Time for us to lift the lid on what the 8 Ball Pool team are working on this month, and give you some insight into what’s coming next to the game.

All-in Mode

Our new mode in 8 Ball Pool: ALL IN!

We’ve got an update coming to 8 Ball Pool on mobile in the next few weeks – and the big new feature is the Monaco All In Lounge. This means that you’ll be able to stake all your Pool Coins on one match of 8 Ball. It’s a mode for the most confident of players, or those that like taking risks! The All In Lounge unlocks at level 10 and above.

Some important things you need to know about going All-in:

1. In order to win a Monaco Lounge match-up, a player needs to win two games in a row against their opponent. With so much at stake, we know that there’s always an outside chance that your opponent might make a good break and then clear the table without you taking a shot. So even if that happens in the first game, you’ll get a break-off shot of your own to stay in the game.
2. The prize for All In will be based on an equal amount of coins from both players, like going “all in” in a game of poker. If, for example, Player A has 100,000 coins and Player B only has 10,000, then Player B’s coin total will be used for the match (10,000 coins from Player A + 10,000 coins from Player B = 20,000 coins total prize).
3. There are no guidelines in the Monaco Lounge.
4. The minimum stake is 1,000 coins.
5. This sounds obvious, but we wanted to make it super-clear: if you go all-in and lose, those coins are gone! There’s no way to choose who you’re going up against when you play All-in mode, so it’s best to assume that you will be staking every last Pool Coin on the match. Good luck!

   Make sure you’re ready to go all-in before you click that button!

Monaco All In Lounge will be a special tier on mobile that you choose from the main menu. Make sure you’re ready to play before you pick it!

Beat The Boss

Our Beat the Boss event sees Miniclip chief Big Rob taking on you, the players, in a series of special 8 Ball events. We’ve seen some awesome skill on display (mainly from you guys rather than Big Rob, admittedly). We put together a short highlights video of a Beat The Boss event from a few weeks ago.

Want to know how to get involved? We’ve put together a blog post of Frequently Asked Questions – check it out. We’ve recently made this shiny scoreboard too – who’s gonna get their name on there next week, and will it have the “Boss Beater” mark next to it?

Limited Edition cues

The Limited Edition Valentine’s Cue in all its glory.

You may have noticed that there have been some exclusive Limited Edition cues hitting the Pool Shop recently, including the Chinese New Year cue and our most recent addition, the lovely Valentine’s cue (nothing says “I love you” like thrashing someone at 8 Ball). You’ve still got a few more days to pick up the Valentine’s one, but then it’s gone for good!

However, we’re already working on another very special cue that’ll be coming your way in March… make sure you follow @poolbyminiclip on Twitter for a sneak peek in the next few weeks.

What kind of cue would you like to see in the game? Tell us below and we’ll try and make it happen!

Click To Claim Reward – disabled

Some of you may have noticed that the “Click to Claim Reward” links on Facebook have recently been disabled. We discovered a small bug with these links recently which we’re now working to fix. In the meantime, they’ve been disabled while we work on it.

Top-tier Tournaments

The Tokyo Tournament, and a brand new Cairo 1v1 tier, are coming with the next mobile release.

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is: when will the higher-tier tournaments open again?

Well, the answer is: very soon! The next version of 8 Ball on mobile will have a new 1 v 1 tier (Cairo) with a whopping 500k prize entry fee, plus access to the Tokyo Tournament - with a 60k prize up for grabs.

Trickshot Masterclass #3

We were blown away by the response to our last trickshot video, made up of brilliant shots sent in by you, the players. We had so many new shots sent to us that we had to make an extended video – and we’ve already had plenty more breathtaking shots emailed to us since we published this new collection.

If you’ve got a shot to show us, just email it over to social at miniclip dot com, and maybe you’ll be appearing in the next video. In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy this supreme display of 8 Ball awesomeness.

That’s all for this month 8 Ballers – enjoy the game!

We’re very proud to announce a campaign with Sport Relief, starting today, in our hit game 8 Ball Pool! We’re including a special limited edition Sport Relief coin pack in the game on Miniclip.com and on Facebook, which is being sold on behalf of the charity.

A minimum of £2.10 from every special coin pack purchased goes straight to Sport Relief.

A minimum of £2.10 from every special coin pack purchased will go straight to Sport Relief for the duration of the campaign, which will run from March 19th to March 26th 2014.

