About this game
A pool table that argues back
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Pool is a game of consequences. Almost anybody can pot one ball; the entire difference between a beginner and a decent player is what the cue ball does after that, and whether it stops somewhere useful or somewhere embarrassing. You are not really aiming at the ball you are hitting. You are aiming at the one after it.
Which makes it unusually satisfying to run on a screen, because the thing that carries the game is physics rather than reflex. Nothing here is timed. You can stare at the layout for five minutes, and the shot you eventually play will be exactly as good as your reading of it.
Where it comes from
Billiards began as a lawn game — something close to croquet — dragged indoors in the fifteenth century and rebuilt on a table with a green cloth standing in for the grass, which is why the cloth is still green. Pockets came later, and so did the cue: for a long time balls were shoved with a mace, and the thin end was only turned around for shots against the cushion.
Eight-ball itself is much more recent and distinctly American, appearing around 1900 and reaching print as a set of rules in 1908. It is now the version almost everyone means by "pool", played in more pubs and basements than any other cue game, largely because the solids-and-stripes split gives two players a clear, readable stake in the same table.
What this version does with it
Nothing here is measured in pixels. The bed, the pockets, the cushions and the ball all carry their true physical dimensions and the simulation works in those, so the speed of a firm break is a genuine speed in miles per hour rather than a figure that only means anything at one window size. Cut angles, cushion rebounds and the way a cluster comes apart all behave the way they should.
Aiming is done by dragging on the cloth, with a line that shows where the cue ball first makes contact, and power by pulling back a rail on the right and letting go. There are four games on the same table: eight-ball, nine-ball, bumper pool with pegs and two holes, and a no-rules practice mode for when you just want to hit things. You can play the black into any pocket or call it, rack on a rectangular or an octagonal bed, and change the cloth and the cue. Three computer levels, or hand the phone across for two players.
Thirty seconds to start
- Drag on the cloth to aim. Press the Pull rail and drag down for power, then release to shoot.
- Slide back to the top of the rail to cancel and think again.
- Keyboard: left and right to aim, hold Space to build power and release to play.
The one that costs beginners most frames
Fouls. A missed pot leaves the table where it is; a foul hands your opponent the cue ball in hand, which is worth several shots. If the pot is genuinely hard, playing safe and leaving them nothing is very often the stronger move — and clearing your last colour before you can see a route to the black is the other classic way to lose a frame you were winning. The guide covers the five fouls and how to plan a run properly.