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How to play Pool

Goal

Pot your balls into the six pockets and win the rack. Matches are best of 1, 3 or 5 racks. Play the computer (Rookie to Hustler), a friend online, or practise on your own.

Setup

The balls are racked at the far end; the first player breaks with the cue ball in hand behind the line (in baulk on the UK table). Breaks take turns rack by rack, or the winner of the last rack breaks — your choice when you set up the match.

Controls

• Aim: drag on the table and the cue swings round the cue ball. Normally you aim from behind, as if holding the cue: put your finger behind the cue ball and the ball goes the other way. Prefer pointing where the ball should go? Choose From the front under the ⚙ button (or when you set up a game). On a phone the controls stand down the side of the table, with 📋 Moves, 💬 Chat and 🎮 Game above them. For tiny adjustments use the fine-aim wheel (the ridged strip), or ← → (hold Shift for very fine).
• Shoot: pull the power cue beside the table back (drag it) and let go. The further you pull, the harder the shot. Slide it back to the start to cancel. On a computer you can also hold Space and release, or set power with ↑ ↓.
• Spin: tap the white cue ball button and choose where the cue hits the ball — low for draw (the cue ball comes back), high for follow, left or right for side (changes the angle off a cushion). S opens it.
• Ball in hand: drag the cue ball where you want it (the shaded area shows where it may go), then aim.
• Calling: when a shot must be called the game picks the ball and pocket you are most likely going for — tap another pocket (or ball) to change it.
• 2D / 3D: the 2D/3D button (or V) switches between the flat top-down table and the 3D table. In 3D, drag sideways to aim (from behind: drag right and the cue's tip swings left, like moving its butt — or the other way round with From the front) and up or down to raise or lower the camera; the 🎥 button (or C) swaps between the cue view and the view from above. Pinch with two fingers to zoom in 3D. Tap the table while a shot is rolling to speed it up.
• On the flat table the controls stand beside it, not on it: the buttons, fine-aim wheel and spin on the left, the power cue on the right (on a phone held upright they sit above and below the table).
• Sideways on a phone: the phone button turns the table to fill the screen (or asks you to turn your phone).
• Watching the other player: you see the computer think, line up its cue, take a few practice strokes and strike. Online you see your opponent's cue move as they aim — and they see yours.
• Sound: the 🔊 button opens the sound settings — music volume (0 = off), the crowd chatter on or off and its volume, and the sound effects (balls, cushions, pockets, the cue and the applause) on or off and their volume. M switches the music on or off. Everything follows the site's sound setting.
• The room: in 3D the table stands in a bar with people watching — they follow the balls, applaud a won rack (and the match even more) and groan at a foul. The ⚙ button picks another room: a pool hall with rows of tables, or a competition hall with the stands in the dark and the lights on the final.
• Graphics: Low, Medium or High, picked when you set up a game or under the ⚙ button. Low is quickest (best for older phones); High brings in real 3D people (about 4 MB to download the first time), reflections and softer shadows. It's only for your device — the other player picks their own. If someone invites you and you've never picked, you start on Low.

Fouls (all games except Practice)

• Potting the cue ball (a scratch).
• Missing every ball, or hitting the wrong ball first.
• After the cue ball hits a ball, nothing is potted and no ball touches a cushion.
• With the cue ball in hand behind the line (in baulk on the UK table): hitting a ball that is itself behind the line before the cue ball has crossed it.

The break

A legal break pots a ball or drives at least four balls to a cushion (in straight pool: two balls and the cue ball). In 8-Ball and Cutthroat a break that doesn't is racked again and the next player breaks; in 9-Ball and 10-Ball it's a foul.

8-Ball

Solids (1–7) against stripes (9–15). The table is open after the break: the first ball you pot after the break decides your group. On an open table you may hit the 8 first — it's no foul, but nothing you pot counts and your turn ends. Pot all of yours, then the 8 in the pocket you call. After a foul your opponent has the cue ball in hand anywhere (behind the head string after a scratch on the break). An 8 potted on the break goes back on its spot. You lose the rack if the 8 goes down early, in the wrong pocket, or on a foul.

