User:Qballer

Billyard
Billyard is a recreational sport created by Nick Cox and Chris Copplestone, two undergraduate students belonging to the Quadrangle Club. Created in January 2007, the game is played by throwing a series of billiard balls off of the Quadrangle Club's balcony and into a large garbage bin situated in the center of the club's back yard. To date there are 8 active members of the fledgling Quadrangle Billyard Club.

Setup
One large, hinge-topped garbage bin, with an opening approximately 2.5 feet square, is placed near the center of the Quadrangle Club's back yard. The bin is leaned slightly forward against its own top, so that the open top of the bin is angled toward the balcony. There is no exact location for the bin - the minor variations in its location between games allows for added challenge. The inside of the bin is lined with several large garbage bags. Besides adding (very slight) cushioning when the balls impact the garbage bin, the bags also facilitate identifying an "in" - the "clunk" of a billiard ball landing in the bin is accompanied by a distinctive "swish" of the trash bag.

Game Play
Any number of people may play billyard at a time. Players form a line leading up to the center of the balcony. The player at the head of the line takes a single billyard ball from the box (called the "hopper") and attempts to throw the ball into the garbage bin. After he or she has thrown, he or she returns to the end of the line, and the next person in line takes a turn. This continues until no balls are left in the hopper; at that point, two players bring the hopper to the back yard and collect the balls. Players take turns retrieving the balls. There is no set number of rounds in a single billyard session - players instead reach a consensus on when to finish playing.

Miscellaneous Rules

 * When a new member joins a billyard session for the first time, he or she must volunteer to retrieve the first round of balls.
 * For a new member's first "In" to be valid, it must be witnessed by a member who has at least one In.
 * If a player's throw knocks the bin over, he or she must right it immediately. While he or she is in the back yard, he or she must also collect any balls already thrown (minus those that have made it into the bin).

Scoring
Scoring in Billyard is difficult, as there are many interactions between ball and bin that may or may not merit scoring. To date, the following score-worthy events have been observed:
 * In - the ball lands directly in the bin and remains there.
 * Bounce In - the ball hits the ground and then bounces into the bin, remaining there (the question of multiple bounces is still being explored).
 * Bounce Out - the ball lands directly in the bin, but bounces out of it.
 * Sack - the ball lands directly in the bin, bounces out, and carries part or all of the plastic bag with it. Both Full Sacks and Half Sacks have been observed; a Full Sack being when both the ball and the bag leave the bin, and a Half Sack being when the ball leaves the bin entwined in the bag but the bag remains partially in the bin. This results in the ball hanging from the bag on the outside of the bin.
 * Rim - the ball impacts with the rim of the garbage bin and bounces away from it.

Rules and Terminology Still in Development

 * The term for a successful throw (an "In" has been proposed)
 * The status of Bounce Outs, Sacks, and Rims as score-worthy events is still up for discussion, as are the names of those events.
 * The result of a thrown ball hitting a bird in midair has yet to be agreed upon. Whether or not the bird lands in the bin is certainly qualifying factor. One of founding rules of billyards states that if a player hits a bird in midair and the bird is knocked into the trash bin, billyards ends and will never again be played from that moment on.

Anomalies
Over the life of Billyard, some unexplained incidents have occurred. They are explained below:
 * On February 11th, 2007, two Ins were witnessed within 10 minutes of one another. Approximately 3 seconds after the second In was confirmed, a ball was observed rolling out from behind the bin. Two players went to the backyard to investigate, and discovered that neither of the two In balls were actually inside the bin: one lay approximately 1 foot to the left of the bin, while the other appeared to have found its way directly underneath the bin. Both balls had been confirmed In by four players. No holes in the bin were observed.
 * Also on February 11th, 2007, one confirmed In caused the bin to tip over forwards. As it fell, the In ball was observed rolling smoothly out from behind the bin on a path perpendicular to the axis of the falling bin. Again several players investigated, and again no holes in the bin were observed.

Several theories have been put forth to explain these two incidents, although most of the theories involve quantum physics and/or general relativity and so have not yet been experimentally tested.