8Baller
Online pool with real-time matches, AI opponents at four levels, accounts and leaderboards.
- Game types
- US 8-ball, UK 8-ball, 9-ball
- Opponents
- Live players or the computer at four levels
- Physics
- Our own, in TypeScript
- Online
- Server settles every shot
About the game
- Online multiplayer
- Versus AI
- Single-player
8Baller is online pool built for the browser. Matches run in real time against other players, with the server settling every shot, and there is a practice table and a computer opponent when you want a quieter game.
It runs on our own physics engine, written for the game rather than taken off the shelf, and renders with PixiJS so it stays smooth on phones and laptops alike. Accounts and a leaderboard sit behind the online games.
A physics problem with a trust problem attached
The engineering
Pool lives or dies on how the balls behave, so we wrote the physics ourselves: ball motion, cushion and pocket collisions and the table rules all sit in our own TypeScript engine rather than a general-purpose library. That keeps spin, throw and the break ours to tune.
Online play adds a second problem: two people, two machines, and no reason to trust either. In 8Baller the server settles every shot, so a match is decided in one place. Around it sit a WebSocket lobby, rooms, accounts, and a leaderboard fed by rated matches. PixiJS 8 draws the table, with a dedicated HD ball renderer.
The look and feel
The table is the interface. The view is top-down, the aim is a clean line from the cue, and the chrome stays small so the felt, the timber rails and the balls carry the screen. It is built to be just as comfortable on a phone held upright as on a laptop.
When nobody else is around there is a practice table and a computer opponent at easy, medium, hard and expert.
- PixiJS 8
- Custom TypeScript physics
- Node.js and WebSockets
- MariaDB
In the game
What is in it
Real-time online matches
A live lobby and rooms over WebSockets, with the server settling every shot.
Computer opponents at four levels
Easy, medium, hard and expert, for a game whenever nobody else is around.
Three game types
US 8-ball, UK 8-ball and 9-ball.
Accounts and a leaderboard
Rated online matches feed the leaderboard.
Practice mode
Take the table on your own and work on your break.
Want something this ambitious?
We design, build and run games like 8Baller. Tell us your idea and we will say how we would approach it.
