Kelly Pool - Gameplay - Set Up

Set Up

At the start of kelly pool, the numbered markers (commonly called peas or pills, and sometimes tally balls or shake balls) are placed in a specially made, narrow-necked container (called variously a bottle, pea bottle, pill bottle, kelly bottle, tally bottle or shake bottle) which is shaken to randomly distribute them. Each player then draws a numbered pea from the bottle. The number of the pea drawn assigns to that player the correspondingly numbered object ball, which that player must keep secret from his opponents. The object of the game is for the player to legally pocket their assigned, undisclosed ball (sometimes called their "private number").

At the start of the game a standard set of fifteen pool object balls are racked at the foot end of a pool table, with the apex ball of the rack centered over the foot spot. Viewed from the racker's vantage point, the 1 ball is placed at the rack's apex, the 2 ball at the rack's right corner and the 3 ball at the rack's left corner (as in the game of rotation); all other object balls are placed randomly. An open break is required, meaning that at least four balls must be driven to rails (as opposed to a safety break, such as is used for the opening break in straight pool and one-pocket).