Eight ball is a billiards game played with a cue ball and 15 billiard balls on a pool table with 6 pockets. There are seven solid-colored balls numbered 1 through 7, a single black ball numbered 8, and seven striped balls numbered 9 through 15. The cue ball is solid white.

Two persons or two teams play against each other. One plays the solid balls, the other the striped ones. They hit the cue ball in order to hit one of their balls and to sink one of their balls in a pocket of the table. If they succeed, they may play again. If no balls are pocketed, then the shooting player's turn is forfeited to the opposition.

In addition, if no balls are legally pocketed during the shooting player's turn, in order to not incur a foul and give the opposing team more of an advantage on their next turn at the table, the shooting player must force at least one ball on the table to make contact with one of the table's rails. If no balls are pocketed, or sent to contact a rail, it is a foul. If a player has sunk all of his or her balls, the player must sink the black 8 in order to win the game. If the black 8 is sunk earlier, the player loses. Eight Ball is the most popular billiards game in the United States.

Online pool is also proving to be very popular....