Play 8-Ball pool against a friend or against the computer: Doyu 8-Ball is a slick and easy-to-play pool game for virtual billiard enthusiasts, and anyone who enjoys online table sports games requiring good judgement and skill.
Reasons to play this classic American 8-ball pool simulation game: Many virtual pool and snooker games have a clunky, difficult mouse control cue mechanism for shooting – but not Doyu 8-Ball! This is a very smooth and easy-to-play mouse clicking activity which allows good hand-eye coordination, observation and prediction skills, and use of savvy cue spin to come to the fore. Enjoy this game in single player or two player mode.
Strategy to win: The key here is good strategy and deft / steady mouse control. Just like 8-ball pool in real life, you must use canny attacking and defensive strategies to defeat your opponent. Spectacularly potting balls is all well and good – but you must also try to make sure you have good table position for your subsequent shot. Make it difficult for your opponent by putting their balls in awkward positions, and utilizing ‘safety play’ to your advantage.
Sep 18, 2014 - Download 8 Ball Pool (Facebook) for Windows. Enjoy a game of 8 balls on your Facebook with 8 Ball Pool. Pool Billiard. Challenge your friends to a live pool billiard duel. Compete with other 8 ball players and win Game-Cash and stars.
How to Play: A Flash-based, virtual 8-ball pool game online for notebook, laptop and desktop PC / Mac (with certain browsers). There are two game modes: 1 Player or 2 Players. In 1 Player mode, you play vs a computer opponent in a once-off rack of 8-ball pool. In 2 Player mode, you play against a best friend, classmate or family member on the same computer.
Your goal in 8-ball pool is to pocket all 7 of your ‘suited’ balls (stripes or solids), and then pot the black 8-ball. Your ‘suit’ is determined by the first ball pocketed by you or your opponent. To shoot, aim your mouse cursor at the colored ‘object’ ball you wish to hit. Left Click and drag your mouse cursor back to increase power, and release the click to shoot. Keep an eye on the Power Meter in the bottom left corner of the play area. You can also add spin to the cue ball by clicking on the large cue ball icon in the bottom right corner of the play area (which indicates the part of the white ball surface that you will hit).
If your opponent commits a foul, you get ‘ball in hand’ which means you can place the cue ball anywhere on the table. Simply click on the area you want to drop the cue ball. A foul is committed if the shooter pots the cue ball or pots one of the opponent's suited balls. It's also a foul if the shooter doesn’'t hit any object balls, or collides with an opponent's suited ball first. If you accidentally pot the black 8-ball without already potting your 7 suited balls, you forfeit the game. At the end of a rack, click on the 'X' button in the top left corner of the play area to return to the Main Menu Screen. Happy potting action!
If this Flash-based game no longer works on IE11 on your PC / MAC, try playing on Chrome or Firefox browser.
Well, we’re here. In the tail end of winter, where you’re probably dying to simply get out and have some social fun. If you live in a similar climate as I do, it means most of the things you normally enjoy doing are buried under snow, wind, cold, rain, or some God-forsaken combination thereof. Outside my living room it’s literally snowing an inch per hour as I type this.
So, in addition to having a beverage and watching YouTube, it might be kind of fun to go out and play some games. On nights like this, a little fun playing a game or two would liven things up. Something like a game of pool against a random person, or even a friend.
The problem I face is that chances are good that a decent pool table is not really close by. Not only that, it likely sits in an ‘establishment’ with ‘patrons’ that you probably wouldn’t be very excited about approaching for a game.
But, for such problematic situations the Play Store has you covered. I’ve played with Miniclip’s 8 Ball Pool, a free, family-friendly option to give you a simulated pool hall experience. Let’s take a quick spin on this fun billiards simulator.
Setup
Setup is is pretty standard as Android apps go: simply download from the Play Store. Upon opening the app, you can log in several different ways; nothing unusual. You can log in as a guest, via your Google account, or via your Facebook account (more on the FB option later).
Once into the game, you have several options to try out (though they’re not terribly well-presented).
You can play:
- 1 on 1 (random pairing with a human player)
- Special Game (tournaments but you’ll have to be at a minimum player level to access this mode)
- 9 Ball
- Minigames (pretty basic games-of-chance with the object of gaining more coins for in-game upgrades)
- Playing with Friends (signing in with Facebook allows you to create a ‘friends’ list to quickly request games with people you know. Excellent alternative to playing worldwide strangers.)
- Practice Offline (just what it says)
Play Some Pool!
Now we’re ready to hit some balls! If you’re anything like me, you’ll dive right into the 1-on-1 mode, pairing up a random stranger to test your mettle. I am not going to delve into the rules of pool here; if you’re still reading this I’m assuming you know you’re way around a table.
Before you play you’ll be prompted to bet a certain amount of your money, so you have some skin in the game as you go against your opponent.
The controls to 8 Ball Pool are pretty intuitive. When it’s your turn, you control your cue by swiping your finger to align the cue with the cue ball. There’s an alignment guide that helps you dial in your angle to impact your target ball to your intended pocket.
You can also touch a cue icon that brings up a larger face of your cue ball, allowing you touch placement of your intended “English” on the ball when you strike it. Lastly, there is a power meter to the left. Simply pull back and release at the point where you think the prime power level is.
If you miss, your opponent has their turn. And so on.
In 8-ball pool, you are either “solids” or “stripes”, where you have seven balls to put away. Once done, you can then try to pocket the 8-ball. First player to pocket all seven balls plus the neutral 8-ball wins.
In 9-ball pool, you try to pocket balls in numerical order (1, 2, 3, etc.) Only the balls numbered 1 thru 9 are used. Neither player ‘owns’ any balls on the table as you’re both trying to pocket the same balls. If you’re on, say, the 7-ball and miss; then it’s your opponents turn to pocket it. Whoever pockets the 9-ball is the winner.
Should you win, you gain coins; to spend on cue upgrades and such to progress through the game. The usual in-game swag ensues here.
Likes and Dislikes
8 Ball Pool is certainly a low-threshold entry into a quick game of pool this is a great thing. If you are looking to play pool, chances are you already know about the game, and just want to play. 8 Ball Pool lets you just get in and play and for as long as you want.
There isn’t a whole lot to complain about here. Game play on a phone-sized device can be tricky as shooting from the edge of the table gets tedious. Trying to position the cue stick from the edge isn’t always easy.
The app does have its share of ads and popups and includes popups which appear in your notification bar, too. But, to me, these are admittedly small problems, compared to the price you pay to play.
Overall I can only recommend 8 Ball Pool for your quick pool/billiards fix and not much more. Give it a try and tell us what you think!