Chibollita

Dan S. again made the long drive
to Mikie's Fun House
for some Friday night pool
but this time I had a special surprise for him:
El Maestro himself!

Instead of the three of us playing 9 ball,
which would have been Dan and I alternating
while Tony kept possession of the table,
we were treated to some of the games
Tony played while growing up in Honduras.

First on the list was "chibollita"
(pill pool for the rest of us)
where you draw a numbered pill from the bottle
and try to sink that ball to win.
The kink in this game is that
you must hit the closest ball to the cue ball first.
Try it, you'll like it!

After a dozen games of chibollita,
we played the Honduran version of pool.
According to Tony,
it's really the only thing they play.
It's 15 ball rotation,
but instead of starting with the balls racked,
the one ball goes on the foot spot
the two ball on the foot rail inline with the one,
and the 3 thru 15 on the rails
frozen at the diamonds, like this:



This is a seriously challenging game!
Safety not allowed. No ball in hand.
Play fouls where they lie.
Scratches get ball in hand behind headstring,
and must shoot forward.
If you hit a ball out of rotation,
you get "bad points" equal to the ball you hit.
Same penalty for missing the lowest ball.

I should take a line or two to thank Dan.
He always brings some tasty treat
that goes perfectly with a coffee break
midway thru the session.
In addition, this time he brought a book
for me to read.
It's a non-fiction thriller 628 pages long.
It didn't take me long to see thru that gambit.
If I'm spending my time reading,
I can't be practicing my pool game!
Dan's cunning plan will never work.
All I read is pool books.
;o)

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