page_title: Nine-ball
section_title: European alterations
hierarchical_section_title: Nine-ball / Rules / European alterations
caption_attribution_description: Illustration of the "break box" in European nine-ball, and its relation to other pool table features such as the "kitchen" and the head string.
context_page_description: Nine-ball is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game is traceable to origins in the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick, players must strike the white cue ball to pocket nine colored billiard balls in ascending numerical order. An individual game is won by the player pocketing the 9-ball. Matches are usually played as a race to a set number of racks, with the player who reaches the set number winning the match.
  The game is currently governed by the World Pool-Billiard Association, with multiple regional tours. The most prestigious nine-ball tournaments are the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, and the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championships. Notable players in the game include Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Thorsten Hohmann, Earl Strickland, and Shane Van Boening. The game is often associated with hustling and gambling, with tournaments often having a "buy-in" amount to become a participant. The sport has featured in popular culture, notably in the 1961 film The Hustler and its 1986 sequel The Color of Money.
context_section_description: As of the 2000s, the rules have been somewhat in flux in certain contexts, especially in Europe.  The European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF), the WPA-affiliate in Europe, has instituted a requirement on the Euro Tour is that the break shot be taken from a "break box" a rectangular box smaller than the regular nine-ball breaking area. While making the money ball on breaks are still possible, they are much more difficult with the break box. This was later used on the annual international Mosconi Cup tournaments. Another Mosconi Cup rule change in 2007 called for racking such that the 9-ball rather than the 1-ball is on the foot spot, which further stops overpowered break-off shots.
caption: An image showing the break box used on the Euro Tour. This box limits the areas in which a break can be played from.
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