How to Play Rack
Rack is a top-down 2D billiards game built on the classic rules of 8-ball pool. Fifteen balls are racked in a triangle at one end of the table — seven solids (1–7), seven stripes (9–15), and the 8-ball at the apex of the triangle — with the cue ball spotted at the far end, ready to break. Your goal: pot all seven balls in your assigned group (solids or stripes), then legally pocket the 8-ball to win. The AI opponent plays every alternate turn, and turns alternate strictly: potting a ball does not buy you another shot, so every single turn has to count.
To aim and shoot, click or tap anywhere on the canvas and drag away from where you want to send the cue ball. The further you drag, the more power transfers to the shot. A dotted aim line projects outward from the cue ball so you can visualise your line before releasing. Releasing the mouse or lifting your finger fires the shot, and Escape or P pauses the game at any point. The physics engine handles the rest — elastic ball-to-ball collisions, felt friction slowing every ball naturally, and cushion bounce off the mahogany rails.
Fouls and Ball-in-Hand
A foul is called when you pocket the cue ball (a scratch), fail to make contact with any ball, or strike a ball from the wrong group once groups have been assigned. A foul does not hand the table over: the cue ball returns to the break spot and whoever fouled shoots again. On your own foul you will see a red flash across the felt signalling the infraction, and you get ball-in-hand — drag the cue ball to any position on the table and release to place it before you aim.
AI Difficulty Levels
Three difficulty modes shape how challenging the AI opponent is. Easy mode gives the AI up to 30 degrees of random aiming error and unpredictable power, making it beatable even for newcomers to pool. Medium mode aims at the next ball in its own group with only a small wobble — under nine degrees — representing a casual pub-league opponent. Hard mode picks whichever of its balls sits best relative to a pocket, aims at it with no error at all, and fires at 85% power, so it rarely misses and rarely fouls. Every tier aims straight at the centre of its target ball rather than computing a cut to a pocket; what changes between tiers is which ball it chooses and how much error it adds.
What Makes Rack Different
Most browser and mobile 8-ball games funnel you through account creation, energy meters, or coin shops before you ever break a rack — and many lean on heavy aim-assist that draws the full path of every ball, turning pool into a geometry-tracing exercise. Rack takes the opposite approach: it loads straight into the difficulty select, and the aim line stops at the first ball it meets, marking the contact point with a ghost ball and a short kick-off arrow — it never traces a ball's full path around the cushions, so reading rail angles is still a skill you develop rather than a solution the game hands you. The physics carries the rest — elastic ball-to-ball collisions, felt friction that slows every ball naturally, and cushion bounce off the mahogany rails — so position play behaves the way you'd expect from a real table.
The other distinctive piece is the Daily Challenge. Alongside the three standard AI tiers, a seeded daily mode deals the same rack and the same break position to everyone playing that day and puts you up against the Hard AI, with a one-time 25-point bonus the first time you beat it on a given date. Combined with a scoring system that pays a base 10 points, 10 more per ball down from your group, and a 5-point speed bonus for closing the game inside 16 turns — eight of your own — the incentive isn't just to win, it's to win cleanly and fast. That gives Rack the shape of a score-attack arcade game layered on top of 8-ball rules, including scratches, wrong-group fouls, and ball-in-hand.
A Brief History of 8-Ball Pool
Pocket billiards descends from centuries-old European table games, but the eight-ball variant is a comparatively modern American invention that took hold in the early 20th century and spread through bars, pool halls, and family basements to become the world's most widely played casual pool game. Its enduring appeal is the clean structure Rack reproduces: fifteen object balls split into solids and stripes, groups claimed on the first ball potted, and the neutral 8-ball saved for last — pocket it early and you lose instantly. That simple rule set produces genuine strategy at every level, from safety play after a foul to planning the position of your final shot on the 8, and it translates naturally to a top-down browser table where the rules are enforced for you and the rack is always ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I aim and shoot in Rack?
Click or tap on the canvas and drag outward in the direction opposite to where you want to shoot. The cue ball fires along the line from your release point back through the ball. A dotted aim line and a ghost cue stick show your intended angle. Release to fire; the shot power scales with how far you dragged, up to a maximum.
What is a foul in Rack?
Fouls occur when you pocket the cue ball (a scratch), fail to hit any ball during your shot, or hit a ball from the wrong group once groups have been assigned. A foul does not pass the table — the cue ball returns to the break spot and whoever fouled shoots again. On your own foul you get ball-in-hand and can drag the cue ball anywhere on the table before releasing. A red felt flash signals the infraction.
How does ball group assignment work in Rack?
Groups are assigned by the first object ball potted in the game, whoever pots it. If the first ball down is a solid (1–7) you play solids for the rest of the game and the AI plays stripes; if it is a stripe (9–15) the groups fall the other way round. The 8-ball is neutral and must not be pocketed until all balls in your group have been potted. Pocketing the 8-ball early is an instant loss.
How does the AI difficulty work in Rack?
On Easy the AI adds up to 30 degrees of random aiming error and shoots at random power, so it misses frequently. On Medium it aims at the next ball in its own group with a wobble of under nine degrees. On Hard it picks whichever of its balls sits best relative to a pocket, aims at it with no error at all, and fires at 85 percent power. Every tier aims straight at its target ball rather than computing a cut to a pocket, and turns always alternate, so no tier earns a second shot for potting.
How is scoring calculated in Rack?
Winning earns a base score of 10 points plus 10 points per ball down from your own group. A 5-point speed bonus is added if the win lands inside 16 turns — that is, within your first eight shots. The Daily Challenge adds a one-time 25-point bonus the first time you win it on a given date. That caps a standard game at 85 points, or 110 on that first daily win. Losing scores zero regardless of balls potted.
Does Rack work on mobile and touchscreens?
Yes. The canvas scales to fit the viewport height on any screen size, and the drag-to-aim gesture is fully supported via touchstart, touchmove, and touchend events. Ball-in-hand placement also works by touch — drag the cue ball to your preferred position and lift your finger to confirm. No app install is required; it plays directly in any modern mobile browser.
