Game guide · Pool
Rotation 61: every ball scores, sequence controls the table.
Always contact the lowest ball first. Every legally pocketed ball scores its number, and the first player to 61 owns more than half the available total.
- 2.54 × 1.27 m
- 9-foot playing surface
- 15 object balls
- Numbers 1 through 15
- 120 points
- Total on the table
- 61 points
- Immediate majority
What kind of game is Rotation 61?
Rotation is a classic sequence game. The cue ball must contact the lowest-numbered ball remaining on the table first. Every ball pocketed during a legal stroke adds its face value to the score.
Carambole uses the familiar race to 61. All ball values total 120, so an opponent cannot overtake a player who has reached 61. The mode is presented as a club format, not as a current WPA championship discipline.
Turns and legal scoring
Always contact the lowest ball first. A legal combination may then pocket another ball. If the 13 falls after a legal lowest-ball contact, you score thirteen points and continue.
The turn changes without a legal pot. Early low balls may therefore matter far beyond their face value: they define the contact line and open or block combinations toward the valuable high balls.
- Contact the lowest ball first.
- Each legally pocketed ball scores its number.
- Values of multiple legal pots are added together.
- Continue after scoring; the turn changes without points.
Rack and equipment
Rotation uses all fifteen numbered pool balls plus the white cue ball. Traditional racks place the 1 at the apex and selected high balls in prescribed positions, but local rules differ.
Carambole creates its rack automatically. This guide therefore does not use a generated rack image as rule evidence; the executable in-game layout is the concrete reference for this variant.
Fouls
- The lowest ball is not contacted first.
- The cue ball enters a pocket.
- After first contact, no ball is pocketed and no ball reaches a cushion.
- A ball pocketed during a foul scores no points.
- The opponent receives ball in hand under Carambole's pool-rule foundation.
Why the game ends at 61
The numbers 1 through 15 add up to 120. Once one player has 61, no more than 59 can remain for the opponent. The mathematical majority is fixed and the rack need not continue.
High-ball combinations are valuable, but only when the chance and resulting position justify the attempt. A failed attack can offer the same high score to the opponent.
How Carambole implements Rotation
The simulator tracks lowest-ball first, a legal cushion or pot after contact, scratches, ball in hand and the sum of every legally pocketed ball. The first player to 61 wins immediately.
Because Rotation has local and historical variants, this guide stays deliberately tied to the playable Carambole version rather than implying a current WPA status that does not exist.
Sources and verification
Content last verified on 8 August 2026. In official competition, the current governing rulebook takes precedence.
Put the theory on the table.
Choose the discipline in Carambole and practise the rules without a download.