Five-pin billiards


Five-pin billiards or simply five-pins or 5-pins, is today usually a carom billiards form of cue sport, though sometimes still played on a pocket table. In addition to the customary three balls of most carom games, it makes use of a set of five upright pins arranged in a "+" pattern at the center of the table. The game is popular especially in Italy and Argentina, but also in some other parts of Latin America and Europe, with international, televised professional tournaments. It is sometimes referred to as Italian five-pins or Italian billiards, or as . A variant of the game, goriziana or nine-pins, adds additional skittles to the formation. A related pocket game, with larger pins, is played in Scandinavia and is referred to in English as Danish pin billiards, with a Swedish variant that has some rules more similar to the Italian game.

History

Until the late 1980s, the game was a form of pocket billiards, known in English as Italian skittle pool, and was principally played in pubs, with an object ball that was smaller than the two cue balls. Professional and regulated amateur play today exclusively uses pocketless tables and equal-sized balls. Professional competition began in 1965, and play is centered in billiard parlors, with players competing in provincial, regional, and national federations. The pocket version is still favored by some in amateur play.

Equipment and setup

The regulation game is played on a less normal carom billiards table, with standardized playing surface dimensions of 1.42 by 2.84 m, plus/minus 5 mm, from to cushion. The slate of the table must be heated to about 5 degrees C above room temperature, which helps to keep moisture out of the cloth to aid the balls rolling and rebounding in a consistent manner, and generally makes the table play "faster". In informal play, an unheated table is often used.
Like most other carom games, five-pins requires three standard carom billiard balls of equal diameter: a red, a for the first player or team, and another cue ball for the second player or team. Ball sets vary by manufacturer, but typically are white for first and yellow for second, or plain white for first and white with a spot for second. The balls are 61.5 mm. The white cue ball is given to the starting player, who may place it anywhere on the head side of the table —i.e., anywhere unobstructed between the and the. The red object ball is placed at the center of the cue ball of the opponent is placed on the long string, in a position that can be labelled the "foot rail spot", 10 cm from the.
As the name implies, the game makes use of five upright pins called skittles in English, birilli in Italian and quillas in Spanish, which look like miniature bowling pins, tall, and with round, flat-bottomed bases. There are traditionally four white pins, and one red. The red pin is placed on the , and the four white pins are placed equidistant from the red in a square diamond pattern around it. Two whites are aligned along the center string with the and s, as well as the rail diamonds in the center of the head and foot rails, and with the red object ball, and red pin. Meanwhile, the other two whites are placed on the, aligned with the diamonds in the center of the long rails, and again with the red pin. The whites are spaced just far enough away from the red that a cue ball can pass between the pins without touching any of them. The final pattern looks like a "+", as shown in the adjacent diagram. This arrangement of pins on the table is referred to as the "castle". Tables have the precise castle positions for the pins, and for the starting positions of the balls, permanently marked, as they must be placed back into position before every shot if any have been knocked over or moved.
Each player uses a cue stick to shoot the appropriate cue ball; average cue length is 140 cm A may be used to reach long shots.

Rules

Though there are variants in Central and South America, the Italian five-pins rules are the best codified. Because the [|Italian-rules championships] organized by the Italian Federation of Billiard Sport are international, televised events, and often hosted outside of Italy, the FIBiS rules are the global de facto standard, and have been incorporated into the rules promulgated by the Union Mondiale de Billard.

Object

The goal of the game is to earn a required number of points, before one's opponent does, by using one's cue ball to cause the opponent's cue ball to knock over pins, and by contacting the red object ball with either cue ball, after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent, and/or by causing the object ball to knock over pins, again after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent.

Play

The game is played by two players or by two teams. Determining who goes first can be done by any means. Each player or team is assigned one of the two cue balls; this is the only cue ball they may hit with the cue stick. The first player or team always uses the white cue ball, the opponent the other ball. Unlike in many games, shots are always taken in rotation – the same player or team never shoots twice in a row even if they have scored. Play continues until one player or team wins by being the first to achieve or exceed a specific number of points, either agreed upon beforehand by the players, or set by tournament organizers. In informal play, the number is often lower, such as 25.
In order to score, the incoming player or team must the assigned cue ball to off the opponent's cue ball — either directly or off a cushion — with the goal of secondarily having the opponent's cue ball, directly or by way of rebounding off a cushion, next hit the pins and/or the red object ball.
Unlike in the major carom game three-cushion billiards, there is no requirement to hit one or more cushions at any time.

