billiards

Features

Unsophisticated billiards with spinning ball physics written in typescript.

• Backspin and sidespin well modeled.
• Presentation using WebGL in any modern browser or mobile.
• Record and playback breaks.
• Two player online mode with node websocket server.
• Nine ball and three cushion billiards rules

Online Demo

Demos run in all major browsers and use WebGL

• Nine ball ⬀
• Three cushion billiards ⬀.
• Snooker ⬀.
• 4-ball Straight pool ⬀.
• Inspect physics using diagrams.
• Compare highest breaks
• Try two player online hosted on render.com

Reference material

• Papers on ball mechanics Han 2005 with important corrections by Kiefl.
• cushions, max spin, simulation and constants 1 2 3 4 5
• 3D graphics uses three.js
• Inline LaTeX editor for equations in README.md

Key equations

Based on Han 2005 paper

surface velocity

sliding motion

rolling motion

where

,

cushion bounce

Useful commands

Install

nvm use v18.17.1
yarn install
yarn dev
yarn gltfpack

This generates artefacts in /dist for prod deployment (e.g. on github static pages)

Run

yarn serve

Then open http://localhost:8080/ in your browser to play

Test

yarn test
yarn coverage

Maintain

yarn deps
yarn upgrade -L
yarn prettify

Two player

yarn websocket

the client uses query parameter ?websocketserver=wss://some-host to locate a websocket server, open http://localhost:8888/dist/multi.html to see options

Controls

Use mouse or keyboard:

⇦ ⇨ Aim

Control ⇦ ⇨ Fine aim

⇧ ⇩ Topspin and backspin

Shift ⇦ ⇨ Side spin

Space Hit - hold for more power

Progress snapshots

July 2018

July 2019

March 2021

August 2023 (mobile)

top	aim

Star History