The player’s game score is the total of the scores for these 10 innings. When playing on separate tables, or in separate locations as in an internet competition, the player order is determined by the Tournament Director as appropriate and practical for the situation; this includes the option of playing the entire 10 innings and reporting the scores to the Tournament Director at the end of the game. In each inning, the player scores points until he either misses or succeeds in shooting all 15 balls. Five-pins integrates some of the target-shooting aspects of pool, snooker, etc. (perhaps via the influence of English billiards) into carom billiards, which is otherwise oriented at scoring carom points. Learning to play 9-ball pool is not difficult and is a fun, fast-paced billiards game to enjoy. Play against the computer AI/Player with standard 8 ball rules or 9 ball rules. 3. BALLS USED: A standard set of balls, 1-15, plus the cue ball. A beginner (say someone who typically scores less than 100 should simply try to pocket all the balls he can randomly; if he gets to a point where he knows a cluster is going to stop the run, or if he runs down to the last two or three balls, only then should he consider flipping the coin.

The red pin is usually worth eight points, if it is the only pin knocked down (by the ball going between the set of pins and narrowly missing all of the whites). The red pin is worth four points, if white pins were also knocked over. Otherwise (i.e., if the 8 ball is neither pocketed nor knocked off the table), the shooter's turn is simply over, even if a foul occurs. Unlike in many games, shots are always taken in rotation - the same player or team never shoots twice in a row even if they have scored (other than if the opponent fouled before actually shooting when their turn came up, such as by moving one of the balls accidentally). Two whites are aligned along the center string with the head and foot spots, as well as the rail diamonds in the center of the head and foot rails, and with the red object ball, and red pin. If both a casin and a carambola are achieved in the same shot, only the earliest of the two to occur earns points; they are not combined, though either may still combine with points scored from pins.

If a player fouls three consecutive times on three successive shots without making an intervening legal shot, the game is lost. If a player pockets any ball on a legal shot, he remains at the table for another shot, and continues until missing, committing a foul, or winning the game by pocketing the 9-ball. After a miss, the incoming player must shoot from the position left by the previous player, but after any foul the incoming player may start with the cue ball anywhere on the table. Play continues until one player or team wins by being the first to achieve or exceed a specific number of points (usually 50 or 60), either agreed upon beforehand by the players, or set by tournament organizers. Knocking any ball off the table; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points (the ball is spotted in its starting position, or as close to this position as possible, unless it was the now-incoming opponent's cue ball, Rules of 9 Ball Billiards which as noted is in-hand). Hitting the pins directly with the shooter's cue ball before any contact with the opponent's cue ball; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points (the erstwhile value of the knocked-over pins is not calculated at all).

In order to score, the incoming player or team must stroke the assigned cue ball (sometimes called the battente or "clapper") to carom off the opponent's cue ball (sometimes called the "receiver") - either directly or off a cushion - with the goal of secondarily having the opponent's cue ball, directly or by way of rebounding off a cushion, next hit the pins and/or the red object ball (sometimes called the pallino ("bullet") or "jack", terms common to several other games, such as bocce). The goal of the game is to earn a required number of points, before one's opponent does, by using one's cue ball to cause the opponent's cue ball to knock over pins (and to not do so with one's own cue ball), and by contacting the red object ball with either cue ball, after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent, and/or by causing the object ball to knock over pins, again after one's own cue ball has contacted that of the opponent.