That is the quote in the beginning of the instruction book of a game that could revolutionize the game of pool.

Keith Wilson, a 42 year-old former optician from San Francisco, has invented a device to set up trick shots called Rack*A*Shot. It will be on the market, endorsed by the famed Minnesota Fats, in the near future.

THE HARD plastic sheet, 14 by 8.5 inches with 17 holes, has a system of 18 shots that, not only could make an average player look like Willie Mosconi, but also teach him how to look for certain shots and use proper English" or "stroke" on the balls.

"People don't know a lot about English," said the bearded inventor, who also is a science and religious writer. "This game teaches what I define as the 'exactitudes of English.'"
Wilson. and partner _________________________. are optimistic about their new invention's potential.

"In this country alone, there two million homes with pool tables and there are 11 million people who shoot pool at least twice a week,"said Wilson. "We believe there there could be a market of more than $1 million in sales. Minnesota Fats says it will sell in the 'jillions' and that 'every living creature on the earth will own one.' We aren't thinking that big,' Wilson laughed.

"This isn't an easy thing to manufacture," said _________, whose company does precision machining and makes prototypes, "The machine that makes this costs more than $120,000 and our margin of error on the holes is half the thickness of a human hair,"

LAST WEEK, at the Showboat, I saw Matyas, a hostess at the resort, sink that six-in-one shot combination which is set up on the table in the photo. I was, to say the least, amazed at Patricia's form.

(By the way, the photo was taken by Frank Valeri at a press conference for the Mosconi-Fats showdown last week.)

"I first got the idea for the invention by watching Willie Mosconi make trick shot," Wilson continued. "By the way, he has seen the Rack-A-Shot and praised it. I was honored.

"BEFORE I invented it. I was an average player who could run about three or four balls on the average and six or eight balls when I was lucky. Now I have run as many as 66 balls when and average a run of about 30 balls."

This writer, to put it mildly, is a less-than-average pool player. It took me a while to learn that you hit the cue ball with the pointed part of the stick. I average a run of about one and maybe three if I close my eyes.

But, nonetheless, your intrepid columnist took the device down to the Cue Club in the Commercial Center and spent a couple of hours trying the shots. I made the six-in-one twice in about a dozen tries, but found myself improving with each attempt. The reason I missed was because the Rack-a-shot has to be lined up near-perfect to work. But, that's the beauty of the contraption. It's not automatic. You have to work to line it up and actually "see" the shot. There's where the improvement comes in.

THE PROBLEM with the device is that, after a few successful shots, a person could begin to feel like taking on someone in order to hustle a couple of bucks.

"Don't" warns Wilson. "That's not the purpose of it. I don't advocate its use as a gambling device. I invented it for the sport."

"As I point out in the book, "The people who taught us are out there in the pool halls waiting.'"

WHAT'S NEXT for the Rack-A-Shot?

"That's easy," said Wilson, who took three years perfecting the first one. "We are currently working on Rack-A-Shot II. We just hope that the first one catches on big with the billiards community.

We'd like to come up with one for Mosconi's favorite shots, Fat's favorite shots, Allen Hopkins' favorite shots, Steve Mizerak's favorite shots and so on."

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The device costs $20 ($22.95 including shipping and handling). For more information, write Keith Wilson at P.O. box 9661, San Jose, Calif., 95159