Four-ball experience gives you a familiar stroke and a starting point for position control. The transition asks you to identify the remaining two object balls and design a legal cushion route; it does not require abandoning all positional play.
Start with the current rules, not club folklore
The Japan Billiards Association’s revised carom rules take effect on 1 January 2026. They specify white, yellow and two red balls for four-ball play. The general scoring definition awards one point when the cue ball contacts two other balls; the four-ball chapter also manages repeated scoring inside marked restricted areas.
The same official rules define three-cushion with three balls and require at least three cushion contacts before the cue ball reaches the second object ball. The NBA describes three-cushion as today’s mainstream carom discipline in Japan, while the national four-ball championship belongs mainly to amateur competition after its broad popularity in the Shōwa 30s and 40s.
Use local names carefully
In Japanese, use 四つ玉 (common spelling) and 四ッ球 (the spelling seen in official championship naming), with yotsudama as the reading aid. Korean 4구 (사구) names a related four-ball tradition, but club handicaps and detailed rules must not be assumed identical to Japan’s rulebook. In this guide, Turkish dört top karambolü, Vietnamese bida 4 bi, Dutch vierbal, French carambole à quatre billes, Spanish carambola a cuatro bolas, German Vierball-Karambolage and Italian carambola a quattro bilie are descriptive equivalents, not claims of one worldwide ruleset.
A chosen route, not the only legal order
For the first exercise, choose a ball-first route and name A, C1, C2, C3, B before shooting. This is a training choice: cushion-first routes are also legal when three cue-ball cushion contacts occur before the second object ball. An imagined window near B measures arrival accuracy; only actual contact can complete a point.
Four transition exercises
Choose a familiar four-ball layout and make the scoring route explicit.
- Remove the fourth ball: start with a familiar cluster, remove the spare red, and name a legal three-cushion route before each stroke. Try ten different positions.
- C1–C2–C3 sequence: point to the intended cushion-contact positions in order. Reaching both object balls before the third cushion contact fails the three-cushion requirement, even if it would score in four-ball.
- Second-ball window: choose a hand-width visual window beside the second object ball. Keep the balls fixed for ten attempts and vary only pace; then compare side spin at similar pace. Do not place chalk or markers on the cloth.
- Two records: record four-ball performance and three-cushion points per inning separately. Compare trends within each discipline.
Keep two records
Record four-ball results and three-cushion points/innings separately. A club handicap or Japanese 持ち点 has its own context; do not multiply it into a supposed three-cushion average. The suggested repetitions and session times below are our planning examples, not federation standards or a promise of improvement.
A focused 30-minute transition session
Minutes 0–5: five fourth-ball-removal audits without shooting. Minutes 5–15: ten C1–C2–C3 ladder attempts. Minutes 15–25: ten second-ball-window attempts with one-variable changes. Minutes 25–30: enter caroms and innings, then write one route error and one speed error for the next session.
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