Ten-ball rules.

This page follows Section 6 of the WPA Rules of Play, effective 15 September 2025, which builds on the general rules. Ten-ball shares nine-ball's rotation order and push out, but it is a call-shot game, and that changes how both pocketing and safeties work.

Equipment and the rack

Ten-ball uses the cue ball and object balls 1 through 10. Under rule 6.2, they are racked in a triangle with the 1 at the apex on the foot spot, the 10 in the middle, and the other balls in no deliberate pattern. Playing Regulation 4 permits a Ball Rack Template for racking ten-ball. The WPA Playing Regulations describe that template as plastic no thicker than 0.14 mm that does not affect the table, and the general rule 3.15 makes it a foul if a template that has been removed from the playing surface gets in the way of play.

The CSI rules (4-2) are more specific about the rack: the 1 at the apex on the foot spot, the 10 in the middle of the three-ball row, and the 2 and 3 at the two ends of the back row.

Objective

The balls are played in ascending order, so the cue ball must first touch the lowest numbered ball on the table. You win the rack by legally pocketing the 10 when it is the last object ball left.

The break

You break from behind the head string (rule 6.3). If no ball is pocketed, at least four object balls must reach a rail, or the break is a foul. Unlike the WPA nine-ball section, the ten-ball section does not require any balls to cross the head string.

A 10 pocketed on the break does not win. Rule 6.8 has the 10 spotted before the next shot whenever it is driven off the table or pocketed on anything other than the final winning shot, and that includes the break. The CSI rules (4-3-3) agree: the 10 is spotted and the breaker's inning continues.

The push out

After the break, the push out works as it does in nine-ball (rule 6.4). You announce it, the wrong-ball-first and no-rail fouls are suspended for that shot, and your opponent then chooses who shoots next.

Calling shots

Every shot except the break must be called (rule 6.5). The general calling rules apply: name the ball and pocket unless both are obvious, and call banks and combinations when there could be confusion.

• No called safeties. Rule 6.5 does not allow you to declare a safety in ten-ball. This is one of the clearest differences from the general call-shot rules, which otherwise let you declare a safety before the shot.
• Called ball goes in. Any other balls pocketed on the same shot stay down, except the 10, and you keep shooting (rule 6.7).
• Something goes in, but not the called shot. If you pocket a ball without fouling but your called shot is not made, your opponent decides who shoots next (rule 6.6).
• Spotting. The 10 is spotted whenever it goes off the table or is pocketed on any shot other than the winning one. No other ball is ever spotted (rule 6.8).

Fouls and penalties

After a standard foul, your opponent gets cue ball in hand anywhere on the table (rule 6.9). Three consecutive fouls lose the rack (rule 6.10), and under rule 3.13 the three fouls must fall within the same rack and the player must be warned before the third. The CSI rules (4-9) also make three successive fouls a loss of game.

Winning

You win the rack by legally pocketing the 10 as the last object ball on a called shot, or when your opponent commits three consecutive fouls in the rack. After a stalemate, the player who broke that rack breaks again.

Ten-ball and nine-ball compared