We’ve been inspired by the epic, world-record breaking Battle of the Backsides, in which UK soccer stars Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage raced each to be the first to sit in on 45,000 seats at the iconic Wembley Stadium, all to raise money for the charity.

“Miniclip is very proud to be supporting Sport Relief 2014 and raising awareness of the outstanding work they are doing,” said Jeremy Wadia, Chief Operating Officer of Miniclip. “It’s not quite as physical as Shearer and Savage’s ‘Battle of the Backsides’ Wembley event but by playing 8 Ball Pool, fans can have great fun from sitting in the comfort of their own homes and still be supporting Sport Relief!”

“Sport Relief is all about fun and games, so we’re thrilled to have Miniclip’s support,” added Sarah Whitley, Fundraising Development Manager for Sport Relief. “The money raised from each Sport Relief coin pack purchased could feed 4 children, living on the streets in India, for one day. Every single person who participates will change lives for the better.”

You can donate to Sport Relief by purchasing the limited edition Sport Relief Bundle in the Pool Shop.

Sport Relief takes place from 21st – 23rd March and it’s already shaping up to be an unmissable weekend with more than 1,000 events taking place across the UK. Money raised through Sport Relief will help people living incredibly tough lives in the UK and across the world. You can find and enter your local events at www.sportrelief.com.

Let’s play 8 Ball Pool!

It’s been a busy month in 8 Ball Pool, with plenty of new features added to the game. Also this month, we wanted to address a popular topic among the community – chat.

Chat Packs can be found in the Pool Shop.

Chat Packs

You can now customize your chat phrases in the game, with the new Chat Packs that were recently introduced. You can ask your opponent “Best of 3?” with the Rematch pack, cheer them on with the Motivational pack (“You’re awesome!”) or even give them a bit of a gentle mocking with the Competitive pack (“In your face!”).

Of course, you could always use the Motivational pack in a sarcastic way (“Best shot ever!” as your opponent sinks the white) but we definitely, 100% do not endorse that. Nope. Really.

Hey, why not just give us free chat?

It’s a question that we’ve seen get debated among players for some time – so we thought this would be a good time to reiterate our thoughts on unrestricted “free” chat.

We want 8 Ball Pool to stay fast, fun and friendly – a game that can be enjoyed by players from all around the world, no matter what their age or ability. It is a competitive game, we recognize that, but we never want that competitiveness to stray away from the fun experience of a quick game of pool.

Just like Blizzard’s Hearthstone, which has adopted a similar “chat phrases” build to 8 Ball Pool, we don’t want anyone’s enjoyment of the game to be harmed by the risks of abuse or offensive language that come with having unrestricted chat. Even a “censored” chat won’t solve that problem as people may find ways to be abusive without using censored words. Similarly, a “report” function is a reactive measure – it doesn’t stop people from being offended or abused in the first place.

Re-order your chat phrases in the Settings menu.

We did want to give you the opportunity to add more depth and customization to the chat phrases that are available to you, and we feel that the Chat Packs are the best way to do this while still keeping the game fun and friendly. Yes, we have included a few “competitive” phrases like “Watch and learn!” because 8 Ball Pool is a competitive multiplayer game – but we wanted to reflect that while removing the risk of people being offended or upset while playing our game.

Remember also that 8 Ball Pool is a fast-paced game where you have seconds, not minutes, to take your shot – typing out custom messages will slow down the game and leave you waiting for your opponent to send you a message and then take their shot.

We know that there are plenty of players out there who recognize these problems with free chat, and we’ve been following the debates on our Facebook page. To all our players, we thank you for your support and understanding – and hope that you’ll find a phrase you’re looking for among the new Chat Packs, and continue enjoying 8 Ball Pool.

Chat Pack Protips

There’s also two things you might not have noticed about the new Chat Packs.

Firstly, you can re-order the list of phrases in the Settings menu. Just head over there and drag the phrases around to suit your personal tastes – this will make it much easier to find your favorite phrases when you’re in a hurry.

Secondly, if you’d rather not hear from your opponent at all… you can turn off the Chat phrases completely. Just set Chat to “Off” and you’re good to go.

Practice your no-guideline skills on mobile.

