8-Ball (beta)

8-Ball is in beta. It is playable today and marked BETA in the app because it is still being developed — rules, screens and graphics may change between updates.

8-Ball is a refereed match on the same game screen as 9-Ball: the camera watches every shot and keeps the score, the shot log and the turn, and you can fix anything it gets wrong. This page covers what's different in 8-ball; the game screen, ball in hand, fixing a call and run-out advice work as in 9-Ball.

Setting up a match

Open 8-BALL on the Games page and press PLAY for you against the ghost, or LOCAL MULTI for two players at one table. The settings:

• Rules — a preset; every rule under it starts there and can be changed:
  • WPA (world rules): every ball called (obvious ones needn't be), the 8 on the break is spotted, ball in hand anywhere after a foul (behind the line after a break scratch), race to 7.
  • Bar (bar rules): only the 8 is called, the 8 on the break wins, a scratch gives ball in hand behind the line, scratching on the 8 loses, race to 5.
• Race to, Ghost (playing alone: You or Classic) and Break (Winner breaks or Alternate), as in 9-ball.
• Call shot — Every ball, The 8 or Nothing (see below).
• Camera fouls — whether the camera calls a wrong ball first: Ask me, Auto or Off.
• The switches under the rack: 8 on the break wins, Scratch: ball in hand behind the line, Scratch on the 8 loses, Three fouls lose the rack, Shot clock (30 s) and Allow run-out advice.

Solids and stripes

The table is open after the break. The first legal pot gives the shooter that group, and the cards show each player's group ball by ball, the ones still up and the ones made. When a player's group is down, their card says ON THE 8.

If solids and stripes go in together on an open table, the shooter picks: SOLIDS or STRIPES.

The camera counts by group, not by number. Which solid it calls the 3 doesn't matter: a 5 read as a 3 still counts a solid down.

Called shots

The camera can't hear a call. With Call shot on Every ball or The 8, a ball that doesn't go where it was called — or a safety — is marked on the shot: open it from the shot log (or press FOUL) and pick Not where called / safety. The turn ends; it isn't a foul, and the balls stay down. The 8 in a pocket it wasn't called in loses the rack.

The break

• The 8 on the break — with the WPA rules it's spotted, and the breaker chooses SPOT THE 8 (shoot on) or RE-RACK. With a foul on the break, the other player chooses. With 8 on the break wins on, it wins the rack.
• An illegal break (nothing in and fewer than 4 balls to a rail) is marked by you, as in 9-ball. The other player chooses TAKE THE TABLE or RE-RACK.
• A scratch on the break gives ball in hand behind the line.

Losing on the 8

The rack is lost by pocketing the 8 early (before the group is down, or with the last ball of the group), on a foul, off the table, or in a pocket it wasn't called in. With Scratch on the 8 loses on, so does a scratch while shooting at the 8. The rack's result names how it was lost (THE 8 WENT IN EARLY, FOUL ON THE 8, SCRATCH ON THE 8).

Run-out advice

SHOW RUN-OUT plans the shooter's group and then the 8, in the best order, with the same shot planner as 9-ball and Instant Recall. On an open table it tries both groups and shows the better run. It resets when the turn passes, and waits for BALL PLACED after a foul.

Recording and streaming

As in 9-ball, with 8-ball's call-outs. Once the groups are set, each player's row beside the score bug shows the balls they have left — then the 8 alone — and a ball drops out of the row when it's made.

Things to know

• Ball call-outs — after each shot FusionCue says what it counted ("Fourteen. Fifteen.") and asks aloud about a ball it lost track of. Turn them off in the game's settings under Audio & voice → Ball call-outs.
• 8-Ball plays on the v8s v5 ball model with exact ball matching, as 9-ball does.
• Game history — matches aren't saved to your game stats yet.
• If the game's card says Coming soon, Paused or Unavailable, it isn't open for your account right now.