Pool Table puts the arithmetic on the screen. Three pieces of geometry are always visible: a dashed line from the cue ball's centre, a hollow ring sitting on the contact point, and a solid line showing where the target ball leaves. The ring's radius is exactly one ball diameter, so its far side passes through the target's centre — one look tells you where the cue ball has to be to send that ball into that pocket. All three share one cyan, and that colour is issued to you alone; the computer's copies of the same three are amber, so cyan on the cloth means 「this is yours to move」. Aiming is three separate controls that never fight for the same pixel: tap the cloth for a rough direction, drag on the cloth for relative rotation, and hold the trim keys to walk it one notch at a time — the precision lives in the keys, not in your fingertip. The finest step is 0.05 degrees, with the full circle cut into 7200 of them. Hold the red key to charge; 48 ticks fill it to 100% and lifting shoots. Change your mind and you slide off the key before lifting: that cancels, and neither aim nor spin moves a character. Spin has three notches each way and its reading is the red dot on the cue tip, which sits on the thing it acts upon rather than in a box of its own. When the balls stop, ten verdicts decide what happened, and each one has its own sentence: pot your own and keep shooting, a thin hit is a foul, an air shot is a foul, touching the wrong ball first is a foul, and a potted cue ball lets your opponent place it anywhere behind the head line. Three modes by ball count — a quick 8-ball frame, a full 16-ball frame, and snooker with 13 — against four computer levels or a second player on the same device. Every frame also carries 3 replays, and 16 shots with nobody potting racks the balls again.

The table was rarely at home. It stood in a back room, outside a barber's, or on a concrete slab at the mouth of an alley, with the cloth worn pale and a plastic bag standing in for the middle pocket's net. Getting a turn meant queueing, and not getting one meant crouching beside it watching how somebody made the cue ball stay exactly where it was. There was also a miniature version sold in stationery shops: green felt, plastic balls, two cues shorter than chopsticks, propped on a school desk where one knock moved everything. Both taught the same thing — the pleasure is not in how real the roll looks, it is that a shot you worked out is a shot that goes in. So this version draws the working out: the dashed line, the ring and the departure line are simply there, and you never have to join them up in your head.

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【街】 The coin arcade · 1988–2000 →

1. 01

   Starting a frame: tap the table once. That press does not change the aim, and the three guides are already on a line that goes in, so you can shoot straight away.

2. 02

   Aiming: tap anywhere on the cloth and the aim swings to 「cue-ball centre towards that point」. A tap on the cue ball itself is inside the dead zone, so it is refused and answered with a receipt.

3. 03

   Trimming: hold either rotate key under the table and the aim walks one notch per tick with the ghost ring following. Holding both at once leaves the aim exactly where it was.

4. 04

   Spin: hold the top or bottom spin key and the red dot on the cue tip moves. There are three notches each way; at the limit the dot stops moving. Both keys together recentre spin to 0.

5. 05

   Shooting: hold the red cue key to charge — the bar and the percentage rise together and 48 ticks fill it to 100%. Lift on the key to shoot; slide off the key and lift to cancel.

6. 06

   Winning: clear your own group first, then pot the black on a shot of its own. If the cue ball goes down, your opponent may place it anywhere behind the head line.

Read the ring before the line. Its radius is one ball diameter and its far side passes through the target's centre, so the moment the ring covers the line from ball to pocket, the shot already works geometrically.Tap for coarse, keys for fine. A tap on the cloth is an absolute direction and gets the cue roughly there in one go; leave the last 0.05 degrees to the two rotate keys, and your finger never has to sit on the line you are reading.The deviation angle is worth more than a replay. When the balls stop, the attribution row prints how far off that shot was — match that figure against how many notches you pressed and the next shot corrects itself.Spin is not power. The three notches each way change where the cue ball goes after contact, not how fast it leaves the tip. To keep the cue ball where it is, recentre spin before you shoot.A full bar is not a good shot. Full power bounces the cue ball off more cushions and makes its resting place harder to pick. For positional play use half a bar and let the departure line confirm the target still reaches the pocket.Before groups are assigned, everything is open. Any ball but the black is a legal first contact, so the opening shots can take the easiest ball on the table and settle you into the group you would rather clear.Save a shot for the black. Clearing your group and potting the black on one shot loses the frame, so when one ball is left, work out where the cue ball stops before you send it.

How do you play Pool Table, and how do you win?

Clear your own group of balls first, then pot the black on a separate shot. Tap the cloth for a direction, hold the rotate keys to trim, then hold the red key to charge and lift to shoot. Potting the black before your group is clear loses the frame, and so does clearing and potting it on the same shot.

What is the ghost-ball ring in Pool Table?

The ring shows where the cue ball's centre must be at the moment of contact. Its radius is exactly one ball diameter, so its far side passes through the target ball's centre. When the ring covers the line from that ball to a pocket, the shot works. The solid departure line shows where the target goes, drawn only as far as the pocket.

How does spin work in Pool Table?

Hold the top or bottom spin key to add spin, three notches each way, with the red dot on the cue tip as the reading. Spin changes where the cue ball travels after contact rather than how fast it leaves the tip, so it is a positional tool and not extra power. Both keys at once recentre spin to 0, and spin resets after every shot.

What happens when the cue ball goes in a pocket?

It is a foul and the turn passes, and your opponent may place the cue ball anywhere legal inside the head area left of the head line. During placement, dragging past the head line or onto another ball is refused and springs back to the start of the drag; arrow-key nudging is clamped to the legal area. Every other foul only passes the turn.

How is Pool Table scored, and is there a combo bonus?

A ball from your group is 100 points, each further pot in the same visit adds 50 more, and a single ball is capped at 300. The ladder resets to 100 when the table changes hands. Winning on the black adds a flat 500 outside the ladder, an 8-ball foul costs 50, and a frame score is capped at 9999.

Does Pool Table have snooker rules, and how do they differ?

Yes. Snooker is the 13-ball mode: reds and colours alternate, colours are re-spotted, and the frame asks for 18 pots. Scoring differs too — balls are worth their own value, and a foul awards the opponent instead of docking you, taking the largest of the ball-on value, the first-contact value and the potted value, never less than 4.

Can two people play Pool Table on one device?

Yes. Switch the opponent to two players in the row shown before a frame starts, and both players share the same controls, taking turns with the turn badge showing whose shot it is. Two-player frames do not record a best score and do not offer the replay key, which lights up only against the computer, 3 times per frame.