8 Ball Pool FAQ

8 Ball Pool is the most common pub and tournament form of pocket billiards. It is played on a six-pocket table with a cue ball and fifteen numbered object balls: solids 1–7, stripes 9–15, and the black 8 ball. One player pots the solids, the other the stripes, and whoever clears their group and then legally pots the 8 ball wins.

Yes. play8ballpool.app is completely free and runs entirely in your browser. There is nothing to buy, download, or install, and there are no interruptive video ads, energy meters, or paywalls. Open the page and the balls are already racked.

This is a single-player game: you break and then take turns against a CPU opponent that aims for its own group and plays a simple safety when it has no pot. There is no login, matchmaking, or chat — just you against the table and the computer.

No. The game is the website — a 100% browser-based build with no app store download and no sign-up. Your stats are saved locally in your browser, so there is no password to manage.

Pocket billiards grew out of older cue games in the 1800s. The specific 8-ball game — fifteen object balls split into two groups plus the black 8 — was being played in the United States by the early 1900s and became the standard casual pool game worldwide, later spread further by mobile and browser versions.

The table is "open" immediately after the break. The first player to legally pot a called object ball on a normal shot takes that group: pot a solid and you are solids, pot a stripe and you are stripes. Your opponent is assigned the other group. If you pot both a solid and a stripe on the same shot, the table stays open.

Common fouls are: potting the cue ball (a scratch), the cue ball hitting the opponent’s group or the 8 ball first, failing to hit any ball, and — after contact — potting nothing while no ball reaches a cushion. On the break, it is also a foul if no ball is potted and no ball reaches a rail. After any foul the incoming player gets ball in hand.

After your opponent fouls, you may pick up the cue ball and place it anywhere on the table before your next shot. It is a big advantage: use it to line up the easiest pot with the best angle for the shot after that.

You lose the game immediately. The 8 ball is only a legal target once every ball in your group has been potted. Potting the 8 before then, potting it together with the cue ball, or knocking it off the table all end the rack in your opponent’s favour.

Yes. If you pot the 8 on the same shot that you scratch the cue ball, or you pot the 8 on a foul, the shot does not win — it loses. You need a clean, legal shot: cue ball contacts the 8 first, the 8 goes down, and the cue ball stays on the table.

This build uses casual "any pocket" rules for your group balls — pot one of your own balls in any pocket and it counts. The 8 ball is the exception: play it as though you have called it, with a clean first hit and a clear path, so you are never surprised by an early-8 loss.

The ball stays down — potted balls are not re-spotted — but it does not earn you anything and, unless you also potted one of your own, your turn ends. Potting an opponent ball is not itself a foul in this version, though hitting their group first is.

No. You can play the cue ball off one or more cushions before it strikes an object ball. The rule is only about the first ball the cue ball contacts, not whether it took a bank to get there.

Play position, not just pots: before each shot pick where the cue ball should stop for the next one, and use only as much power as that needs. Break with pace from slightly off-centre, take a safety when you have no clean pot, and clear balls that block your pockets early. Leave the 8 ball for last with an open lane to a pocket.

The CPU looks for a shot that pots one of its own balls with a reasonable cut angle and a clear path, and otherwise rolls a ball safe so the turn passes. It does not plan several shots ahead, so tidy position play and disciplined safeties will beat it consistently once you know the table.

Put the cue ball a little to one side of centre and hit with high power aimed at the lead ball. That spreads the pack, drives balls toward pockets, and keeps the cue ball near the middle of the table for your next shot.

When the best available pot would leave you with no follow-up, or would sell out an easy shot to your opponent if you miss. A good safety hides the cue ball behind an opponent ball or freezes it to a cushion with no clear shot on their group.

Your wins, losses, current and longest win streak, fewest shots in a win, and fastest win are saved locally in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server and there is no account. Because the save lives on the device, a different phone, a new browser profile, or cleared site data looks like a fresh start. A match in progress is not saved if you close the tab.

Yes. The layout is built for touch: slide a finger to aim, drag back from the cue ball to set power, and release to shoot. The full table and the power meter fit on one screen in portrait, and racking a new game is instant with no page reload.

The current streak counts consecutive wins. Losing a rack — including an early-8 loss or the CPU clearing up — resets the current streak to zero. Your longest streak is kept separately as a best, so it never goes down.

Any current browser with JavaScript and Canvas: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari on desktop, plus their mobile versions. If the table does not respond, update the browser, allow scripts for this site, and reload.

Open Stats from the game menu and use Reset progress, then confirm with the second tap. That clears wins, losses, streaks, fewest shots, and fastest win on this browser. It cannot be undone.