Sharpen your no-guideline skills

If you play 8 Ball Pool on mobile, you’re probably well aware of the Play Offline mode. We just added a new feature to this: you can turn off the guidelines and practice without them.

This means you can improve your no-guideline skills without having to stump up the entry fee for a high-ranking tournament or 1v1 tier that doesn’t use guidelines. Then, when you feel like going for a big prize, you’ll know that you’re ready for it. Sharpen those skills, 8 Ballers!

New All In awards

This award will be yours if you’ve got the skills to win an All In match.

 There are now a couple of new awards available for anyone who plays an All In match on mobile – Winner Keeps It All and Go For Broke. One you earn for winning an All In match… and we think you can probably guess how you get the other one ;-)

@8ballpool on Twitter

The official 8 Ball Pool Twitter account has had a name-change from @poolbyminiclip to @8ballpool. So if you want to tweet us any questions, suggestions or cool pics/videos – or you just want to say hi – that’s the handle to use.

Double Coins Weekend

If you’re looking to boost your coin stash… this weekend (25th-27th April), we’re doubling the amount of coins you get on selected bundles from the Pool Shop.

That’s all for this month 8 Ballers – as always, hit that Post Comment button if you’ve got anything you want to say about any of the above.

We get some great tweets from 8 Ball Pool players – here are some of our favorite ones from the last few weeks. Join the conversation on Twitter by tweeting the official @8ballpool or @Miniclip accounts.

@8ballpool Play a guy 5 times and won 4. I let him win once because I didn't wanna take all his money lol :p—
Clayton MacDonald (@showkiller22) May 01, 2014

Clayton MacDonald: a true sportsman.

@8ballpool is there a helpline number for addicted players? Worried about my housemate @ap_mccarthy #intervention—
John Elliott (@jelliott17) May 01, 2014

John Elliott thinks his housemate has problems.

@8ballpool I got so addicted to this game that I had to delete it, it was taking over my life!!!! So long #8ballpool—
Nick (@Salokcinus1986) May 08, 2014

Whereas Nick likes 8 Ball Pool so much… he had to delete it from his phone.

@8ballpool be happy.. I know that within a week I'll begin to have withdrawals & I'll re download it.—
Nick (@Salokcinus1986) May 08, 2014

Welcome back, Nick.

I'm RICH @8ballpool Kinda sad that I sent some dude back to the London Pubs though :-/ http://t.co/2cLelcvkoI—
Gaz (@GazAtta) May 02, 2014

London pubs can’t be that bad, Gaz…

I'm mad that @8ballpool took "Better Luck Next Time" off the convo list 😐 I always used that as my punch line when I whooped ass 😝🙌🎱😒💰💰—
K☪ (@k8linn__) April 28, 2014

Sorry about that, K – although you could always use “you’re awesome” instead…

Getting paid to play @8ballpool …this is my fav #app on my phone—
Peter Berger (@Peteyberger) April 30, 2014

And finally, we’re not sure what Peter Berger does for a living – but it sure sounds good to us.

Are you on Twitter? Are you following the official @8ballpool and @Miniclip accounts? If you’re not, what are you waiting for! And if you are… say hi!

Welcome to our monthly round-up of cool stuff from the 8 Ball Pool community! Let’s get the (cue) ball rolling with a big change that we’ve just made to Beat The Boss.

7 people find themselves 50 Pool Cash richer after beating Big Rob last Friday.

Beat the Boss, Win Pool Cash

Last week we made a change to our Beat The Boss events – for the first time ever, there’s now a Pool Cash prize up for grabs for anyone who can beat Miniclip CEO, Big Rob! Yup, after every event we’ll be giving 50 Pool Cash to every Boss Beater, as well as the super-exclusive Beat The Boss award.

Want to play? Check out our FAQs for the details – but just bear in mind that Big Rob gets hundreds of challenges at once! He always accepts the first one he receives (watch one of our Twitch streams if you don’t believe us ;-) ) and he’ll try to get through as many games as possible – good luck!

Best 8 Ball Pool Tweets

We get some pretty funny tweets sent to us at @8ballpool from the community, so we thought we’d round up a few into one place for you to see. Here’s one of our favorites.

@8ballpool is there a helpline number for addicted players? Worried about my housemate @ap_mccarthy #intervention—
John Elliott (@jelliott17) May 01, 2014

You can read the full roundup here.

