PLAYING POOL AT CHEZ SANDRINE

Pool is the traditional Earth game of billiards dating back centuries calculating from the 24th century. There are no standard rules laid down for pool as played in bars, although various organisations of the 20th and 21st centuries (such as the American Poolplayers Association, the governing body of amateur pool in the USA) existed to regulate the playing of pool and the play variations. The pool table in the Chez Sandrine holoprogram is for the original Sandrine's pool table which has attracted the world's greatest hustlers throughout the century (which century Tom Paris, in [#6 The Cloud], does not say), and the pool table appears in, or it even features in, all the Chez Sandrine episodes except one (hence the pool table theme for this article's graphics and navigation image maps) namely [#116 Someone To Watch Over Me].

pool table in the holo-Sandrine's, [#6 The Cloud]

In [#15 Jetrel], hologram Gaunt Gary informs Tuvok, whom he calls "Vulcan Slim", that the pool table "rolls a little to the east", a fact known also to Tom Paris (whom he calls "Tom Terrific") but also not shared with Tuvok before he makes his shot when playing against Neelix.

Pool is seen being played by at least one member of the main crew, as follows:

	In [#6 The Cloud], the following play pool - Paris and Kim against each other, later Chakotay and others then also Janeway. In this episode, Kim invites Janeway to the holoprogram where she shows that she is a good player, after leading people to believe she is a beginner by, for instance, referring to the cue as a "stick", and impresses everyone by pocketing the 8-ball without looking while playing the shot! Paris against Kim Chakotay against Paris, interrupted Janeway pots the 8-ball without looking
	In [#15 Jetrel], Neelix plays Tuvok. Neelix plays a safety shot and Tuvok fluffs his shot despite hitting the cue ball logically due to not knowing the table rolls a little to the east. They are interrupted when Neelix is called to the Bridge.
	In [#16 Learning Curve], Neelix advises Tuvok to be more flexible in his attempt to tutor four difficult Maquis crewmembers and bring them up to form as regards Starfleet protocols. Tuvok follows Neelix's advice by playing Crewman Kenneth Dalby at pool in the Chez Sandrine holoprogram, but play is interrupted when Dalby angrily walks out.
	In [#40 Tuvix], Tuvix, the fused Tuvok-Neelix being who is created after a transporter malfunction, soundly beats Chakotay at pool. He is about to pocket the 8-ball when Chakotay suggests they continue play - "best out of five", suggests Chakotay - and when Kes enters and interrupts them. She indicates with a movement of her head that she wishes to talk with Tuvix, and she and Tuvix move to a table to talk alone together. Tuvix is soundly beating Chakotay at pool. Tuvix is about to play and nominates: "Eight ball, corner pocket." He hits the white so that it hits the eight ball, making it roll straight into the corner pocket. "That's game again, Commander."

Pool is played in the real Chez Sandrine, or rather the version which exists in an alternate reality visited by Harry Kim after he intersects a time-stream while in the Voyager shuttlecraft named Drake and ends up back on Earth having not, in this alternate reality, joined the Voyager crew. Kim visits the real place to speak to the alternate reality version of Tom Paris in the hope of persuading him to help Kim return to his original reality. There he finds the alternate reality Tom Paris playing pool. [#22 Non Sequitur]

Pool is not played in the Chez Sandrine holoprogram in [#35 Lifesigns], when the Doctor, Danara and Tom Paris are in the holoprogram at various times. Particularly, the pool table is not seen at all in one episode namely [#116 Someone To Watch Over Me]. In that episode, in 2375, the Doctor deletes the pool table in favour of a piano, changing the mood somewhat so that Chez Sandrine becomes a piano bar and, for the Doctor's purposes of tutoring Seven in social lessons specifically how to date, becomes, as he intended, a place more suited to a romantic night out.

The rack's design is different in episodes after [#6 The Cloud].

The version of pool which seems to be played in the holoprogram is the common 8-ball version.

