International 8 Ball Referee

International Eight Ball Pool Rules

6o Touching Balls

You must play away from all touching balls at 90 degrees or more from the line joining the centres of the cue ball and the object ball(s) that it is touching.

This is different to World Rules in that if you are touching two object balls of your own colour group, you are only required to play away from one of them. This is not the case in International Rules.

Failure to do this is a standard foul and all object balls are considered, including the eight-ball.

There is no penalty for an object ball moving slightly after being played away from, just because the cue ball is no longer there..

Although unlikely, if the cue ball is touching two object balls like in the last image here, it is still possible to play away at 90 degrees, although the choice of shot direction is limited to either one way or the other, and even more unlikely that the cue ball is surrounded by touching object balls on 3 sides, then the player should request a stalemate situation from the referee.