BankersPool is a lunchtime betting game for 2-6 players invented by PeterMerel (c'n you say StoneSociety?) and beta'ed by the team at Global X in Lane Cove, Sydney. Okay, other numbers of players can play, but the arithmetic gets harder than you want to do with a beer glass in your hand.
- The game is played on a pool table with pool balls and at least one cue.
- Players take turns trying to pot balls. Any ball can be potted in any turn, including the 8 ball.
- Players only get to try one shot per turn. Unlike ordinary pool, if you sink a ball, you don't get a second shot.
- Each player's score is the sum of the numbers on the balls she has potted. For example, if you've sunk the 3 and the 13, your score is 16.
- The total value of the pool is 120 points, which is the total of the numbers on the balls.
Players agree on a price per point. In Sydney, 10 cents a point means the total pool (120 * the point price) is enough to pay for a pub lunch. Execs might make it a buck a point and eat some place ritzy.
- Players contribute the total pool value / number of players. 3 players at 10 cents, for example, chip in $4 each. 120 is nice because it factors well for < 7 players.
- At the end of the game each player wins their score * the point price.
- In one variant, if a player sinks the white, they lose the amount of the last ball they sunk. Likewise if they knock the white off the table. And if they knock another ball off the table, they lose a number of points equal to the value of that ball. Of course this makes the math a bit harder ...
Has anyone else heard of this game? If not I'm taking out a patent, selling it to Vegas, and retiring. It is very good fun. --Pete
An alternative description (mostly just re-sorted with some irrelevent bits deleted) :
- The game is played on a pool table with pool balls and at least one cue.
- The total value of the pool is 120 points, which is the total of the numbers on the balls.
- A total pool value in cash is agreed upon and each player contributes the total pool value / number of players. It's also best if 120 also divides the total pool value, because a point will be worth the total pool value / 120.
- To my mind this extra sentence overcomplicates things. Just say there's some integer price per point and you're done. Also leaving out the concrete examples above, to my mind, makes the description less accessible. I did take your "unlike regular pool" bit on board though - ta mate! --Pete
- No sweat, different strokes obviously. I found the examples distracting and the "topdown" calculation more intuitive. -- mt
- At the end of the game each player wins their score * the point price.
- Players take turns trying to pot balls. Any ball can be potted in any turn, including the 8 ball.
- Players only get to try one shot per turn (i.e. unlike regular pool you don't get a second shot if you sink a ball).
- Each player's score at the end of the game is the sum of the numbers on the balls she has potted. For example, if you've sunk the 3 and the 13, your score is 16.
- In one variant, if a player sinks the white, they lose the amount of the last ball they sunk. Likewise if they knock the white off the table. And if they knock another ball off the table, they lose a number of points equal to the value of that ball. Of course this makes the math a bit harder ...
Pete - just trying to precis down the description without losing anything pertinent. Is anything missing or incorrect? It also seemed more logical to me to agree on the ante/total pool value and derive the value per point rather than vice versa, but maybe that's just me. --
MarkTilley
Bankers Pool