Tenball
Synopsis
This was meant to be a stunning new sport wasn't it? So good in fact that after work or down the pub on Fridays we still play, erm... Pool. Classy.
Still let's give this a chance, after all if Phillip Schofield can act with a load of wooden animals on stage, working with this load of balls should be no problem.
Two professional snooker players would square up against each other The rules were just like snooker except that the first colour you potted after potting a red determined the points value of all the colours of that break. There was a special ball, the Tenball which was worth (get this!) ten points, and was obviously the crowning glory. There were 15 reds with the tenball in the middle, and all 16 balls were arranged in a diamond shape. The maximum break was precisely 200.
OK, so it was essentially snooker, but it was presented quite nicely, there being a spacey-futuristic set which looked as if it was hanging down from the suspended audience stalls. We were also treated to various fun facts such as the speed of the break so you too can wow at the fact that Alex Higgins whacked a ball at 18 mph.
Pretentious as hell then, but its heart was vaguely in the correct place.
Inventor
Russ Lindsay and Peter Powell, with Barry Hearn and Steve Davis.
Trivia
Ronnie O'Sullivan achieved the maximum 200 break while practising with Steve Davis.
Jimmy White won the series, beating Ronnie in the final. The tournament high break was Peter Ebdon's 122.
