How to Play Bumper Pool

Setup

Place the 5 red balls on one side of the bumper pool table. Set 2 red balls to the left of the scoring hole and 2 on the right. Position the spotted red ball directly in front of the scoring hole. Typically, the red balls go on the side of the table with the white bumpers sitting next to the scoring hole. Your scoring hole is on the opposite side of the table from where you’re standing. Your opponent’s scoring hole is on the side of the table where you are.

Position the 5 white balls on the opposite side of the bumper pool table. Put 2 white balls on the lefthand side of the scoring hole and 2 on the righthand side. Place the spotted white ball right in front of the scoring hole. The white balls should be on the side of the table with the red bumpers on either side of the scoring hole.

Play against a single opponent or on teams of 2. Bumper pool is a great game to play with a friend or a group of 4. If you play on teams, you and your partner will switch back and forth whenever it’s your team’s turn to shoot. If you’re new to bumper pool, playing on a team with more experienced players is a great way to familiarize yourself with the rules and strategies.

Gameplay

Start the game with each player shooting their spotted cue ball to the right. The goal is to get your marked cue ball into your scoring hole on the opposite side of the board. Since there are bumpers in the center of the table, you have to bank your cue ball off the righthand wall so it’ll rebound at an angle and get as close to the scoring hole as possible. You and your opponent do this at the same time, both shooting to the right so that your balls don’t collide. This is bumper pool’s form of a “tip-off” to decide who gets to take the next shot. It helps to do a countdown so you and your opponent hit your balls at the same time.

Let the player whose ball ended up closest to the scoring hole go first. Whoever got closest to the scoring hole gets to go first. If someone’s ball went into the scoring hole on the first shot, they get to go first. If you both got your balls into your scoring holes on the first shot, you each take the farthest lefthand side cue ball, set it in front of your scoring hole, and shoot again at the same time. If you and your opponent are having incredible games and both continue to sink balls at the same time, you might end up with a draw!

Take a shot with one of your cue balls if you’re the first player. You can either hit the cue ball that you've already shot with, or you can hit one of your other cue balls that haven't been put into play yet. Use the walls and bumpers to try and ricochet your ball as close to your scoring hole as possible; hopefully, it will go straight in! Some rules stipulate that you have to score with your marked cue ball first before scoring with any other balls. The penalty for sinking an unmarked ball before the marked one is that all your in-play balls have to return to their original positions. A big difference between traditional pool and bumper pool is that bumper pool doesn’t allow you to make a straight shot from your side of the table to your scoring hole. You have to get your balls around the set of bumpers in the middle of the table.

Have the second player take a turn when the first player misses. Play continues to go back and forth between players whenever someone misses a shot. Each cue ball gets shot from wherever it is on the table. Try to angle your shots so that your cue balls bounce off of the walls and bumpers and go straight into your scoring hole. Some rules stipulate that you can only work on scoring with a single ball at a time. Other versions of the game say you can have multiple balls in play at once. Talk with your team or opponent beforehand to make sure you’re on the same page.

Take turns shooting until one player sinks all 5 of their balls. You can hit a new cue ball on each turn if you want to, or continue working on one of the balls you hit on a previous turn. As you become more experienced, you’ll learn how to play defensively and what kinds of moves give you penalties. If your final ball accidentally goes into your opponent’s scoring hole, you forfeit the game. So be careful!

Tips and Fouls

Use the bumpers and cushions to bank your ball into the scoring hole. Don’t be afraid of the bumpers! You should use them to your advantage to angle your shots and get your balls in the hole faster. For example, if your ball is next to a bumper beside your scoring hole, it might look nearly impossible to score from that position. But if you shoot your ball toward the center group of bumpers, you can rebound the ball off a bumper back toward the scoring hole.

Try to knock into your opponent’s ball so it’s harder for them to score. Don’t be afraid to play defense! If you’re in a place where you could knock a ball away from the scoring hole and keep your opponent from getting their ball in, you can do that. It’s a great strategy that can buy you some extra time to get more of your balls in the scoring hole. Be careful not to accidentally knock your opponent’s ball off the table when you do this.

Block your opponent’s scoring hole so they have to take a penalty. The great thing about this is that when your opponent accidentally knocks your ball into their scoring hole to get it out of the way, you get to automatically place 2 balls in your scoring hole! This is another excellent strategy to slow down your opponent while working on getting a few of your balls off the table.

Place your ball in the middle of the bumpers if you hit it off the table. Knocking your ball off the pool table is never a good thing, so there’s a penalty for it. Set your ball in the middle of the table right in the center of all the bumpers. It’s a lot harder to make a shot from that position. Similarly, if you knock your opponent’s ball off the table, place one of your balls in the center of the bumpers. Put your opponent’s ball back where it was before you knocked it off. In some variations, if you knock your ball off the table, your opponent can place your ball wherever they want and take 2 balls for their own score.

Steer clear of illegal jump shots. A jump shot is when you try to hit your cue ball so that it jumps over another ball or obstacle. You might be sorely tempted when you’re in a tricky situation, but bumper pool doesn’t allow jump shots. Some versions of the game state your opponent can place your ball wherever they want on the table if you do one. Remember to chat with your opponent beforehand about what set of rules you’ll follow. This should prevent any mid-game arguments from breaking out.

Avoid hitting your ball into your opponent’s scoring cup. Remember, your balls should go into the scoring hole on the opposite side of the table. If you accidentally hit your ball into the scoring hole on your side of the table, your opponent gets to place 2 balls into their scoring hole. Sometimes these things happen, so don’t be too hard on yourself if it does. Just concentrate on making your next shot and trying to win the game!