LAGZONE (beta)

LAGZONE is in beta. It is playable today and marked BETA in the app because it is still being developed — scoring, layouts and graphics may change between updates.

LAGZONE is lag practice: speed control over the full length of the table. With its Corridor theme the room plays dark: the table light switches off when the game starts, and the cloth becomes a dark sci-fi corridor projected by FusionCue, with a lit strip to lag along and a red laser across the table. Pick Lights on instead and the table light stays on. Either way, you lag from behind the head string to the far rail and back, and finish as close to the laser as you can. Play alone for your average distance, or split the table with a friend and beat them by an inch.

How a game works

1. Set your ball. Put it behind the head string, inside your strip. The strip is six balls wide and runs the length of the table: one down the middle for one player, one down each lane for two. Once the ball sits still there it's set. Playing alone, the headline then says LAG!. With two players the table says WAITING until both balls are set, then SHOOT WHEN READY! — no countdown and no clock: lag when you're ready.
2. Lag. Up to the far rail and back, staying inside the strip. A lag is the ball leaving your kitchen down your lane: setting the ball, nudging it or picking it up never counts as a shot. Pick your ball up for a few seconds and it un-sets: the table says WAITING again (for both of you) until it's set again.
   • Traditional — finish as close to the head rail as you can. The laser lies right against it.
   • Variable — the laser moves to a new line up the table every round. Pass it, touch the far rail and finish as close to the line as you can; either side counts.
3. Measure. When the ball comes to rest it's measured in inches: in Traditional from the edge of the ball to the head cushion, in Variable from the centre of the ball to the line.
4. Next round. After the result the next round starts (in Variable, on a new line). A game is the number of rounds you chose.

Scoring

A lag only counts if the ball touches the far rail and stays in its strip. These are fouls:

Foul	What happened
SHORT	The ball never touched the far rail
OUT OF THE STRIP	The ball left your strip — crossing into the other lane included
POCKETED	The ball went into a pocket
LOST	The camera lost sight of the ball after you struck it

There's no time limit: taking your time is never a foul.

• One player — every clean lag is measured, and your score is your average distance in inches: lower is better. Fouls don't count toward the average. The board shows your average, last and best lag.
• Two players — the closer lag wins the round. A foul can't win; two fouls, or two lags within 0.05 in of each other, tie the round. Most rounds won takes the match — at one table, if you finish level, the lower average distance wins.

Settings

Choose a theme on the LAGZONE start page, then set the rest in the pre-play settings. They are remembered for next time.

• Theme — Corridor (the room goes dark and the table becomes a sci-fi corridor seen from above: your lit strip is the only bright thing on it and the only place the camera looks, a red laser spans the table, your kitchen lights up when your ball is set, and leaving the strip sets off a siren while the deck around it flashes red). Lights on keeps the table light on: each kitchen is a drill-style striped zone until a ball shows in it, the strip's edges are dashed lines, the laser is a glowing line, and each lag's distance is written beside the ball; leaving the strip plays a fail sound and flashes red just outside it. The rules and scoring are exactly the same.
• Line — Traditional (finish on the head rail) or Variable (a new line every round, anywhere in the range you set: 30% to 85% of the way up the table from the head rail).
• Shoot from — Left or Right: the end you lag from. The start zone is behind the head string at that end, and in Traditional the laser lies against that rail.
• Rounds — 1 to 20, one lag per player per round.
• Brightness — how bright the lit corridor is (Corridor, single player). The same slider is on the game screen: turn it up if the camera stops seeing the ball.

SKIP ROUND on the game screen voids the round and sets it up again (in Variable, on a new line). It works any time a ball isn't rolling, even after one player's lag is in.

Playing with others

Pick LOCAL MULTI or INTERNET beside PLAY on the LAGZONE start page. With two players there are no turns: you both lag at the same time.

• Local multiplayer — exactly two players at one table, picked on the player cards. The table splits lengthwise into two lanes, each with its own strip. When both balls are set, SHOOT WHEN READY! is projected beside each kitchen (with Lights on it also pops across the table) — lag when you're ready. Each player's lags go into their own stats.
• Internet — a 1v1 with an online player, each on your own table. Both tables split exactly in half into the same two lanes: you lag in yours, and the other half shows your opponent's table, projected live — their ball and their lag. Set your ball and wait: your table shows WAITING FOR your opponent until their ball is set too, then both tables say SHOOT WHEN READY!. The score line sits on your own half. Both tables play the host's line and rounds; the end you shoot from, the brightness and the theme stay your own. Your opponent's live table fills the game screen; your wins, REPLAY ROUND, the table map and both players' wins are on the right. REPLAY ROUND voids the round on both tables and you both lag it again. Either player can press it. If one lag is in and the other hasn't come in for a while, the game screen says who it's waiting for, so a lag the camera missed never leaves you stuck. You both need an up-to-date FusionCue: until an older app updates, the match room says who must update and the match doesn't start.
• Player cards — click a player's card (online: their table, or their row on the right) for Replay round and Correct score. At one table, the score is that player's round wins. Online, you can correct your own rounds, and the host can correct anyone's.
• Tournament lags — a tied lag (both fouled, or a dead heat) is lagged again: the end screen says why for a few seconds, then the new lag starts on the same table.
• Go Live and Record show both players and their rounds won on the bottom bar.

Things to know

• Corridor needs a dark room. The camera only looks inside the lit strips. If you use a supported smart plug, the table light turns off when the game starts and comes back when it ends. Want the light on? Pick Lights on.
• In the dark, lag with the 8, the 1 or the 5 (two players: the 8 and the 5). They show up on the lit strip whatever your cloth; blue, purple and green balls sink into it, and a ball the colour of your cloth can vanish. If no ball shows in a kitchen after a few seconds, the screen reminds you.
• With Corridor, the laser opens where a ball lies near it, so the camera can see a ball that stops right on the line.
• Your ball stays set once SHOOT WHEN READY! is up, even if the camera loses sight of it for a while (a shadow from you or a light over the kitchen), and your lag still counts. If it keeps dropping out, the screen says to check for a shadow over your kitchen.
• If the game's card or start page says Coming soon, Paused or Unavailable, it isn't open for your account right now.
• Go Live, Record and instant replay work the same as in the other games, and every lag is saved to your game stats.