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Five-pin billiards is a type of carom billiards played on a pocket-less table with three balls and cue sticks. The objective of the sport is to knock down the miniature bowling pins that are placed on the middle of the table.

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The game uses one red object ball, and two cue balls; one for each player. Four white pins and one red pin are used. The pins are placed at the center of the table, with the white pins arranged in a diamond shape and the red pin in the middle.

Points are scored by knocking the pins down. Points can be scored only if a player caroms the opponent's cue ball to strike the pins. Additional points are awarded if the opponent’s cue ball also caroms the red object ball.

The white pins score two points each. The red pin scores four points if white pins were also knocked in a shot, and carries 10 point if it's the only pin struck. If pins are knocked with a player's own cue ball, without first knocking the opponent’s cue ball, it results in a penalty, where points are awarded to the opponents.

Pickup games are usually played for 25 points and tournaments are played for 50 or 60 points.

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Similar Sports

• Carom Billiards — A cue sport played on a felt-covered table with cues and billiard balls, in which the object is to score points by caroming your cue ball off both the opponent's cue ball and the object ball(s) with a single shot.
• See Cue Sports (general)

Related Pages

• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports