The game
10-ball is played with ten balls, in numerical order. Two things set it apart from 9-ball: you say in advance which ball you are playing into which pocket, and the 10 only counts once it is the last ball on the table.
The rack
The ten balls are racked tightly in a triangle. The 1 goes at the apex, on the foot spot, and the 10 sits in the middle of the triangle. The rest go in without any pattern.
Note the difference with 9-ball: there the spot moved to the middle ball in 2025, here it did not. In 10-ball the front ball still sits on the foot spot.
You will also see tables with a second spot, where the 10 goes on the foot spot. In Belgian competition that is done to make the game harder. It is not in the WPA rules; if you play by those, the 1 stays on the spot.
The break
Whoever wins the lag breaks. You place the cue ball behind the head string and you have to hit the 1 first. The break counts if a ball is pocketed, or if at least four object balls reach a cushion. If neither happens it is a foul.
You do not win with the 10 on the break: if it drops, it goes back on the foot spot and play carries on.
The break box
In official play the cue ball may not be placed anywhere in the kitchen for the break, but only inside a marked area: the break box. The same area as in 9-ball.
foot spot and line
A cross runs through the foot spot, with the long line carrying on to the short rail. If the 10 has to come back onto the table it belongs on the foot spot; if another ball is in the way, it moves back along that line, as close to the spot as possible.
Push out
Straight after the break the player at the table may play one push out. You announce it, and then you may send the cue ball wherever you like: you do not have to hit the lowest ball first and no cushion has to be reached. Your opponent then chooses whether to take the shot or hand it back to you.
Calling your shot
Every shot after the break is called: which ball, which pocket. How it gets there — off a cushion, off another ball — does not matter. If it is obvious you need say nothing; if your opponent is unsure, he may ask. Unlike 8-ball, there is no safety call in 10-ball.
Pocket a ball you did not call and it is not a foul. Your turn is over, the ball stays down, and your opponent chooses whether to shoot himself or hand it back to you.
Order of play
You always have to hit the lowest ball on the table first. Pocket the ball you called and you carry on, and anything that drops with it stays down — except the 10, which goes back on the spot.
Fouls
- pocketing the cue ball or driving it off the table
- hitting the cue ball with anything other than the tip
- hitting the cue ball twice
- pushing the cue ball instead of striking it
- not hitting the lowest ball first
- no cushion reached after contact, with no ball pocketed
- driving a ball off the table
After a foul your opponent gets ball in hand: the cue ball may be placed anywhere on the table. Three fouls in a row cost you the rack.
How the game ends
You win by calling and pocketing the 10 when it is the only ball left on the table. If it drops earlier — on a foul, on a push out, or off the table — it goes back on the foot spot and the game carries on.