Pocket Games
Pool
Pool is eight-ball on a table you hold in your hand: pot every ball in your group, solids or stripes, then the black. You shoot like a slingshot, dragging your finger across the table: the cue ball goes the opposite way, and the further your finger is, the harder the shot.
The rules
On the table there are the cue ball and fifteen balls: the solids from 1 to 7, the stripes from 9 to 15 and the black 8. You only ever strike the cue ball. The rules are eight-ball, simplified: you don’t call your pocket and there are no draws.
- The break. The game opens with the balls in a triangle and the 8 in the middle. Anyone who pots on the break shoots again, but the table stays open: the groups are not assigned yet.
- The groups. After the break, the first ball you pot with a legal shot decides your group: if it is a solid you have the solids and your opponent the stripes, and the other way round.
- Your turn. You keep shooting as long as you pot one of your balls without a foul. If you pot nothing, it is the other player’s turn.
- Fouls. It is a foul if the cue ball goes in a pocket, if it touches no ball, or if the first ball it touches is not in your group. On an open table any ball except the 8 is fine. After a foul your opponent has ball in hand: they put the cue ball wherever they like, anywhere on the table, and then shoot.
- The 8. Once you have potted your whole group it is the black’s turn, and it becomes the ball you have to hit first. The winner is whoever pots it after clearing their group, without a foul on the same shot. Pot it too early, or together with a foul, and you lose. If the 8 goes in on the break nobody loses: it goes back to its spot and play continues.
On Pocket Games
The table stands upright, with six pockets. There are two modes:
- Against the bot, at three levels. Who breaks alternates from one game to the next: once you, once the bot.
- Two players on the same phone, passing it back and forth each turn. Each player has their own colour, blue or orange.
To shoot, put your finger down anywhere on the table and drag, like a slingshot. The cue points from your finger to the cue ball, and the cue ball goes the opposite way: a line shows where it goes, up to the first ball or cushion it meets, with a ghost ball at the point of contact and the direction the object ball will take. The distance between your finger and the cue ball is the power: the cue draws back and the bar under the table goes from green to red. Lift your finger and the shot goes. If you bring your finger back close to the cue ball, letting go doesn’t shoot: that is the cancel. If you drag towards the edge of the screen the table shrinks a little to give you room.
With ball in hand the cue ball has a ring: start dragging from it and put it down wherever you want. Start away from it and you aim instead.
In the browser you play with the mouse the same way: press, drag and release. There are no keyboard controls.
Under the top bar there is the rack: for each player, the seven places of their group, which empty as the balls go down. While the table is open the places are dashed. When there is a foul, a card in the colour of whoever made it says what happened: cue ball potted, no ball hit or wrong ball first.
| Level | How the bot plays |
|---|---|
| Easy | picks a random shot among the possible ones, with loose aim and any power |
| Medium | picks the easiest shot, by angle and distance, and misses by a little |
| Hard | tries the best shots at different powers and picks the one that pots and leaves the cue ball well placed; if there is nothing, it plays safe |
- Undo shot. Only against the bot: it puts the table back to before your last shot, removing the bot’s shots that came after it too. One is free each game, more are unlocked by watching a short video.
- Statistics. Wins and losses against the bot are counted separately for each level and appear on the start screen. Two-player games are not counted.
- Resume. The game is saved when the balls are still: if you leave, the start screen offers to pick it up again. If you leave while the balls are rolling, the shot is completed anyway.
Aim with the ghost ball
To pot a ball you have to hit it on the side away from the pocket. Picture a second ball touching the one you want to pot, on the line towards the pocket: that is where the cue ball has to arrive. The aiming line already draws it, along with the direction the object ball will take, so the job is to make that direction meet the pocket.
The thinner the cut, that is the more from the side you hit the ball, the more any error counts. Between two possible shots, the straighter one is nearly always better.
The right power is not much
A hard shot is less forgiving: if your aim is slightly off, the ball bounces between the cushions instead of staying near the pocket, and the cue ball runs round the table and sometimes ends up in a pocket too. A ball close to the pocket wants a soft touch. Full power is for the break and little else.
Think about the next shot
Potting is not enough: you only keep shooting if there is another shot afterwards. Before you shoot, look at where the cue ball will stop. A softer shot leaves it near the point of contact, a harder one sends it further, perhaps behind one of your opponent’s balls.
A foul is expensive
Here ball in hand goes anywhere, not just behind a line: a foul hands your opponent the easiest shot on the table. When you don’t have a good shot, don’t try the impossible pot: touch one of your balls gently and leave the cue ball far from theirs. That is what the hard bot does when it sees nothing.
Common mistakes
- Always shooting hard. Fewer balls go in and the cue ball goes where it likes.
- Forgetting the 8 on an open table. Hitting it first is a foul, even on the break.
- Potting your last ball and the black together. The 8 only counts if your group was already cleared before the shot: together with your last ball, it loses.
- Leaving the cue ball on a cushion. From there you aim badly and shoot worse.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to call your pocket?
No. One of your balls counts in any pocket, the 8 included.
Can a game end in a draw?
No. The game only ends when the 8 goes down, and someone always wins.
Can you put spin on the cue ball?
No. The cue ball is always struck in the centre: you control position with direction and power.
Is the bot unbeatable?
No. On hard it aims well and thinks about position, but it looks one shot at a time. Balls close together and long shots trouble it like anyone else.
Do the statistics carry over to another phone?
No. Wins and losses stay on the device you played on and are not synced with your account.
More games to try
See the full list of games, or open Pocket Games in your browser: they are free and you don’t need an account.