Listings here use the words players actually use. If one of them is new to you, it’s explained below — nobody should have to fake it to find a game.
- The game
- 8-ball
- One player takes stripes, the other solids. Clear your seven, then sink the 8 to win. The game most people learn first.
- 9-ball
- Balls 1 through 9, and you must hit the lowest one on the table first. Whoever sinks the 9 takes the rack, so a match can turn on one shot.
- One pocket
- Each player is assigned one corner pocket and may only score there. Slow, tactical, and unforgiving.
- Fast8
- Eight-ball played out of a nine-ball rack instead of the full triangle. Fewer balls on the table, so the games go quickly and the race moves.
- Lagger's choice
- Both players roll a ball up the table and back, and whoever stops nearest the near rail wins the lag. Here the lag winner also picks the format for the match — what is played and how long the race is.
- Scotch doubles
- Two players to a team, alternating shots. Your partner leaves you whatever they leave you.
- Swing doubles
- Doubles where you get a new partner every round rather than keeping one all night. Different from scotch doubles, where you and the same partner alternate shots.
- How a match is run
- Race
- How many games you need to win to take the match. "Race to 5" means first to five. A shorter race means a faster night and more room for an upset.
- Rack
- The triangle of balls at the start — and, by extension, one game. A listing saying "race to 3" and one saying "3 racks" mean the same thing.
- Double elimination
- You are out after two losses rather than one. Losing once drops you to the losers’ side instead of sending you home, so one bad rack does not end your night.
- Call pocket
- You name the pocket before you shoot, and a ball that drops anywhere else does not count for you. Keeps a match from being decided by a lucky roll.
- Break and run
- Breaking and then potting every remaining ball without your opponent ever getting to the table. Hard, and worth watching.
- Evening it up
- Handicapped
- The tournament evens out players of different skill levels, usually by giving the weaker player a shorter race. Every tournament does it a bit differently, so each listing explains its own system.
- Open
- No handicap. Everyone races to the same number, whoever they are.
- Weight
- Any advantage handed to the weaker player so the match stays close — games on the wire, a ball spot, all the breaks. "Giving weight" is the general term; the listing says what form it takes.
- On the wire
- Games given to you before a ball is struck. Two on the wire in a race to five means you only have to win three.
- Ball spot
- Weight paid in balls rather than games: a lower ball is made the winner for the weaker player, so sinking the 5 takes the rack the way the 9 normally would.
- All the breaks
- One player breaks every rack for the whole match instead of alternating. The break is an advantage, so handing it over is another way of giving weight.
- Money ball
- The ball that wins the rack — the 9 in nine-ball, the 8 in eight-ball. When a listing spots somebody "the 5 on up", it means a lower ball wins it for them instead.
- Skill level
- Your number in a rating system, most often APA’s 1 to 7. "Skill level 5 and under" means the tournament is capped and stronger players are not eligible.
- APA
- The American Poolplayers Association, the largest amateur league in the country. It rates members from 1 to 7, and rooms here often set your race from that number rather than playing everyone level.
- Fargo rate
- A rating built from real match results rather than self-assessment, written as a number in the hundreds. It moves as you play, and rooms use it much the way they use an APA number.
- Conversion chart
- A room’s table for translating one rating system into another, so an APA number and a Fargo rate can be handicapped against each other. If a listing says it accepts any rating, this is how.
- The money
- Added money
- Money the room puts into the prize pool on top of the entry fees. "$500 added with 30 entries" means the room adds it once that many people have played.
- Side pot
- A separate pot players buy into alongside the tournament, usually for one specific thing — a break and run, say. Optional, and paid out on its own.
- The room
- Bar box
- The smaller coin-operated table you find in bars, usually seven foot. Shorter than the nine-foot tables in a dedicated pool room, which changes how the game plays.