Baize Pool

The back room of a pool hall, one lamp over one table. Milo plays for fun, Greta plays the percentages, and Viktor has not missed a straight shot all week.

Top-down 8 ball pool against three computer opponents. Pot your group, call a pocket for the 8 and win two frames. Follow, draw and side spin.

Drag on the table to aim: the guide shows where the cue ball meets the first ball and where both balls go next, and it gets shorter against harder opponents. Pull the power bar away from the table and let go to shoot. Tap the spin ball low for draw, high for follow, left or right for side spin; the fine aim wheel nudges the angle. On a keyboard the left and right arrows aim (hold Shift for small steps), up and down set spin and holding Space builds power. You break the first frame and the break alternates after that: place the cue ball behind the line and shoot; an 8 potted on the break goes back on its spot. The first ball potted after the break decides who plays solids and who plays stripes. Hitting nothing, hitting the other group or an early 8 first, potting the cue ball, or potting nothing with no ball reaching a rail after contact is a foul and gives the other player ball in hand anywhere on the table. Clear your seven balls, call a pocket for the 8 and pot it there. Potting the 8 early, in another pocket, or on any foul loses the frame. The match goes to the first player with two frames. Every pot of your own scores and each further pot in the same visit scores more, a won frame adds a bonus, and the score is multiplied by x1 against Milo, x2 against Greta and x3 against Viktor. Pick Milo, Greta or Viktor above the Play button. The daily challenge is a match against Greta on the same rack for everyone. Beating Viktor opens hard mode: first to three frames, and the aim guide stops at the first ball.