Goon Ball

Goonball or Goon Ball is a game played on a pool table with two balls, traditionally a 3 and a 6, and no sticks.

One ball is designated the cue ball and the other is the object ball.
The object of the game is to either keep the object ball moving or to pocket the object ball with the cue ball.
The cue ball is thrown directly from your hand but the player must be behind the plane of one of the ends of the table for it to be a valid shot.
The player may throw the cue ball as many times as necessary to hit the object ball as long as the object ball is still moving.
The cue ball being pocketed is of no consequence. It is the shooter's responsibility to pull it out of the pocket and continue playing. (Often times, intentionally playing the cue ball off the object ball and into a pocket is great strategy.)
The object of the game is to not get points called chomps.
Three chomps and the player is out of the game.

Before play begins, the order is determined by a player shouting "one" and subsequent players shouting consecutive numbers until everyone has a number. Repeating the order is a good idea if there are a large number of people. Play begins by the having the first player serve to the second person. For a serve, the object ball is spotted at one end of the table and the server throws the cue ball at the object ball from the other end. During play, it is common courtesy to alert a player who has forgotten his turn in the order before he receives a chomp. While it is the player's responsibility to pay attention, the game is more fun when there are no cheap chomps. When a player is eliminated, he must make it clear, particularly to the person next in rotation, that he is no longer in the game.

Once the object ball has been struck, the second person must grab the cue ball and strike the object ball before it stops moving. The next player is up as soon as the cue ball makes contact with the object ball. Each player goes in the shouted order and the first person goes after the last person.

When a player goes out, the order is collapsed around that player - meaning that the player after the one going out now goes after the player before the player going out. Play continues until there is only one person left, the winner. It is every player's responsibility for staying out of the way of the next player. While no chomps are typically awarded for interference, a player may be forgiven of a chomp if the general consensus is that he was unfairly interfered with by another person. The interfering player is subject to unlimited ridicule.

Scoring can happen in multiple ways.

If the object ball goes into a pocket on the serve then the person being served to gets a chomp.
If the object ball stops rolling before the player can hit it with the cue ball then the current player gets a chomp.
If either the cue or the object ball fly off the table then the player imparting the motion causing such an event gets a chomp.
If the object ball is pocketed directly by a player, (i.e the next player has no humanly chance to get the cue ball before the object ball is pocketed) the previous player gets a chomp.
If the object ball is banked or is otherwise indirectly pocketed before the player hits the object ball with the cue ball, then the current player gets a chomp.
The server gets a chomp if he misses the object ball three times.
The player gets a chomp if he throws the cue ball from a side of the table and the cue ball hits the object ball. Being on the side of the table is determined by the position of the player's hips, not his hands. No part of his hips can be between the planes defined by the short ends of the table.
If the player touches the object ball with his hand or other part of his body he gets a chomp.

Generally, once any player gets a chomp, play continues by having the next player in rotation who was not involved in the previous play serve to the next player after him. Here are some specific cases that help make things clear. In each case, the players shoot in alphabetical order.

Player A serves to player B, directly pocketing the ball on the serve.

Chomp: Player B
Next Server: Player C

Player A serves but misses the object ball 3 times.

Chomp: player A
Next Server: Player B

Player A serves to Player B. Player B then directly pockets the object ball with the cue.

Chomp: Player A
Next Server: Player C

Player A serves to Player B. The object ball travels around the table while B is unable to hit the object ball with the cue ball. Eventually the object ball is pocketed or comes to a complete stop.

Chomp: Player B
Next Server: Player C

Player A serves to Player B who commits a foul (e.g. ball off table, shooting from the side)

Chomp: Player B
Next Server: Player C

When there are only two players left, the player not getting the chomp always serves.

I don't remember this rule, but DanDiCarlo? says that there is a rule that the player must have his feet or a foot on the ground when shooting to keep players from climbing on the table. If so, what's the penalty? Same as side? Or automatic chomp on release?

There doesn't appear to be much discussion on this topic so I will propose a rule:

A player must have at least one foot on the ground when he shoots the ball. The player gets a chomp if he shoots without a foot on the ground.

Another rule I want to have clarified is if a player grabs the cue ball out of order. Is this interference or is it a chomp? If it's a chomp who serves since someone got skipped?

This one is harder... so here goes:

If a player grabs the cue ball out of order then it is considered interference and no chomps are awarded. The player who originally was supposed to have his turn before the interference occurred is the next server.

History: Goonball was invented by James Victor Heidelberg while a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Case Western Reserve University and is still played at rush events. Mr Heidelberg currently resides in Odessa, Florida and enjoys fishing and gambling.

Known goonball-friendly venues are:

Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in Cleveland, Ohio
251 Castro Poolhall/Bar in Mountain View, CA (only when Brian is working)
Heidelberg Family Pool Table in Tampa Florida

OffTopic, but it's interesting and a bit of fun.

