One of my favorite ways to unwind is shooting pool. I have a good friend that I meet with at least once a week to shoot some pool. The game is full of strategy and skill. Playing against him so regularly allows us to not be strictly competetive and more creative. There are a number of games we have invented in order to hone our skills. We play a variety of games. Some involve exclusively shooting combination shots or bank shots. The goal is often getting better, not necessarily winning the game. Also, my friend is much better at pool than I am, but I am getting better.
Another game we play has us start with seven balls separated by suit and placed to form a box around opposite corner pockets. The 8 ball goes in the middle of the table. We each get a suit, either solids or stripes. We are only allowed to shoot at our suit and can only use the two corner pockets on the end our respective suit starts in as well as the two side pockets. If a ball gets knocked across the center line it gets reset to its starting position. This forces us to practice being precise. After all seven balls of your suit are down you move on to the 8 ball. The 8 ball can only be shot into one of the side pockets. This makes it very tricky because unless the cue ball is in the middle of the table as well, the shots into the sides are very difficult.
I would like to have my own pool table someday, unfortunately I will need to get a house big enough for one first. There are pool leagues here in town but I don't enjoy the extra pressure from the competition. I enjoy pool in a friendly match. Honestly, I prefer shooting by myself and practicing over the bravado of highly competetive matches.