Pool scratch rules for the cue ball, the 8, and the break

A scratch is the cue ball going down, and the next sentence depends on which card is on the wall. Bar pool often treats a scratch while the 8 is pocketed as loss of game. That often is the honest word. Bar cards are local, and two taverns on the same street can disagree about the break. The WPA rules of play effective 21 October 2026 do not use the bar sentence for a legal break. An 8 that falls on a legal break is spotted and the breaker accepts the table, or the breaker rebreaks. The rack continues.

This site's 8-ball uses a third sentence. A scratch while pocketing the 8 loses the rack. A scratch on the break, when the 8 also falls, loses as well. The cue ball and the 8 going down together is a loss here. A WPA legal break that only spots the 8 keeps playing. Say the room before you argue. The word scratch is shared. The winner is a different person under each card.

Six scratch checks

• Ask what a scratch on the 8 does, including on the break.
• On this table, that scratch loses the rack.
• Under WPA, a legal break 8 is spotted and accepted, or the breaker rebreaks.
• After a standard 9-ball foul, ball in hand is anywhere on the table.
• In one-pocket and bank pool, a scratch stays behind the head string.
• Treat a bar card as local. It is not the October 2026 WPA chapter.

Where the cue ball comes back is part of the scratch rule, and the games in the October 2026 WPA book do not share one square of cloth. After a standard foul in 9-ball, the incoming player has ball in hand anywhere on the table. In one-pocket, a scratch is ball in hand behind the head string, in the kitchen, and the cue ball may not be placed down-table. Bank pool uses that same kitchen limit on a scratch. A player standing at centre table with the cue ball is inside the 9-ball foul, and outside the one-pocket and bank-pool scratch.

8-ball on this site matches the anywhere side for an ordinary foul. Ball in hand means the whole bed. This page will not paste a kitchen rule onto a mid-rack foul on this table, and it will not invent a WPA 8-ball placement paragraph that the facts used here do not state. League night follows the card that league printed. The kitchen and the open bed are both real. They are real in different games.

A scratch is a foul with a named cue-ball penalty. It is not the fee. The fee lives on 8 ball pool online.

The other rule cards are the 8-ball card, 9-ball fouls, and a kitchen scratch. The group is the games of chance guides.

The match is the 8-ball table. A finished rack can be checked on the fairness page. Adults 18 and over only, and only where a stake is legal. Limits are on responsible gambling.

The break is where scratch arguments start, because the 8 can fall before anyone owns a group. On this site, the 8 on the break wins unless the cue ball scratches. That scratch loses the rack even though the 8 went in. People asking what happens if you scratch on the 8 ball are usually in this case, or in the later case where the 8 drops and the cue ball follows it. Both lose on this table. An early 8 loses too, and the wrong pocket loses, and those losses stand even when the cue ball stays up.

A WPA legal break keeps the rack alive. Spot the 8 and accept, or rebreak. A foul break that pockets the 8 gives the opponent options, and this page will not write a menu the cited facts do not list. A bar that calls every scratch on the 8 a loss is describing a house habit. It may match this site. It does not match the WPA legal break. Ask before the cue ball is struck.

A scratch that only hands over ball in hand is a foul. A scratch that ends the rack is a loss. This site draws that line at the 8. Ordinary fouls are ball in hand anywhere. The 8 with a scratch is the end. The shot clock is 30 seconds. Three timeouts forfeit the seat, which is another way to lose with the cue ball still on the cloth. The fee is 5% of the pot and the winner receives 95%. Stakes run from $1 to $50.

The cashier still only runs this 8-ball. It does not run 9-ball, 10-ball, straight pool, one-pocket, bank, cutthroat, or killer for money, so a scratch rule from those games is reading material rather than a button. The narrower 8-ball questions sat at about 260 and about 110. The counts explain the traffic. They do not merge the three rooms into one rule.