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Wish you could try your hand at another interesting indoor sport? Why not try out for Russian Pyramid billiards if you are in the mood for experimentation? Russian Pyramid is an variation of billiards and has rules and regulations quite different from the regular games of pool and snooker you are accustomed to playing.

Russian Pyramid billiards is played with 16 balls, of them 15 ivory-white in color and 1 red that serves as the cue ball with which the game starts. The balls are of 68 mm or 71 mm diameter. The standard size of the table used for this game is 12 ft, however, you can also play it on 7 ft, 8 ft or 9 ft table.

You need to choose an opponent if you are interested in trying out Russian Pyramid, or if you have a group of friends, divide them into two teams and start playing. The pockets on the table are only 2-4 mm larger than the balls. So be careful when hitting a ball, a foul could cost you a loss of a hard-earned win.

You can win a game of Russian Pyramid billiards after you have pocketed 8 balls.

Photo © Roman Lukmanov - Fotolia.com

Russian pyramid is popularly known as pyramid or Russian billiards or Russian Pool. Though name is quite same but the rules of the game differ from the conventional western game of billiards.

There are different variations of Russian pyramid played. However, the most common of them are Free Pyramid or American Pyramid, Combined Pyramid or Moscow Pyramid and Dynamic or Petersburg Pyramid. All three games are played with white balls which are racked on the table in the shape of pyramid. The opening player hits this pyramid with the cue ball.

Thumb rule for all three games is that all eight balls must be pocketed in order to win the game. But in case of American pyramid, the players can use any ball as the cue one. However, in Moscow and Petersburg pyramid only one ball can be used as cue. After scoring when the player pockets the ball, he or she must remove one white ball from the table. In Moscow Pyramid, the cue ball is placed in baulk and player needs to pocket the balls only in far corner and side. And in Petersburg pyramid, the cue ball can be placed at any part of pool table by the player, but cue ball may not be pocketed.

Photo © Anatoly Vartanov - Fotolia.com