Italian billiards rules (5 pins)

Five pins (“cinque birilli”) is the most popular discipline of Italian billiards. Two people play on a table without pockets, with three balls and five pins. The aim is to send your opponent’s ball onto the pins and the red ball, without knocking the pins down with your own ball.

In short: always hit your opponent’s ball first. Pins knocked down by their ball are your points; pins knocked down by your ball are your opponent’s points. The first to reach the agreed score (usually 50) wins.

The table, the balls and the castle

• Two cue balls, one white and one yellow: each player has their own and only shoots that one.
• The red ball (“pallino”), which starts in the centre of the half of the table opposite the player who breaks.
• The castle: five pins arranged in a cross in the middle of the table, four white ones at the sides and a red one in the centre.

A legal shot

Each turn you strike your own ball with the cue, and it must touch your opponent’s ball first. After that anything can happen: your opponent’s ball can end up on the pins or the red ball, your own ball can hit the cushions. If your ball reaches your opponent’s ball after touching one or more cushions, it is a kick shot (indirect shot); otherwise it is a direct shot.

After every shot the turn passes to the other player, even when you score.

What each shot is worth

Points add up. For example: your opponent’s ball knocks down two white pins and the red one, then touches the red ball: 2 + 2 + 4 + 3 = 11 points.

Watch out for pins knocked down by your own ball: if your cue ball knocks down even one pin in a shot, all the points of that shot go to your opponent.

Fouls

It is a foul when your cue ball:

• does not touch your opponent’s ball;
• touches a pin before your opponent’s ball;
• touches the red ball before your opponent’s ball.

For a foul your opponent receives 2 penalty points (4 if you hit the red ball first), plus any pins knocked down in the shot. They also get ball in hand: they can pick up their ball and place it wherever they want within the area allowed by the rules before shooting. If the red ball was hit first, it goes back to its starting spot.

How to win

The winner is the first to reach the score agreed at the start: 30, 50 or 60. Points can also come from your opponent’s fouls, so attacking is not enough: you also need to leave your ball in a difficult position for the next player. This is positional play, which separates beginners from experienced players.

Tips for beginners

• Before thinking about the pins, make sure you touch your opponent’s ball: every foul is points given away.
• Keep your ball’s path away from the castle: knocking down pins with your own ball is the most expensive mistake.
• Learn the ball fractions (full, three-quarter, half, quarter): they decide where your opponent’s ball goes.
• Use little power and little spin until you control the stroke well.

The names of the most common shots, from the filotto to the rinquarto, are explained on the billiard shots page.

These are the rules applied in the game, based on the rules of the Italian Sports Billiards Federation (FIBiS). Local variations can be found in billiard halls and clubs.