CRUD, an Air Force tradition, right here at Peterson AFB

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Jonathan D. Simmons
  • 21st Space Wing Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  Two bodies collide on the outskirts of a manicured green field. A heavy acrylic sphere flies across the field toward a frantically moving defender, while a safely distant crowd cheers and there is the congratulatory clashing of elbows.

This is no common game of football or basketball. This is the game of CRUD...a game of life and death. This scene will be in full swing at the Rocky Mountain Company Grade Officer Council's CRUD tournament 5 p.m., June 13 at the Peterson Club. The cost per four-person team is $20.

CRUD is a modified version of billiards played with two pool balls on a pool table. It's a military tradition rumored to have originated with "snow crazed" fighter pilots in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The maniac nature of the game is evident from its first moments. A multitude of rules add a highly-competitive and sometimes bawdy tone to the game. The object is to eliminate the three (or so) simulated lives of each player on the opposing team. The team with the last person standing wins.

The pool table is the field on which the game is played, but no pool cues are used. The game is a team sport monitored by the CRUDmaster, who is usually a senior officer and functions as a referee/supreme commander of CRUD.

Shooting and defending teams compete using only two pool balls, the "shooter ball" and "object ball." At the beginning of the game, the CRUDmaster sets up the first "serve." One member from each team faces off on opposite short sides of the pool table. The shooting team member will hurl the shooter ball toward the object ball attempting to sink it in one of the table's end pockets, while the defender uses hands, words, and what ever means the CRUDmaster deems allowable to jam the shooter's attempts to hit the object ball.

After the object ball is struck by the shooter ball, the previous defender becomes the shooter, while the next player on the previously shooting team fills the defender role. This rotation continues until a ball is sunk in a pocket or a penalty is assessed by the CRUDmaster. And every time the CRUDmaster assesses a penalty, a player loses a "life."

Each time the object ball is legitimately sunk in a pocket, a designated player on the defending team loses a "life". When any defender loses all three (or so) lives, he/she is eliminated from the game.

CRUD is an intense full contact sport. After the first service, defenders can (and are generally encouraged to) physically block or otherwise cajole subsequent shooters out of the acceptable shooting area on one of the table's short ends in hopes that the object ball stops rolling (dies) before the shooter can legitimately strike it. Each time the ball dies, the shooter is assessed a life and the CRUDmaster sets up a new serve.

The CRUDmaster can call a variety of penalties for anything from a player causing him/her to spill the beverage the CRUDmaster traditionally holds, to a player shooting outside of the acceptable area, to players quibbling with CRUDmaster pronouncements and "gross buffoonery." The CRUDmaster can even make up rules as the game goes along, assessing penalties at discretion. Each time a penalty is assessed, a designated player will lose one or more lives.

The combative nature of CRUD generally limits the venues in which it is played to military clubs, and the game is generally most popular among Air Force officers. The CGOs of the 21st Space Wing units are currently seeking to reclaim the RMCGOC CRUD Trophy from the 50th Space Wing at Schriever AFB. For more information or to sign up call or email 2nd Lt. Denise Wright at 567-3888 or denise.wright@schriever.af.mil. 

Official as can be expected Peterson AFB CRUD rules

1. Violation of any of these rules results in the loss of a life.
2. Each player is allotted three lives. After the loss of three lives, a player is morte, and out of the game.
3. The referee is always right. Quibbling is not allowed.
4. The object of the game is to keep the object ball in motion, or to sink it in any pocket before the opposing player strikes it. Players use the shooter ball to strike the object ball. 5. Opposing players or team captains lag to determine initial service. The player whose ball, after touching the far end of the table, comes closest to the original end without touching it, elects to serve or receive. Thereafter, the player or team who lost the last life has the option to serve or receive.
6. The server is allowed three serves to put the object ball in motion, and may bank it off any number of cushions before contact with the object ball. On a service ace (shack), the receiving player loses a life.
7. The object ball must move at least six inches on all shots, except on a double kiss - where the shooter ball hits the object ball twice.
8. Players must shoot only from the short ends of the table; the center of their hips must be inside a 45 degree angle from the corner of the table (balls & lips). Players must have at least one foot on the floor when shooting, and their feet may not contact the surface of the table at any time.
9. Players may retrieve the shooter ball and shoot at the object ball any number of times, as long as the object ball is still in motion; i.e. it has forward movement or it is spinning. Once it is stopped, it is ruled dead.
10. Once the object ball is struck, only the next person to shoot may touch the shooter ball. No player may make any contact with the object ball other than with the shooter ball (includes articles of clothing).
11. When shooting, the shooter ball must be rolled on the table (no drop shots), and must leave the shooter's hand (no push shots), prior to contact with the object ball.
12. When the object ball is sunk in any pocket or ruled dead before being hit, the opposing player who last shot the ball (previous) loses a life, unless in the referee's judgment, the next player on that team had a reasonable chance to shoot at the object ball (ball in hand).
13. If either ball leaves the table after a shot and hits a person or lands off the table, the shooter is guilty of gross buffoonery, and loses a life.
14. Blocking is permitted, as agreed to before a game is started:
- In trainee CRUD, defenders may not block, or use visual counter measures (VCM) against the shooter.
- In mission ready CRUD, defenders may block the shooter only at the ends of the table. Once positioned there, they may not shift their feet (moving block), swing their elbows, knock the shooter away from the table, or hold onto the table for leverage; movement of the torso & hips is permitted. Partial/intermittent VCM of the ball and shooter's eyes is allowed, but the shooter must be able to see part of the object ball.
- In combat CRUD, combat or modified combat rules apply, as agreed to by the players.
15. When a team has only one player left, and the other team has several, single man rules are in effect: the lone player always has the option to serve or receive, and defenders may not physically block him/her.
16. All players except the shooter and the defender must remain at least three feet from the table.
17. All pointing must be done with the elbow only.
18. If the number of players on teams is unequal, a "ghost" player is added to the team with fewer players, and the first three lives lost by the team are charged to the ghost. Team members follow each other, without regard to the order of opposing players; a team member shooting out of order loses a life.
19. The referee/CRUDmaster is situated at the side pocket. All players must go around the referee; any interference with the referee is cause for loss of life or replacement of a drink, at the referee's discretion.
20. The first player to lose a life in a game provides the referee a drink of his or her choice.
21. Losing team players buy a drink for the winning team player opposite their name on the scoreboard.
22. Any player caught reading these rules during a game must replenish the referee's drink.


Based on the game created by Canadian Forces fighter pilots in Alberta, Canada

 

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