Research and Development Camp Report

On June 21st and June 26th, the UPCL held its first ever Research and Development Camp. To conduct the research, we had ten players on hand to play five games each. The first two for each player, conducted on the 21st, were 10-ball and Quidditch Rules 10-ball. On the 26th, the players were asked to compare the second and third generation racking styles for 12-ball, as well as sample the already-approved reboot of Survival entitled Accuracy. The results are below.

Player	10	10-QR	12-2G	12-3G	Accuracy
Diddley	12	17	30	26	19
Shaggy	25	16	27	19	17
Chelsea	20	21	18	21	24
Brownie	21	22	24	21	18
Stealth	20	12	21	22	20
Strawberry	19	17	19	18	18
Midnight	21	16	23	35	24
Kavan	19	18	20	19	22
Bear	23	15	20	21	26
Sydney	22	16	22	22	26
Average	20.2	17	22.4	22.4	21.4
Deviation	3.43	2.87	3.75	4.95	3.44

For the 10-ball side of things, the league is going against the data. The Quidditch Rules style did reduce shots per game by 3 and was approximately a half a shot more consistent, but the league thinks the change is too gimmicky with the 10 not even on the table until the 7 is potted. The league agrees that Quidditch Rules 10-ball is an appropriate tiebreaker in the postseason in an eight-style format such as set to be played for the foreseeable future. Regular 10-ball will remain the game of choice in league play for its unique blend of rotation shooting and called shots that loses its luster with the much more break-friendly Quidditch Rules style. The players in the camp also agreed the 10-ball rack broke much better than it did in the regular season, which was a leading cause for this style to be tested.

For 12-ball racking patterns, the league intends to also stay on the second-generation tree pattern rack that sees the top four rows filled and the second and fourth spots on the fifth row filled. This has been previously determined to be more generous on the break and more compatible with last year's wild card ball rule change. The first generation wing pattern, which saw the last two balls in the first and fifth spots on the fifth row, was abolished after the second tournament. While players did like the control they got from the third generation penguin pattern, which moves the outside balls on the fourth row to the corners of the fifth row, they felt the rack didn't scatter enough along the length of the table to justify using it.

For Accuracy, the rebranded name of the unwieldy Survival style, a few rule changes are implemented. The 8-ball has no impact on a players' performance, becoming a regular ball rather than anything special. Potted balls on the break likewise have no impact, nor does sinking multiple balls on a single shot. Scratches will count as a missed shot even if a ball is potted, which transfers over from Survival. The biggest change is that Accuracy is played to see who has the fewest misses in a single rack, whereas Survival leaned toward finding who could last the longest with a set number of allowed misses (and a number of methods to atone for those). The goal of Accuracy in place of Survival is to create a quicker game while also providing players a style of free-wheeling pool that gets more difficult as it goes. As the data shows, it is expected the total number of misses per game between two players will range from about three to about ten, making every shot count.

Tomorrow night is draft night, likely the most exciting non-game-day of the season, where we'll see which new faces will end up in new places. It's a smaller draft class than usual, but a larger rookie class, which will help inject up to ten teams with new life. Many of the rookies are highly valued, including a full-grown prospect named Juno, who is known for her fiery personality. The draft post tomorrow will also have short commentary on each player and their fit with their new team.