798 HANDSFor pipeliners and field hands on the road
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Line up the pipe

Slide the joint along until it drops into the gap, then let go. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys.

A pipe in the ditch with one joint missingThe missing joint
Boombox

Helpers Pool Hall

Practice alone, or pick table 1, 2 or 3 to play — or watch — 8-ball and 9-ball with members and guests.

Point to aim (hold Shift for fine aim). Hold the mouse button, draw the cue back, and push it through — how fast your hand moves at contact is how hard you hit. The cue-ball circle below sets follow, draw and english; raise the cue for massé. On a phone: drag to aim, pull the stroke slider down, then push it up.

How to play & the rules

Whoever takes an empty table picks the game (8-ball or 9-ball) and the rules. The table list shows which, so you know what you're sitting down to. While you wait for an opponent, the table is yours to practise on.

Tournament rules

The official World Standardized Rules of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), in short:

  • Breaking: from behind the head string (the line through the second diamonds). A legal break pots a ball or drives at least four balls to a cushion.
  • Fouls — a scratch, missing every ball, hitting the wrong ball first, or no ball reaching a cushion after contact — give your opponent ball in hand anywhere.
  • Ball in hand behind the head string (after a scratch on an 8-ball break): the cue ball has to cross the line before it touches a ball that started behind it.
  • 8-ball: the table is open after the break; the first ball you pot after it makes solids or stripes yours. Clear your group, then call the 8's pocket — click or tap it before you shoot. The 8 in another pocket, on a foul, or before your group is cleared loses the game.
  • 8-ball breaks: an illegal break lets your opponent play the table, re-rack and break, or make you break again. The 8 on the break: the breaker spots it and keeps shooting, or re-racks. The 8 and the cue ball together: your opponent spots the 8 and takes ball in hand behind the line, or re-racks.
  • 9-ball: always hit the lowest ball first; the 9 down on any legal shot wins, even on the break. An illegal break is a foul.
  • Push-out (9-ball): the shot right after the break may be a push-out — no ball or cushion needed. Your opponent then chooses to shoot from there or hand it back to you.
  • Three fouls in a row in 9-ball lose the game. The table shows the count.

Bar rules

  • Every foul and every scratch puts the cue ball in hand behind the head string, and it has to leave the kitchen before it hits a ball that's behind the line.
  • 8-ball: the 8 can go in any pocket — no calling. The 8 on the break goes back on the spot.
  • 9-ball: a foul gives ball in hand anywhere; no push-outs and no three-foul rule.

House rule at the Helpers Pool Hall: the winner breaks the next game (and when someone new sits down, whoever was waiting at the table breaks first). The wins add up under each name. If a player leaves, or goes quiet for six minutes, the other wins by forfeit.

Credits
  • Rules — tournament play follows the World Standardized Rules of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), summarized here in our own words.
  • Pool And Billiards SFX — Suraj Kispotta — CC0
  • The hall, the table, the balls, the lamp and the physics — written in code for 798 Hands.