Level Table
The table decides every shot.
What it is
Pool seen from above, on the 7-foot table you find in bars and rec rooms: 76 by 38 inches of cloth, and balls 2¼ inches across. Play eight-ball on bar rules, where only the 8 is called, or nine-ball, where you always hit the lowest ball first and the 9 wins. Nine-ball has the push-out after the break, and three fouls in a row lose.
Play the computer, or pass one phone or tablet between two to four people. With three or four at eight-ball, partners share a group and take turns. Nothing steers a ball: every shot, yours and the computer’s, runs on the same physics, and the computer’s only mistakes are in how it strikes the ball. It plays a little sharper after you win and a little gentler after you lose.
The aim line shows the first thing the white will hit, and only that. Spin sets where the tip meets the white, up to half a ball from centre: follow, draw and side.
How to play
- ShootPull back from behind the white, let go
- SpinTap the white on your seat
- After a foulPlace the white, then Shoot from here
- Call the 8Tap a pocket
Put a finger on the table behind the white and pull back: the cue points through the white, away from your finger, and the further you pull, the harder the shot. A short pull, sliding off the table or a second finger never shoots. In nine-ball you can press Push out on your seat after the break. Tap a name to change it, and New rack picks the game.
On a desktop, drag back from behind the white with the mouse, just as by touch. Or use the keys: the arrows aim (Shift for fine), and holding Space and letting go shoots. After a foul, W A S D move the white and Enter shoots from there. Tab picks the pocket for the 8. I, J, K and L set spin, and C centres it. P plays a push-out, and M turns the sound off. On the opening screen, 8 or 9 picks the game.
What isn’t settled yet
Spin never curves the white’s path to the first ball. A real cue struck off-centre pushes the ball slightly off line and curves it; here it leaves dead straight, so the aim line stays exact. Side spin still changes what happens after the first contact.
The computer plays only one person, and you can’t pick its strength: it steps up after you win and down after you lose. With two or more people, every seat is a person.
Nine-ball always has the push-out, a rule many bar games leave out. The demonstration on the opening screen only plays eight-ball, and there is no snooker.
Build Log
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Build 1
Balls move in steps of at most 2 mm, and every collision is wound back to the instant the two surfaces meet. On the break the white leaves at 11 m/s, which on a phone is about three ball-widths per screen frame, so without that care a ball could pass straight through another ball or a cushion. It was tested with 420 hard shots, through 6,455 cushion hits and 7,931 ball-to-ball contacts, and nothing passed through anything.
Credits and licences
No third-party engine — it draws to a plain canvas. The typefaces it does use are embedded under the SIL Open Font Licence, with the copyright notice retained in the shipped file. Cover drawn from the game’s own table and ball code.
Level Table is original work by Launchway Games.