CategoryGame. Also see: RulesOfGeelf

This sounds extraordinarily similar to a game called Sweat, which used to be played by undergrads at Caltech (in Dabney House if not others), circa 1993. For all I know, people are still playing it. When was Goonball invented?

The "rules" for Sweat are here: http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dei/ath/sweat.html.

BTW, it's best to start with a pool table in bad condition. Playing this game will trash it in no time at all.

05/20/2013

Props to the individual that put pen to paper to capture the traditional rules to this incredibly fun game. I was reminiscing with my wife today about playing Goonball. Which spawned a websearch and I discovered this webpage. Thank you for attribution of this game’s creation to me. I was For anyone who cares, I can tell you how this game came into being. In the Fall of 1990, I was visiting my girlfriend on the campus of Wittenberg University, a small private school in middle Ohio. We were hanging out at the student center which had two very crappy pool tables, no sticks, and not all the balls. That fact, combined with the fact that the ladies I was with could not shoot pool to save their lives created the necessity from which Goonball was born. We needed a game that did not use sticks, only needed a few balls, and that the unskilled could play.

First we tried playing traditional pool, but with our hands – terrible -- but it highlighted the challenge associated with trying to hit a ball into the pocket without a stick to drive the cue. The problem was it was waaaay to slow and therefore boring. One of the ladies suggested the concept of trying to hit one moving ball into the pocket by shooting a cue ball from your hand. None of the other rules, like where to shoot from, how many trys you got, or the concept of the Chomps leading to elimination were present at this initial playing. Just a group of fools, running around a pool table in circles, chasing pool balls. The score was kept simply as the number of balls you sank. It was a fun but not crazy fun.

After that weekend, I returned to my own campus at Case Western Reserve University. On the drive home, I thought about refinements to the concept that could make the game more competitive, while hanging on to the core of the game which is to have a bunch of fools running around a pool table. On arrival back at the Phi Kappa Psi house, I recruited a few willing brothers and laid out the basic framework of the rules. The initial major refinements were the three strikes and your out concept, and the shoot from the end of the table rule. These were huge strides forward. At this point, Goonball had become a self-sustaining entity. It took on a life of its own. There was ALWAYS someone playing on our house table. It became a fraternity rush draw. Everyone played. Brothers, rushees, alumni, girlfirends , it was crazy. So simple, yet…?

Many of the rules captured above were born of necessity during game play. I would say it took a month for the final evolution to the work of art it remains to this day. For example, the rule regarding keeping one foot on the floor. This definitely IS one of the rules of Goonball. The penalty is the same as for shooting from the side of the table. It was added to discourage shorter players from diving onto the table to catch the cue (aka the shooter) because the constant diving was creating excessive wear and tear on the table -- at the time we had a few vertically challenged Phi Psis.

I can also definitively clear up a few other rule questions…

1) I can confirm that Interference is not a Chomp, unless it was accompanied by premeditated malicious intent -- for example when a player deliberately interferes with the shooter to gain some advantage. If the group mind agrees that the interference was intentional, then a CHOMP can be awarded to the interfering player. Why is interference typically not a CHOMP? In short, drunk people cause a lot of interference, and in my day Goonball players were often drunk! This usually manifests itself in confusion around who’s actual turn it is. This out of turn play results in interference and if it led to a Chomps, then many times, particularly at the end of the night, everyone would get eliminated by interference penalties alone – which is not that fun. That is why no CHOMPS are awarded for interference. Also keep in mind that Goonball is a gentleman’s game and thus we typically forgive our brothers’ transgressions…

2) When a player grabs the cue ball out of turn, or otherwise interferes with another player’s ability to execute a play -- it is interference. While no penalty CHOMP is typically awarded for an interference call, there is an indirect negative implication. If the player that serves next sinks the target ball on the serve, the CHOMP is awarded to the interfering player, NOT to the next player in the rotation as it normally would be. This is a subtlety I think was missing from the rules posted above. It is done this way to add some risk to interfering and keep distracted players focused on the game.

3) On the serve, if the server directly pockets the target ball, then a CHOMP is awarded to the person being served to. The SAME server then serves again. This detail was missing. In theory, you could eliminate a player with three great serves in a row that all pocket the target ball. P.S. -- Why Goonball? Not the name I would have chosen. I think the original working name for the game when I introduced it to the house was Shooter. But the infectious way the game spread thru the house, and the insanity it provoked -- such as the all-nighter marathon sessions -- was less than appealing to some in our house. I think it was Brother Jon Pildis? that actually coined the name. It started with his constant railing: “you guys look like a bunch of goons running around that table”. That eventually led to: “You goons are still throwing those balls around”. And finally “Your STILL playing Goonball – it is 4:00 in the morning!!!”. And a legend in our own mind was born.

Fraternally, Brother Heidelberg...