The game is played on a
six pocket table with a standard set of fifteen numbered and
colored and a white . During the game's peak popularity from the 1870s to the 1880s, the object balls were uniformly red, though now a standard set of multi-color solids-and-stripes pool balls are used. Object balls are racked in a triangle with the 15-ball as the ball, placed at the . Behind it are the other high numbered balls with the rest in the back rows, usually in descending order. A number on a ball pocketed by a player on a legal shot scores that number of points and entitles shooter to continue at the table until failing to do so. The object is to be the first player to score at least 61 points (this being more than half of the total of all the ball numbers combined), to win a . If there are more than two players, a frame is won by the player having the highest number of points when all the balls have been pocketed. In 1880, a rule was introduced to discourage , which requires the cue ball to make contact with an object ball in each shot, and either cause an object ball to be pocketed, or at least one ball to hit a cushion. Failure to meet this condition results in a . Three points are subtracted for each foul, and three consecutive fouls will cost a player the frame. Because scoring depends not on the number of balls pocketed, but on the point values of the balls pocketed, it is possible to sink twice the number of balls as the opponent and still lose the frame. ==Legacy==