How to play Pool & Carom

Free to play in your browser - no install, no download.

Pool & Carom - Three games: Chinese 8-ball, 9-ball and three-cushion — Three games: Chinese 8-ball, 9-ball and three-cushion

Pool & Carom - The rack before the break, with the aiming line — The rack before the break, with the aiming line

Pool & Carom - After the break — After the break

Pool & Carom puts three table games in one page that opens in your browser with no install. The start screen shows three cards drawn as small tables: 8-Ball (CN) with 15 balls split into solids and stripes, 9-Ball with balls 1 to 9 racked in a diamond, and 3-Cushion, a carom game on a table with no pockets. Under the cards you choose how to play: Local 2-player on one device, Play online with a room code, or, for three-cushion only, Practice with an aim preview.

The table is modelled at 1270 by 2540 units with 57 mm balls and six pockets for the pocket games. Cue-ball spin is part of the physics: top spin follows the object ball, back spin draws the cue ball back, and side spin changes the angle off a cushion.

How to play

Pick a game card, then a mode. Local play hands the phone back and forth; online play opens the room panel.
Drag anywhere around the cue ball to aim. A line shows the path. Use the ◀▶ buttons for small corrections.
Pull back from the cue ball to set power and let go to shoot. The farther you pull, the harder the hit.
Touch the circle in the bottom-left corner to choose where the cue tip strikes the ball, which sets top, back or side spin.
After a foul in a pocket game, the other player gets ball in hand and drags the cue ball to any spot before shooting.

Controls

Action	How
Aim	Drag around the cue ball (touch or mouse)
Fine aim	The ◀▶ buttons
Power and shoot	Pull back from the cue ball, release to strike
Spin	Bottom-left circle: tap the contact point
Re-rack	The + button
Online / menu	The round button opens create room, join room, watch, local play and home
Music	The music note button

Rules

8-Ball (Chinese): balls potted after the break decide your group, low 1-7 or high 9-15. Pot your own group to keep shooting. Fouls are potting the cue ball, hitting no ball, hitting the other group first, or no ball reaching a rail or pocket; the opponent then gets ball in hand. Clear your group, then pot the 8 legally to win. Potting the 8 early, or together with the cue ball, loses the frame.
9-Ball: you must always hit the lowest numbered ball first. Any ball that drops after a legal hit keeps you at the table, including combinations. Potting the 9 on a legal shot wins; if the 9 falls on a foul it is put back on the spot.
3-Cushion: player 1 uses the white ball and player 2 the yellow. Hit both other balls with your own ball, and touch the cushions at least three times before reaching the second ball. Cushions after the second contact do not count. Each score is one point and you keep shooting; a miss passes the turn.
Three-cushion is played in sets: 10 points win a set, and the first to win 2 of 3 sets wins the match. The break alternates each set.

Tips

In three-cushion the live counters show rails and balls touched on each shot, so you can see exactly why a shot did not count.
Practice mode in three-cushion draws the predicted path and tracks made shots, your current run and your best run.
Use draw (low contact) to stop the cue ball short of a pocket after potting, and follow (high contact) to roll through for the next ball.
In 9-ball, look for a combination: hit the lowest ball into a higher one, since any legal pot keeps your turn.

FAQ

How do I play a friend online?

Open the round menu button and choose Create room. You get a 4-character code; your friend enters it and taps Join room, or opens the page link with the code added. A third person can enter the same code and choose Watch.