the dot that it was first shot from on the break, never on the rack side...but actually he only has to put it somewhere behind the lateral line that is marked by the spot and the dots on the rails. He CANNOT shoot any ball that is also behind the line unless he BANKS the cue ball off of a rail that isn't behind the line. Essentially if you can get the ball into the legal play area and bounce it back you are legal. You cannot play scratch on pay tables. They eat the balls. Bar rules can be different because of this.
Jump ball - I love these. I do them all the time. If a ball you cannot hit is in front of one you want to hit you might JUMP the illegal ball by striking the cue ball near the bottom. That makes it hop over the ball you cannot touch. Huh? Oh...the cue ball has to hit YOUR ball before it hits any of your opponent's or the eight ball or the shot is counted as a miss. So you can jump anything in your way if you know how...but a lot of places with throw your butt out for it...because it tends to break lamps and windows.
English - spinning the cue ball by hitting it off center will cause it to curve or roll in an arc. Through this the ball seems to do impossible things, like go around obstacle balls like it is being driven. It is safer than a jump ball but harder to hit your mark.
Revers English or Back Spin - striking the ball with an elevated downward plunge, you can spin it backward as it rolls forward. This is good if you have a likely scratch shot and need to keep the cue ball on the table. I used to be good enough at it to make the cue ball roll half way across the empty table and come back too me.
Bank shot - banking any legal ball off of a rail.
Ball rolled or moved - There is a rule that if the cue ball rolls or moves at all, like from a miss-cue, then your shot is done. Some give it an inch. Missing the ball completely just makes you look stupid, but you get to shoot again.
Combo or combination shot - making any series of balls with one shot
Bridge - this is a shooting aid. It looks like brass knuckles on a stick. Usually shorter than a cue. It extends your reach. Rules say at least one foot on the floor always so you can't sit on the side and lean unless you are only six and playing your uncle. Hold the stick with one hand and place the tip end of the cue across the bridge next to the cue ball. Hit ball with cue.
Eight in the corner - eight in the side - self explanatory. Children play call the eight and SLOP the other balls in, meaning almost anything goes. CALL YOUR POCKET means call EVERY ball. Five in the side, two in the corner...6 in the corner and eight in the side...it depends on the table rules established or assumed at the start of the game...I call only the first ball of a combo. And, i.e. if someone says eight in the corner, it is bad etiquette to challenge someones call i.e. "Are you sure you meant THAT corner?" Just as if you intend to bank the ball you should declare it, "eight in the corner off the rail."
If you are playing on a pay table (coin operated) it is the custom for challengers to place their quarters on the rail. I've seen quarters lining a table almost completely. The winner of the last game has table rights. He gets to break. The challenger racks. Turns go in that fashion. The table might pass or the same player might keep it by winning all the games.
Some play "eight on the break" wins. Most play "scratch on the break" loses.
Characteristics:
There are always cigarette burns on the rails. People put their cigarettes down to shoot. There seems to always be ash on the table too. People rub it in so there are gray spots in the green.
A well used table nearly always has rips in the green. It will be an inch to two inches. Foot long rips are for situation comedies.
The coin door can stick. It is a slide and after so much beer has been spilled down the side of the table they tend to not come back out. The balls do not drop until it is retracted.
Small tables almost always have a wall in the way. There is a shorty cue that might be somewhere in the corner.
If I were depressed or melancholy as is your character, I'd just shoot like I was playing...best opportunity. If I wanted to practice I'd shoot in numerical order to force myself to be creative in my shots.
Hope this gives you what you need. If you go to pool halls...check their reputation before you go in, just so you know you'll come home.
If you need to check syntax of any of your lines...well, that's what we are here fore.