UK 8-Ball

Pub pool on a smaller table: 7 reds, 7 yellows and the black. The first ball potted — the break counts — decides your colour. Potting your opponent's colour is a foul. A foul gives your opponent two visits: they keep the extra one until they miss, and their first shot is a free shot — they may hit any colour first, and potting yours doesn't count against them. If the cue ball went in they play from baulk (behind the line), otherwise from where it stopped. Clear your colour, then pot the black (no call needed). The black on the break is re-spotted; potting it early or on a foul loses the rack.

9-Ball

Balls 1–9. Always hit the lowest ball on the table first; anything that goes in on a legal shot counts, and you keep shooting. Pot the 9 on a legal shot — even on the break or in a combination — to win. After a foul your opponent has ball in hand anywhere; a 9 potted on a foul comes back. Three fouls in a row lose the rack. (No push-out after the break in this version.) When you're not aimed at the lowest ball, a small arrow points to it — or a flashing ring, or nothing: pick in ⚙ Settings.

10-Ball

Like 9-Ball with balls 1–10, but every shot after the break is called: ball and pocket. If the called ball goes in the called pocket you carry on; if not, it's your opponent's turn (not a foul) and anything potted stays down — except the 10, which comes back. Pot the 10 as a called shot to win. A 10 on the break is re-spotted.

Straight Pool

Any ball, any pocket — but call every shot (except the break). If the called ball goes in, every ball potted on that shot scores 1 point; balls potted on a miss or a foul are put back on the spot. The opening break is usually a safety: pot a ball, or send two balls and the cue ball to a cushion — if not, it costs 2 points and you break again. A foul costs 1 point; three fouls in a row cost 15 more, and all fifteen balls are racked for you to break again. When one ball is left, the other 14 are racked again (top of the triangle empty) and you carry on. The first to 25 points wins the game.

Cutthroat

For 3 players. Groups are 1–5, 6–10 and 11–15. The first ball potted after the break gives the shooter that group, and the other players take the remaining groups in turn order. Pot your opponents' balls, protect your own: you keep shooting while you pot someone else's ball. A foul brings back one potted ball for each opponent (a player who was out is back in); the next player plays from where the cue ball stopped, or from behind the line after a scratch. When all your balls are down you're out — the last player with a ball on the table wins the rack.

Practice

A table to yourself with the rack of any game. No fouls; place the cue ball anywhere before any shot; Re-rack whenever you like. Clear the table to finish — your score is balls potted per shot (×1000), so try to beat your best.

Time challenge

On your own: pot as many balls as you can in 3 minutes. The clock starts with your break and keeps running while the balls roll. Every ball scores 100; shots that pot a ball one after another build a streak — 150 a ball for the second, 200 for the third, up to 300. Clear the table for a 500 bonus and a fresh rack. No fouls, and you play the cue ball from where it stops — but a scratch (the cue ball in a pocket) ends your streak and costs 5 seconds (then it's ball in hand anywhere). Everyone plays the same 15-ball rack with the long aim line, and signed-in players' best scores go on the 🏆 Pool leaderboard.

How the game ends

Each game below says how a rack is won. Win enough racks — 1, 2 or 3 for best of 1, 3 or 5 — to take the match. You can also resign; in a 3-player game, players who leave are skipped and the last one at the table wins.

Shot clock (online)

Playing people online, every shot has 30 seconds, counted once the balls stop — the time shows next to the prompt and turns red for the last 10. Run out and it's a foul, as if you'd hit nothing: in most games your opponent gets ball in hand. Three timeouts in a row lose the match (in Cutthroat you leave the table). Games against the computer and practice have no clock.

Tips

• Think one shot ahead: a little draw or follow leaves the cue ball where the next pot is easy.
• Soft and accurate beats hard and hopeful — a firm shot rattles in the jaws.
• No pot on? Play safe: roll your ball near a cushion and leave the cue ball behind something.
• The ghost ball on the aim line shows exactly where the cue ball will touch the object ball.

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