Pool games for 3 players or more

Cut-throat turns pool on its head: you try to pot your opponents' balls while protecting your own. It's the classic game for three.

Setup

Rack all 15 balls with the 1-ball at the front, and the 6 and 11 on the two back corners. With three players, the groups are 1 to 5, 6 to 10 and 11 to 15. With five players, each player has three balls (1–3, 4–6, 7–9, 10–12, 13–15).

How to play

• Groups can be fixed before the break (first player 1–5, second 6–10, third 11–15), or the first player to pot a ball after the break chooses their group. Agree which before you start.
• You keep shooting as long as you pot a ball, any ball. Potting your own ball is allowed but hurts you.
• In most rule sets, a foul (such as potting the cue ball) means each opponent gets one of their potted balls back on the table.
• Once all your balls are potted you're out, but the game carries on.

How you win

The last player with at least one ball on the table wins.

Killer is the go-to pub game for a crowd. Everyone gets a few lives and one shot per turn. Miss and you lose a life.

How to play

• Each player starts with the same number of lives, usually three. Write the names on a board in playing order.
• The first player breaks. Then players take one shot each, in order.
• On your shot, you must pot a ball, any ball. Pot one and you keep your lives; miss and you lose one.
• A foul, such as potting the cue ball, usually costs an extra life. Many groups also take a life for potting the black.
• When the table is cleared, re-rack and carry on.

How you win

Players with no lives left are out. The last player still alive wins. With mixed skill levels, give stronger players fewer lives.

Kelly pool adds a secret: each player draws a hidden number, and you win by potting the ball with your number. Nobody knows whose ball is whose.

Setup

You need a set of 15 small numbered tokens, called peas or pills, and a shake bottle. Rack all 15 balls. Each player draws a pea and keeps the number secret.

How to play

• It's a rotation game: you must always hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table first.
• Pot a ball legally and you keep shooting.
• If someone else pots your ball, you're usually out of that game.

How you win

The first player to legally pot the ball matching their secret number wins. No pea bottle? Write numbers on folded scraps of paper.

A "ring game" is simply 9-ball with more than two players taking turns in a fixed order. It keeps everyone involved and is a great way for a group of regular players to practise.

• Rack balls 1 to 9 in a diamond and play standard 9-ball rules: always hit the lowest ball first.
• Players shoot in a fixed order. When one misses, the next player in the ring comes to the table.
• After a foul, the next player gets ball in hand.
• Whoever pots the 9-ball wins the rack. Rotate the breaker each rack.

Pool golf, or golf billiards, borrows golf's scoring. Each player tries to pot an object ball into all six pockets in a set order, using as few shots as possible.

• Each player has their own object ball (for example the 1, 2, 3...). Spot it in the same starting position each time it's potted in the right pocket.
• Count every shot. Potting your ball in the wrong pocket, or fouling, usually adds a penalty stroke.
• The player who completes all six pockets in the fewest shots wins.

Golf is often played on snooker tables in the UK and on pool tables in the US. It's also a superb way to practise cue-ball control on your own.

Scotch doubles lets four people play one game of 8-ball or 9-ball. Two teams of two play each other, and partners take turns at the table: player A, then player B, then A again, even within the same visit.

• Agree who breaks for each team. The order then alternates every shot.
• If your team keeps the table after a pot, your partner takes the next shot, not you.
• Partners can talk tactics between shots, but keep it short.

It's a great equaliser: pair a strong player with a beginner and the games stay close. Many leagues and tournaments run scotch doubles events.

• Agree the rules first. Every one of these games has local versions.
• Keep score on a board or on your phone, especially for killer and golf.
• Share the table. On a busy night, don't hold a coin-operated table all evening; let other people get a game.
• Mix the skill levels with handicaps: extra lives in killer, or fewer balls to protect in cut-throat.

New to the bar scene? Read our short guide to pool etiquette.