9-Ball Pool

9-Ball is the fast pool game of the pro tour: only nine balls, racked in a diamond with the 1 at the front and the 9 in the middle. There are no solids or stripes. Every shot must hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table first, and whoever pots the 9 on a legal shot wins the rack.

1. Aim by dragging on the table, then slide the power bar and let go. Touch the white spin ball to pick where the cue hits: high to follow, low to draw, left or right to curve.
2. Nine balls, 1 to 9. Every shot must hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table first: it shows by the shooter's name. Pot any ball on a fair shot and you shoot again.
3. A foul (the cue ball in a pocket, hitting nothing, hitting another ball first, or no ball reaching a cushion) gives the other player ball in hand: they put the cue ball anywhere.
4. Pot the 9 on a fair shot to win: early, off another ball, even on the break. A 9 potted on a foul goes back on its spot. No push-out here, to keep it simple.

Break from behind the head string into the 1. Pot any ball on a legal shot and you shoot again, so a combination off the lowest ball into the 9 wins at once, even on the break. A foul (the cue ball in a pocket, hitting nothing, hitting the wrong ball first, or no ball reaching a cushion after the contact) gives the other player ball in hand anywhere on the table, and a 9 potted on a foul goes back on the foot spot. These are simple bar rules: no push-out and no three-foul rule. Play Mocha, the computer, or send a friend a link; the table and the physics are 8-Ball's.

Full rules and strategy: 8-Ball