Terms from pool are heard in dialogue during pool play in [Voyager] episodes as follows:

	rack A hollow three-dimensional triangle (made of wood, sometimes plastic) is used to rack up the balls i.e. assemble them in triangular formation ready for a game to commence. In [#6 The Cloud], Tom Paris tells Kim: "I'll rack 'em up, you pick out a cue." Paris does a nice spin of the triangle in his hands after he finishes racking the balls. Balls must be positioned so that the first ball (not necessarily the 1-ball), i.e. the "sharp" point of the triangle formation, is on the footspot, and this positioning tends to be included in the definition of "to rack". Balls can be racked in any ball number order except that a stripe ball must be in one corner (i.e. the "blunt" end of the triangle formation) and a solid ball must be in the other corner, and the 8-ball must be in the centre of the formation. There is a blooper in that Paris does not rack the balls correctly - noted on the page 'Blooper'.
	shot / shooting pool A play by a player using a cue to hit the cue ball (the white ball) to hit a solid or stripe (players nominate whether they plan to pocket the solid balls or stripe balls). Pool is a call shot game in that players indicate the nature of their shots e.g. that they plan to pocket a certain ball in a certain pocket. Obvious call shots are not always necessary. There are different types of shot depending on style. Bank shots and combination shots are not considered obvious, and players need to take care when calling both the object ball and the intended pocket. When calling the shot, it is never ever necessary to indicate details such as the number of cushions, banks, caroms, etc. (a carom is loosely a glancing rebound, specifically in pool a shot in which the cue ball contacts one object ball and then the other). In [#22 Non Sequitur], as Kim, in an alternate reality, enters the real Chez Sandrine in Marseilles on Earth, the alternate Tom Paris, who does not know him, calls out: "Hey, watch it, will you? I'm trying to set up a shot here." The opening play is not called a shot but a break. See below. See below for "safety" (safety shot). The term shot is also used as a verb, "shooting" as, for instance, when Paris walks in on Torres in a mysterious holoprogram looking for her after she is late for their lunch date, and he says: "Well, I expected to find you shooting pool at Sandrine's, not hanging out with Seska." [#67 Worst Case Scenario]
	break The opening shot. In [#16 Learning Curve], ready to play pool against Kenneth Dalby, Tuvok offers the break to Dalby (offering him the cue ball) who accordingly breaks and thus starts play.
	8-ball Each team (normally one person plays against another but in the sort of rowdy drink-fuelled amateur pool games I sometimes played in during university there might be umpteen players in a team!) nominates solids or stripes. If they nominate solids, they must try to pocket all the solids (these are ball numbers 1-7). If they nominate stripes, they must try to pocket all the stripes (ball numbers 9-15). The last ball that should be pocketed, to win the game, is the 8-ball (which is a solid), which is played by whichever player (regardless of whether they are shooting stripes or solids) first pockets all theirs. In [#6 The Cloud], Janeway wins the game by pocketing the 8-ball, after nominating the pocket by saying: "8-ball in the side pocket." and achieving the feat of successfully making the shot without looking! In [#32 Meld], Kim wins by pocketing the black in a corner pocket. In [#40 Tuvix], Tuvix is winning and will beat Chakotay if he successfully pockets the 8-ball, but the game is interrupted when Kes enters and wants to talk to Tuvix alone.
	cue The stick used for each shot, whereby the player holds the cue horizontally and hits the cue ball (the white ball that must always be on the table, and which is returned to the table if accidentally sent into a pocket or somehow goes off the table), aiming the cue ball at the solid ball or stripe ball that the player wishes to propel. In [#6 The Cloud], Tom Paris tells Kim as they go to start playing their first game together: "I'll rack 'em up, you pick out a cue." At the end of that episode, while making a surprise visit to the Chez Sandrine holoprogram, Janeway leads the gathered crewmembers to believe she has not played pool before when she asks Chakotay for his "stick" i.e. cue. He tells her it is called a cue. Actually she is a more than proficient pool player and pockets four solids with her break.
	safety (i.e. safety shot) For tactical reasons a player may choose to pocket an obvious object ball and also discontinue her/his turn at the table by declaring "safety" in advance. A safety shot is defined as a legal shot. If the shooting player intends to play safe by pocketing an obvious object ball, then prior to the shot, he must declare a "safety" to his opponent. If this is not done, and one of the shooter's object balls is pocketed, the shooter will be required to shoot again. Any ball pocketed on a safety shot remains pocketed. In [#15 Jetrel], hologram Gaunt Gary advises Neelix to play a safety against Tuvok. Neelix is uncertain at first, thinking it cowardly, but is persuaded to do so when the hologram warns that otherwise Tuvok would "run the table". Neelix prepares to play a safety shot

click for pop-up full-size animated image - woman racking the balls

click for pop-up full-size animated image - man chalking the cue

click for pop-up full-size animated image - man about to play a shot