How to Line Billiard Balls

If you want to play billiards, knowing how to stack balls (also known as marbles) will help you play by the rules and dominate the momentum right when the game just begins. Although spooling is relatively simple, there are a few rules and tips that you need to know. This wikiHow teaches you how to match balls with each type of billiards.

Table of Contents

Standard 8 ball billiards

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Start with the number 1 ball above the stack. This is also called the top of the stack. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Ball 8 must be in the center of the bracket or the center of the triangle. This is the third row from the top down. ^{[2] X Research Source}

The two lower corners should have enough colored marbles and striped marbles. It doesn’t matter which side the marbles are on, as long as each corner of the triangle has a colored/striped marble. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

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Randomly place all the remaining marbles in the frame. Check to make sure that the number 1 ball is at the top, the number 8 ball is in the center of the frame, and the bottom two corners have colored and striped marbles, the rest can be randomly arranged. It doesn’t matter if you have colored marbles or striped marbles next to each other.

Another variation in amateur play is to mix striped and colored marbles along the edge. Thus, two marbles in the corner will have the same color (both striped or colored marbles).
Another way of ranking in amateur play is to rank from top to bottom, from left to right by number. This variation will result in the 1 ball being at the top, the 11 and 15 balls at the bottom, and the 5 ball being in the usual position of the 8 ball.

Standard 9 ball billiards

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If possible, you should use a diamond frame for 9-ball billiards. Because the technique of placing balls between 9 ball and 8 ball billiards is different, you need to use a different type of frame. The number of marbles in each row of the rhombus is 1-2-3-2-1. The traditional triangular frame can still be used to stack in 9 ball play, but the ball density will not be tight. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Of all the variations on the 9-ball pool arrangement, the 1st ball is always at the top and the 9th ball is in the middle. This is a general rule when arranging balls in 9-ball billiards. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

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Randomly arrange the remaining balls around balls 1 and 9. Similar to 8-ball billiards, the remaining balls are also placed in random order. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

A variation on the amateur game with 9-ball billiards is that the balls are arranged in consecutive order from left to right, with the exception of the 9 ball which is always in the middle. If arranged this way, ball 1 will be at the top and ball 8 will be at the bottom.

Advice

Many people prefer to take the number 1 ball as the first ball, but this is not required.
Another way of arranging marbles that many people often apply is to put colored marbles in one corner below and striped marbles in the other corner. Thus, the odds of hitting one of these two balls into the opener’s hole are the same.
If you are having trouble keeping the balls snugly in the frame, try pulling the stacker to the desired position and then stopping abruptly to allow the balls to fit together. For this trick to work, you need to move the frame at a moderate speed, dragging too slowly will not achieve the desired result.

Steps

Standard 8 ball billiards

Standard 9 ball billiards

Advice

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