How to play Billiards: 8-Ball and 9-Ball

What pool is

Pool is billiards on a table with six pockets. You strike the white cue ball, and it knocks the numbered balls into the pockets. Every pool game asks for two skills at once: potting the ball in front of you, and leaving the cue ball in a good place for the next shot.

Playing billiards on AllFun

In AllFun Lamplight Billiards you play 8-Ball or 9-Ball vs Computer against four rivals with styles of their own (Mako's soft touch, Pixel's firm hit, Nova's spin, Vega's planning), each at Easy, Medium or Hard. Trick Shots are 100 set-up puzzles of banks, kicks, combinations and draw shots, with up to three stars each. The Rack Run is a daily challenge: the same ten balls for everyone, cleared in as few shots as you can. Play Online pairs you with another player for a game of 8-Ball, and Play a friend gives you a room code for a game of 8-Ball or 9-Ball.

The controls work the same with a finger or a mouse:

• Aim: tap the table and the cue points there; tap a ball to aim straight at it, or drag to turn the cue. The ghost ball shows where you will meet the object ball; the Fine aim wheel makes the smallest changes.
• Power: pull the little cue on the power meter down, further for a harder shot, and let go to strike.
• Spin: tap the cue-ball button and pick where the tip meets the ball: low to draw it back, high to follow through, left or right to change how it comes off a cushion.

A game costs 40 play coins, which are free to earn and have no cash value (how coins work). Felts and cues from the shop change only the look: every one plays exactly the same.

The rules

8-Ball

Balls 1 to 7 are solids, 9 to 15 are stripes, and the black 8 comes last. After the break the table is open. The first ball you pot on a legal shot gives you its group. A legal shot hits one of your own balls first, then pots a ball or sends any ball to a cushion. Clear your group, then pot the 8 to win. Potting the 8 too early, or on a foul, loses the game.

On the break, pot a ball or drive at least four balls to cushions, or the balls are racked again for the other player. An 8 potted on the break is spotted again.

9-Ball

Only balls 1 to 9 are used. The cue ball must always hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table first. Pot any ball on a legal shot and you shoot again. Pot the 9 on a legal shot, even on the break or in a combination, and you win. A 9 potted on a foul comes back to its spot. Play the 9-ball version, with tips for running a rack.

Fouls

Potting the cue ball, hitting nothing, hitting the wrong ball first, or no ball reaching a cushion after the hit are fouls. After a foul the other player has ball in hand: they can place the cue ball anywhere on the table. Online, leaving the table for more than 90 seconds counts as a loss.

Five tips for better pool

1. Think one shot ahead. Before you shoot, decide where the cue ball should stop for your next ball, not just how to pot this one.
2. Use the ghost ball. Aim so the cue ball arrives exactly where the ghost ball sits. Thin cuts need far less power than you think.
3. Learn draw and follow. Low spin stops the cue ball or pulls it back after the hit; high spin carries it forward. Together they solve most position problems.
4. In 8-Ball, choose the easier group. When the table is open, pick the group with fewer balls stuck on cushions or in clusters.
5. Play safe when there is no good shot. Hit your ball softly and leave the cue ball where your opponent has nothing easy.

A short history

Billiards grew out of a lawn game played in Europe more than five hundred years ago; when it moved indoors onto a table, the green cloth kept the colour of grass. Eight-ball and nine-ball both took shape in the early twentieth century.

Billiards FAQ