How to play Billard

1. Aim and take a shot

Drag on the table to aim, or select a spot to aim towards it. Use the power control to set the strength of your stroke and release to shoot. Spin and cue elevation have their own controls; start with little spin while learning how the cue ball travels.

On a keyboard, focus the table: Left and Right fine-tune your aim, Up and Down change power, and Space shoots. Wait for the balls to settle before the next shot. When you have ball in hand, place the cue ball in the permitted area before aiming.

The default online shot clock is 30 seconds. Friends' tables can choose 20, 30 or 45 seconds. Running out of time is a foul and gives the other player ball in hand, so check the clock before making a complicated adjustment.

2. The break and the open table

The breaker places the cue ball behind the line and takes the first shot. The table starts open: neither player has solids or stripes yet. Potting a group ball on the break does not assign groups.

On a legal shot after the break, the first potted group ball assigns that group to the shooter and the other group to the opponent. If the first one potted is a stripe, the shooter gets stripes. When the table is open after the break, hit a solid or stripe first, not the 8.

Potting the 8 on the break does not win. It is returned to the table, and the breaker continues unless the shot was a foul. The club's break handling is part of its own rules; do not assume every local pool table plays the same version.

3. Play your group first

Once groups are assigned, the cue ball must contact one of your remaining group balls first. A legal shot that pots one of your group keeps your turn. A legal shot that pots none of your group passes play to the other player.

A shot can pot more than one ball. Potting an opponent's ball does not excuse an illegal first contact or a scratch. After all of your group is gone, the 8 becomes your legal first target for the next shot.

4. Fouls and ball in hand

The game calls a foul for:

• Potting the cue ball, called a scratch, or sending it off the table.
• Missing every ball, or contacting a ball outside your legal targets first.
• Sending an object ball off the table.
• Potting no object ball and failing to reach a rail after the first contact.
• Running out of the online shot clock.

Normally, the opponent receives ball in hand anywhere on the table. A cue-ball scratch or cue ball off the table on the break restricts placement to behind the line. If the shot clock expires before the break, the other player takes the break from behind that line.

Before shooting from ball in hand, confirm that the cue ball is placed legally. A softer controlled shot is often more useful than maximum power, especially when it leaves the cue ball clear of a pocket.

5. The 8 must go in the opposite pocket

KartaClub tracks the pocket of the last potted ball in your group. Your 8 must finish in the opposite pocket: a corner pairs with the diagonally opposite corner, and the two middle side pockets pair with each other.

For example, if your last solid goes into the near-left corner, the 8 must go into the far-right corner. Plan where that final group ball will go before clearing it, because that choice determines your finish.

You win by clearing your group and then legally potting the 8 in its required pocket. Potting the 8 early, potting it in the wrong pocket, or potting it on a foul loses the game. Knocking the 8 off the table after the break also loses.

Practise aiming, power and cue-ball placement against the computer before joining a live match. Follow the table's pocket marker and result messages when judging the finish.