Scoring

Knocking over pins, by any of the acceptable prescribed manners, earns cumulative points as follows:
The acceptable means of knocking over pins include any that result from hitting the opponent's object ball first with one's own, and not hitting the pins with one's own cue ball. For example, one can simply send the opponent's cue ball into the pins, send the opponent's cue ball into the red object ball and have the object ball hit the pins, or hit the opponent's cue ball and then the object ball with one's own cue ball and send the object ball into the pins.
The object ball itself is also worth points:
The game has some unique to its ruleset, as well as the usual fouls of billiards games. All fouls nullify any points the shooter would have earned on the foul shot, and award the opponent free points.
Five-pins integrates some of the target-shooting aspects of pool, snooker, etc. into carom billiards, which is otherwise oriented at scoring carom points.
and are essential when attempting to score, with the goal of leaving the balls in such a position that the incoming opponent is and will have a difficult,, or shot to perform.
Because kicks and banks are so common, players must be more skilled at these shots than they would need to be for most other cue sports. The game also requires a good understanding of and the effects of "" on the cue ball.

World Championship 5 Pins National Teams

Organized by the Union Mondiale de Billard, and inaugurated in 2019, the World Championship 5 Pins National Teams is an international event. Italy won the first edition for national teams of 5 pins in Lugano.

World 5 Pins National Teams Champions

World Five-pins Championship

Inaugurated in 1965, the World Five-pins Championship is an international event, hosted to date in various places in Italy, Argentina, Switzerland and Spain. It is semi-annual; many years since its inception have not featured such a tournament. As of early 2008, there have been twenty such tournaments. There are various divisions, including youth, women, men, teams, and a one-on-one open championship.

World Open Champions

DateLocationWinnerNationality
1965Santa Fe, ArgentinaManuel GómezARG
1968Bell Ville, ArgentinaAnselmo BerrondoURU
1975Campione d'Italia, ItalyDomenico AcanforaITA
1978Bell Ville, ArgentinaRicardo FantasiaARG
1979Pesaro, ItalyAttilio SessaITA
1980Necochea, ArgentinaNéstor GómezARG
1982Loano, ItalyNéstor GómezARG
1983Marcos Juárez, ArgentinaMiguel Ángel BorrelliARG
1985Spoleto, ItalyGiampiero RosannaITA
1987Milan, ItalyCarlo CifalàITA
1989Chiasso, SwitzerlandGustavo TorregianiARG
1990Brescia, ItalyGustavo TorregianiARG
1992Arezzo, ItalyGiampiero RosannaITA
1993Bolivar, ArgentinaFabio CavazzanaITA
1995Fiuggi, ItalyGustavo ZitoITA
1998Ferrara, ItalyDavid MartinelliITA
1999Necochea, ArgentinaGustavo ZitoITA
2003Legnano, ItalyCrocefisso MaggioITA
2006Seville, SpainMichelangelo AnielloITA
2008Sarteano di Siena, ItalyAndrea QuartaITA
2009Villa María, ArgentinaGustavo TorregianiARG
2015Milan, ItalyMatteo GualemiITA
2017Necochea, ArgentinaAlejandro MartinottiARG

Five-pins Pro World Cup

Organized by , the Five-pins Pro World Cup, was a semi-annual event begun in 1993, and discontinued after 1997. In only one year were both the Pro World Cup and the World Championships held. The event was a one-on-one invitational championship, without other divisions.

Pro World Cup Champions

DateLocationWinnerNationality
1993Cannes, FranceSalvatore MannoneITA
1994Saint-Vincent, ItalyGustavo Adrian ZitoARG
1996Saint-Vincent, ItalyDavid MartinelliITA
1997Todi, ItalyGustavo Adrian ZitoITA

Nine-pin variant (''goriziana'')

A professionally competitive version known as goriziana adds four additional outer pins to the "+" pattern, and has a more complicated scoring system. Goriziana itself also has multiple amateur rules variants.

In popular culture

Five-pins is a major plot point of the Italian-produced, English-language drama/romance film Bye Bye Baby, which stars Brigitte Nielsen as a professional player. The movie does not focus on five-pins, but does demonstrate many aspects of the game clearly in a few sequences.