Trick shot

A trick shot (also trickshot or trick-shot) is a shot played on a billiards table (most often a pool table, though snooker tables are also used), which seems unlikely or impossible or requires significant skill. Trick shots frequently involve the balls organized in ways that are unlikely or impossible to appear in normal play, such as balls being in a straight line, or use props such as extra cues or a triangle that would not be allowed on the table during a game. As an organized cue sports discipline, trick shot competition is known as artistic pool.
Competition formats.
Billiards trick shots are the subject of increasing international competition, both amateur and professional. There are world championships, such as the WPA Artistic Pool World Championships and the World Snooker Trickshot Championship (which has not been held since 2006), and made-for-TV events, such as "Trick Shot Magic" and the "World Cup of Trick Shots", often televised in both the US and the UK and providing enough prize money that some professional players specialize in the discipline.
The formats vary depending on the competition. Some, such as the World Snooker Trickshot Championship are purely exhibitions, with a panel of judges scoring subjectively to determine the winner.
Events such as Trick Shot Magic and the World Cup feature head-to-head competition where the players select shots that have strictly outlined requirements specified in a playbook. Each year, players are allowed to submit their own shot inventions, however, they are disclosed prior to the event to give all players an equal chance to practice them. Players or teams are given two attempts to complete a selected shot within the given parameters, and earn one point for each successful shot, either a first shot or follow-up shot. Each player or team gets to select a given number of shots, generally eight or ten, and a winner is declared when one side is mathematically eliminated. Trick Shot Magic, ESPN's annual artistic pool pro tournament, has been widely considered the televised version of the World Artistic Pool Championship, and it has held the highest ratings in televised cue sports competitions in the United States between 2000 and 2009.
Artistic pool similarly "(see below)" has a (three attempts each, in a sliding-scale point system), with precisely outlined parameters requirements.
The Ultimate Trick Shot Tour features head-to-head competition between two players with no pre-defined shots. Players challenge each other with shots outlining the parameters of the shots just before shooting. Each player gets three attempts per shot, scoring one point per shot made. Each player gets to select a given number of shots, generally six to ten, and the winner is declared when one player is mathematically eliminated.
Artistic pool.
Artistic pool trick shot competitions, inspired by the related discipline of artistic billiards, began in the 1970s with international pros and coordinated by world champion Paul Gerni, with the World Trick Shot Artists Association, and in 2000, in Las Vegas, formed a new group, again with an international cast. They feature a program of 160 tricks to attempt, many of which were used in the previous formats by the WTSAA, and include the BCA North American Championship, EPBF European Championship, and WPA World Championship, among others. The tricks are now divided into eight "disciplines", including trick/fancy, prop/novelty/special arts, and disciplines for extremes in each of the core cueing techniques. The current world governing body for this sport is the WPA Artistic Pool Division, while the current largest league and player organization is the US-based Artistic Pool & Trick Shot Association (APTSA), which organizes the World Artistic Pool Championship (WAPC) annually, held concurrently with the more general VNEA International Pool Championship. The greatest contemporary champions of artistic pool include 22-time World Champion Paul Gerni, and more recently, Mike Massey, Andy Segal, and Tom Rossman.
In WTSAA and APTSA competitions, competitors would have three chances to successfully perform each trick, earning full points if they are successful on their first attempts and incrementally reduced points for subsequent attempts. Each shot has an associated difficulty rating (also the point value) with a higher rating being more difficult. A preliminary round of 40 shots is performed, and the top players (the number varies depending on the number of competitors, but usually the top 12) proceed into a head-to-head playoff format to determine the winner. Proper and official artistic pool competitions feature equipment limitations, (one cue, one stroke per trick shot, one approved universal prop per shot per diagram if necessary, all shots on the bed of the table, etc.), and shot requirements (e.g., preclusion of any off-the-table tricks, such as are popular in events like Trick Shot Magic and World Cup of Trick Shots).
Objects used.
As with other pool and billiards games, trick shots usually utilize a , one or more , and a cue stick. However, many props can be used in trick shots including bottles, drinking glasses, baskets, coins, ball racks, cue tip chalk, and other billiards- and non-billiards-related equipment. Props are used to change the difficulty of the shot or add aesthetic value. As with artistic billiards pros, trick shot artists often have specialized cue sticks for performing particular types of shots, particularly and massés.
Disciplines of trick shots.
The APTSA trick shot disciplines are:
In popular culture.
Various trick shot competitions (sometimes with footage dating back years) remain among the most dominant of ESPN's pool-related programming, and the World Snooker Trickshot Championship has enjoyed notable popularity in the UK. The British TV game show "Big Break", which ran from 1991 to 2002, featured a round each week called "Virgo's Trick Shot". John Virgo would demonstrate a snooker trick shot which the contestant would then attempt to copy. The show also aired eight trick shot specials between 1995 and 1999.
Trick shots appear frequently in films and television. Perhaps the most outlandish case would be in BBC Two's science fiction comedy TV series "Red Dwarf", episode "White Hole", in which the character Dave Lister uses his pool-playing skills to play a trick shot at an astronomical level in order to save the ship, using a thermonuclear device as a "cue" and planetary bodies as "balls". Most pool-themed films, such as "Poolhall Junkies" with a scene involving a high-stakes wager on a , include difficult shots that some might classify as trick shots. Another example might be the character Vince pocketing the nine-ball when asked to, in the film version of "The Color of Money".