Eight Ball

Eight Ball is browser pool played on a real physics table. The balls carry momentum, transfer it through collisions, slow against the cloth and rebound off the cushions, so the shot you can see is the shot you can take. You drag anywhere on the table to swing the cue, pull back to set power, and release to shoot — your finger never has to sit on the ball you are trying to see. A tap without a pull does nothing, so you cannot fire by accident while lining up.

The aiming guide is drawn from the same physics the table actually runs. The dashed line is the path of the cue ball, the solid line shows where the object ball will travel, and the faint line shows where the white will end up afterwards. That last one is the difference between potting a ball and winning a frame: knowing where the cue ball stops is how you set up the next shot instead of leaving yourself hooked behind an opponent ball.

The rules are standard eight ball. Pot a ball to claim a group — stripes or solids — clear your group, then take the black to win the frame. Fouls give your opponent ball in hand, which means they can place the cue ball anywhere legal before they shoot, and that is a serious gift at this level. Scratching the white, missing the cushion, hitting the wrong group first or catching the eight before your group is clear all count.

The rivals are not one opponent at different difficulty settings — each plays a genuinely different game. The Rookie takes whatever is easiest and hopes it drops. The Hustler refuses to gamble: if the pot is not there they play safe and leave you nothing, so you have to manufacture your own chances. The Surgeon plays the next shot before taking this one, which means the table gets steadily harder the longer they are at it. The Shark takes on the shots the others walk away from, and makes enough of them to punish any frame you coast through.

Each match has its own venue, and the room changes with the rival: a neon-lit Corner Bar with green cloth, a bare-bulb Back Room in teal, a Members' Club in deep purple and a Grand Hall in royal blue with a marble floor. You beat each rival over a race of frames — two frames in the first matches, three after that — and the next match starts straight away. Each win is scored in stars: one for the win, one for not dropping a frame and one for not committing a single foul. Beating the Shark in the Grand Hall is not the end: the ladder keeps going, mixing the venues and the rivals so the same match never comes twice in a row, and every round the rivals aim a little sharper. Progress and stars are saved on your device, so you can leave mid-race and pick it up later. If you like games decided by one carefully judged input, try Marksman or Penalty Shootout next.

There is also an online table. Tap Online 1v1 on the strip below the table while it waits for your break and you are matched with another player for a race to two frames on the same physics, with the break alternating between frames. You see your opponent line up their cue in real time, and when a frame ends both of you tap Next frame to move on. Win the match and you bank eighty coins for the shop.

Drag anywhere to aim — the cue swings to follow your finger or mouse — and the further back you pull, the harder you hit. Release to shoot; a tap without a pull does nothing. On a keyboard the left and right arrows nudge your aim by a fraction of a degree (hold Shift for finer still), up and down set the power and Space strikes - far more precise than a mouse on a long shot.

The dashed line is your cue path, the green line is where the object ball goes and the faint line is where the white ends up. After a foul you get ball in hand: drag the cue ball anywhere legal, then aim. Pot every ball in your group, then the 8 to take the frame.