What I Did Over The Weekend...

Well, I got weathered for my long cross-country, so with a friends help, we finally laid dow an organized version of a new game: BattleBalls.

Official Rules Of BattleBalls

Rev. 1

BattleBalls is a two-player, one to seven-round sport played using a pool table of any size, and sixteen pool balls, including the cue ball, of standard size. The objective of BattleBalls is to shoot* pool balls by hand into the opposing players corner pockets.

General Rules Of BattleBalls

1. Each player takes two pool balls of their choice, and picks an end of the pool table.

2. The remaining twelve pool balls are placed evenly spaced and laterally between the two side pockets.

3. Upon start of play, each player may shoot* their beginner balls towards the other players pockets.

4. When balls come to your end of the pool table (hereafter referred to as the BattleBalls table), you may grab* those balls, and then shoot them towards the opposing players pockets.

5. Players may not move to the side of the BattleBalls table during play.

6. The round is over when there are no balls remaining on the table.

Scoring

1. Scoring in BattleBalls is simple: the player with the fewest balls in his or her corner pockets at the end of the round is the winner of that round.

2. Side pockets do not count for or against either player.

3. The winner of a BattleBalls match is the player which wins a majority of the rounds (ex., winning two rounds of a three round match.)

In The Event Of A Tie Round…

1. A shootout will occur.

2. A BattleBalls shootout is much like a hockey shootout with no goalies. Each player will take five alternating shots* at the other players pockets.

3. During these shots* the opposing player may not block in any way.

4. The player who scores in the opposing players pockets the most in five shots* is the winner of the shoot out and the winner of the round.

5. In the event of a shootout tie, another shootout must be played,

Penalties

1. Players may not “BallBlock”. BallBlock is defined as keeping your hand in front of one of your corner pockets for an extended amount of time. Blocking a single incoming ball with your hand is acceptable.

2. Players may not “HighBall”. HighBall is defined as picking a ball high up off the table (approximately three inches).

3. Players may not move to the side of the table.

4. Players may not “SoftBall”. SoftBall is defined as lining up and gently nudging or rolling a ball towards an opposing players pockets.

Any player that commits a penalty will have a ball added to their score at the end of the round.

Definitions

1. Grab: grabbing a ball, but not HighBalling.

2. Shoot: not throwing. In addition, during a shootout, a player may not “SoftBall”.

BallOn.

One of the few things...

I like about Grand Forks, is the local corner store. More specifically, it's one guy who works there who's 40-some years old. Every time you go in, he chats with you. Today I went in to buy a 2-Liter of Citrus Drop (generic Krogers Mello-Yello), and I had this conversation with him:

Carl: "Just the mixer uh I mean soda today?"

Me: "Riiiight, just soda."

Carl: "You makin' poor mans margaritas?"

Me: "What's that?"

Carl: "Well what you do is, (while motioning at bottle and looking around to make sure noone else is listening), you drink it down to about here (points to about a 1/3 of the way down the bottle), and fill it the rest of the way up with tequila. That way you can drive uh I mean party all night."

Me: "Ok, I'll have to try that some time. But how does it make you feel in the morning?"

Carl: "I dunno, I was an overnight tow-truck driver."


Awesome.