Pitchnut
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into Pichenotte and Talk:Pichenotte#Merge. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2007. |
Pitchnut is a tabletop game derived from pichenotte, and similar to carrom, with mechanics that lie somewhere between pocket billiards and shuffleboard.
Origins
Very little about the history of the game has been written. Wayne Kelly cites that the game is one of many efforts to combine crokinle with pichenotte, the Canadian version of carrom. Two boards (which were built in Connecticut in the 1960's by members of the Blain family) are known to exist in Massachusetts today. A recent research trip to Quebec by Lee Larcheveque did not turn up any sings of pitchnut having originated in Canada. A similar board was patented in 1893 by E.L. Williams, but that game board had 8 pegs in the center of the board (like crokinole) but had only one peg in front of each pocket. Wayne Kelly's crokinole.com web site shows an image of a board that looks very similar to pitchnut, but the pegs in front of the pockets take the form of a wicket through which the players had to shoot their pieces, according to Mr. Kelly.
Equipment
The game is played on a wooden board, normally 28 inches square. It differs from carrom and pichenotte boards in that it has a 2-inch gutter along the entire circumference of the board. Eric Harbec, a pichenotte player in Sherbrooke, Quebec, theorizes that the recessed gutters were added to direct playing pieces toward the pockets. In Carrom or pichenotte, a pieces that is struck will not be guided towards the pockets. Pitchnut also has 4 pegs (or "screws") in the center of the board and two pegs in front of each pocket. The game is played with small disks (crokinole pieces or wooden checkers).
The object of the game is to finger-flick a comparatively heavy disk, called a striker, shooter or pitch, such that it contacts lighter object disks and propels them into one of four corner pockets. The pieces come in two sets, usually white and black, denoting the two players (or, in doubles play, teams). An additional piece is colored (red and green are common) and called the "poison", which is the puck equivalent of the "Template:Eight Ball" in pool games.
Rules
The goal is to sink all of one's object pieces and the "poison" before one's opponent does.
Play begins with alternating black and white pieces (nuts) in a ring, in the center of the board. Five pieces fit between each screw. The odd colored piece (poison) is placed in the center of the board.
The object pieces must be struck with the "pitch", or shooter. Half of the pitch must remain behind each player’s home line. The pitch must be returned to the home line after each shot. The pitch may be completely behind your line or may be placed in the side gutters.
The pitch is concave on one side. This prevents the shooter from spinning as it travels. This side should slide against the board. The pitch must lie flat and cannot be shot from its side or rolled. The pitch may not be placed on top of other pieces.
The pitch is usually shot with the index or middle finger and thumb in a flicking action ("pichenette" in French). The pitch may be pushed briefly with a finger, in a shoving motion, without the use of the thumb, but may not be pushed or dragged with the finger ("carried") across the board.
The winner of an opening coin toss gets to choose who breaks. If a game has just concluded, the loser breaks.
If the poison is sunk on the break, the breaker instantly wins, unless they pocket the shooter also (a "scratch"), in which case the breaker loses automatically.
One may carom the pitch off of one's opponent's pieces, including when shooting the "poison" at the end of the game, unlike American pool, where the 8-ball must be hit directly.
If the pitch is scratched, by being pocketed or launched off the board, this is a foul, and one of the shooting player's pieces is removed from a pocket (if any have been pocketed yet; if not, a piece is "owed", such that the first piece that player sinks in a subsequent turn must be unpocketed), and placed in the center of the board ("spotted"), and that player's turn ends. If a piece is already at the center of the board, the penalty piece is placed on top of it. Several pieces may be stacked in the center of the board.
The board remains open until one player has legally pocketed one object piece, either white or black, or more of one color than the other in the same shot, in which case that player must continue to shoot for that color for the rest of the game, and the opponent the other color; thus the board may be open or not after the break shot, depending on whether object pieces were pocketed. If an even number of each color are pocketed on the first shot to pocket object pieces, the board is still "open". If the pitch is scratched on the same shot (including a break shot) that also pockets the first object pieces to be pocketed, a future piece is owed as with any other scratch, and the board remains open regardless of what was pocketed. When this happens on the break, if the opponent misses and the original, fouling player pockets one or more pieces, one piece is spotted and the board remains open.
If a player pockets an object piece, that player shoots again (and thus, with good or lucky shooting, can win the game by "running out" from the break shot onward, with the opponent never having an opportunity to shoot at all.) Upon a miss or foul, it becomes the opponent's turn.
Legally pocketing two of one's own object pieces (a "double" or "dubs") earns one an extra turn (i.e., the player shoots again after missing). Pocketing three (a "triple") in one shot earns two bonus turns, and so on.
If one pockets an equal number (one of more) of one's own and the opponent's pieces (regardless of the order they are hit or pocketed) on the same shot, this ends one's turn (but see above; the player may have earned extra turns already, and thus might still be the shooting player). If a scratch also occurred, only one's own piece is spotted. If one pocketed two of one's own and one of the opponent pieces, one's turn does not end, even if one also scratched, due to the bonus turn earned by the double (though in the case of a scratch one of one's pieces must be spotted).
The poison must be the only piece pocketed to win the game. A scratch when shooting for the poison is not a loss of game if the poison is not pocketed also; it is simply a scratch. If the poison is pocketed and a scratch (into a pocket or off of the board) occurred on the same shot, the shooting player loses the game. If an opponent's piece is also pocketed on the same shot as the poison, this too is a loss of game.
Variant rules
Some variations for beginners include spotting but not losing one's turn on a scratch, and/or shooting again if the shot completely misses all object pieces.
See also
External links
- Official Pitchnut Website - contains rules, events, news, Gallery
- Official Alfred Pitchnut League - Alfred University's Pitchnut Club