# Pool trick-shot **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2003, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547 "2003-10-15T10:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/1 "2003-10-15T10:53:41Z")
There’s this particular trick-shot in pool that looks simply amazing yet impossible to do. And I’m approaching the conclusion that the balls used in this shot are rigged. Anyway, I’ll try to describe how it goes: Two balls are placed side by side say, twelve inches directly behind the center pocket and the cue ball another six or so inches behind the pair. The player then proceeds to strike the cueball and it makes contact with the two balls (exactly where, I can’t remember, it happened too fast). So far so good? After the balls are struck they start spinning or orbitting around each other (like binary stars) still side by side and they continue to do so until they fall into the center pocket. I think this is rigged somehow. The balls could be attached together and one may be slightly lighter than the other so to make the ‘spinning-around-each-other-whilst-moving-forward-on-a-straight-path’ possible. So my question is this: Has anyone seen this shot done before? Is it physically possible to do without rigging the equipment? How? If anyone’s still confused with my description please let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/2 "2003-10-15T12:35:37Z")
I’m not sure if I understand what’s happening, but a lot of “impossible” trick shots rely on a masse shot. It puts an incredible amout of english on the ball and can causes it to change direction as soon as the foward momentem wares off (usually a few inches). When done well, it’s fun to watch, when not done well, you can tear the felt on the pool table. The easiest way to tell if someone is using a masse shot (other then the ball changing direction in the middle of the table) is that the cue is held almost perpendicular to the table. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/3 "2003-10-15T13:11:24Z")
If I’m understanding this shot right, the balls are spinning around each other like a propeller, right? I’ve seen a shot like this. Yes, it’s rigged. The balls are connected together. I mean, can you really think of any other way to make two balls behave in this way? ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/4 "2003-10-15T13:49:31Z")
**Joey P** , if I can remember correctly, I don’t think the guy masséd the cue ball, it was a straightforward strike. **pulykamell** , yes, that’s what I was trying to get at. I couldn’t think of any other way that this could be pulled off, which is why I posted in the first place! I think what got everyone amazed (if the balls truly were connected together) was that the player made people genuinely believe that they were ordinary. I guess I fell for it. ::browses ebay for “attached balls”:: ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/5 "2003-10-15T13:55:14Z")
The center pocket? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/6 "2003-10-15T14:47:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CurtC \* > \*\*The center pocket? \*\* The _side pocket_, as you may call it. To **green\_bladder** : Yes, the balls are rigged, no other way. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/7 "2003-10-15T14:54:59Z")
Also, [here’s](http://joewihit3.tripod.com/Billiards/Tricks.htm) a pretty comprehensive site for pool trick shots… ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/8 "2003-10-15T15:29:49Z")
A friend of mine, back in my league play days, had such a pair of balls (No giggling!) that he would occasionally slip into the rack during practice. Loads of laughs ensue… ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/9 "2003-10-15T17:56:38Z")
If you want tons of laughs, get a cue-ball that is weighted on one side. Depending on how you hit it and where you hit it you can get some wicked movement out of it. People catch on right away though. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-trick-shot/207547/10 "2003-10-16T00:25:58Z")
I believe that particular trick shot is described in _Byrne’s Standard Book of Pool and Billiards_. Or maybe it was on his videotape. In any event, the balls are in fact rigged. Drill a hole in each ball, insert a plastic or wooden rod with glue, and press the balls together. There is no other way to make a ball orbit in circles. The best a masse’ shot can do is reverse a cueball’s direction, but a cueball can only impart a very tiny fraction of its spin to an object ball, so the masse’ would have no effect on the balls being struck.