Racking Correctly

A rack is only worth breaking if it is tight and legally arranged. Two things are true in every discipline: the front ball of the pack sits on the foot spot, and the cue ball stays outside the rack, behind the head string — never inside the triangle or diamond.

1. Place the rack (triangle or diamond) with its apex on the foot spot.
2. Load the balls in the discipline's order, then push them forward as one block.
3. Squeeze from behind so every ball touches its neighbours: a gapped rack transfers no energy and spreads badly.
4. Lift the rack straight up, never dragging it, and check the apex has not moved.
5. The breaker places the cue ball anywhere behind the head string (the dashed line).

Signs of a bad rack

• You can see daylight between balls — re-rack.
• The apex ball is off the spot, so the wing balls no longer aim at the corners.
• Balls arranged by colour blocks instead of the required alternation.

Fifteen balls in a triangle, apex on the foot spot. The 8 goes in the centre of the pack (third row), and the two rear corners must hold one solid and one stripe. Everything else alternates solids and stripes as evenly as you can manage.

• Never put two stripes or two solids in both rear corners.
• The 1 on the apex is common but not required in most rule sets.
• Break from either side of the head string; a wing ball to the corner is the aim.

Nine balls in a diamond: the 1 on the apex, the 9 in the centre, the remaining balls anywhere else — with the rear of the diamond traditionally filled by the 5. Contact the 1 first on the break or it is a foul.

• The diamond must be tight or the wing balls will not travel to the corners.
• Break from near the side rail for the soft break, from the centre for power.

Fifteen unnumbered balls: seven reds, seven yellows and the black. The black sits in the middle of the third row, the apex is a red or yellow depending on the local rule set, and reds and yellows alternate so no colour is grouped.

• The rear corners take one red and one yellow, exactly as in American 8-ball.
• WEPF rules require at least two balls to reach a cushion on the break.

Fifteen reds form a tight triangle whose apex sits just behind the pink, and the six colours go on their own spots: yellow, green and brown on the baulk line, blue on the centre spot, pink in front of the reds, black on its spot near the top cushion. The cue ball starts in the D.

• The apex red must be as close to the pink as possible without touching it.
• Colours are respotted after being potted while any red remains on the table.

There is no rack at all: three balls, no pockets. The red goes on the foot spot, the opponent's ball on the head spot and your cue ball beside it on the head string. Points come from caroms, so the opening is about angles, not a spread.

• The player who wins the lag chooses which white to play with.
• The first stroke must contact the red ball.