Just in case you didn’t get the message… you can now win 50 Pool Cash by beating Big Rob.

Brand New Trickshot Masterclass

We swear you guys are getting better at trickshots every day. Some of the videos we receive make us go “woah” and we have to sit here watching and re-watching the vid to try and work out what just happened. We’ve put together some of our recent faves into the latest Trickshot Masterclass – check it out!

The Cinco de Mayo cue was a shiny limited-edition cue in May… there’s another cool cue on the way!

Got a shot that you’ve recorded and want to share? Put it on YouTube and send us the link either as a Facebook message to the official 8 Ball Pool page, or email it to social at miniclip dot com. Just remember that we get sent a lot of shots, so we might not be able to use every one – but we’ll try!

Already sent us a shot, and it’s not in this masterclass? Don’t worry, there’s a good chance it’ll appear in the next one… which we’re working on at the moment :)

Trickshot fail

Sometimes, things just don’t work out the way you’d planned. Thanks to Labib555 for not being too embarrassed to share this with everyone ;-)

Kunal908 made this amazing pic to celebrate us hitting 10 million Facebook fans. Thanks, Kunal!

Where do you play?

We asked our Facebook fans – where do you play 8 Ball Pool? On the bus, at home, at school, at work… or somewhere else?

Who knew so many played 8 Ball Pool while in the bathroom! Some people play in bed, some at home… and plenty play at work when their bosses aren’t looking. Check out the comments on our Facebook post! Where do you play?

What next?

こんにちは! Did you know that our most recent update introduced Japanese and Korean language versions of the game? 

What’s next for 8 Ball Pool? We have some very cool stuff on the way, which we should have a lot more info about in time for the next Community update. It’s something that we’re sure our most competitive 8 Ballers are going to really love… as always, look out for news on our official Twitter feed, and on the official 8 Ball Pool Facebook page.

In the meantime - let’s play some Pool!

We love trickshots, you love trickshots. We love that you send us loads of videos everyday, that’s why we do the Masterclass. What would be better is if we got even more videos from the rest of you!

We’ve got a few tips for how to create a great video and maybe one day you’ll get one of yours in a Trickshot Masterclass.

1. Recording software – you won’t be recording anything without the right software. Use screen-recording software like Bandicam or Camtasia. Just remember to hit the record button before you make your killer shot!

2. A (patient) friend or secondary account – you’ll need them/it to play against so you can position the balls for your trickshot. If you’re using two accounts, you’ll have to use different web browsers (Chrome/Firefox/Safari/Opera) otherwise you’ll only be logging into the same account.

3. Time – You probably won’t nail your trickshot the first, second or third time so you should be prepared to be retry your trickshots again and again until you get it right.

4. Creativity – not all trickshots are created equal. We’re always impressed when we see a 10-rail trickshot on the 8 Ball but if you could do that while not hitting any of the other balls on the table then we’d be picking up our jaws up from the floor.

Don’t just take it from me. Trickshot extraordinaire and all-round good guy Kilkiju has made a tutorial on how he creates the perfect trickshot video. He’s been in a few Masterclass videos (so he must be good).

Submitting your videos

So now you’ve gone through all of the steps to making your video and taken some tips from a Trickshot Grandmaster, how do you submit your video to us?

1. Upload your videos to YouTube and send the links to us on Facebook or in an email at social at miniclip dot com.

2. Email us at social at miniclip dot com or message us on Facebook on the 8 Ball Pool or Miniclip page and attach your video to the message.

 We can’t wait to see the awesome trickshot videos that you’re all going to create!

Greetings, 8 Ballers! Let’s take a look at what’s new in the world of 8 Ball Pool this month. We’ve got a few new things to tell you about, plus some of our favorite content created by YOU, the players!

Choose your language

Choose your language from the Settings menu.

We just launched language options in 8 Ball Pool on web – head to the Settings menu and choose your language! The game is now available in English, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Turkish.

We hope to add more languages to 8 Ball Pool in the future - if there’s one you think should be in there, let us know in the comments!

Challenge settings

Are you the kind of 8 Baller who just wants to play their friends? We’ve added the option to ignore challenge requests from people who aren’t on your friends list, giving you much greater control over who you play against. It’s set to “Accept challenges from Everyone” by default, but you can tweak it in the Settings menu.

Prefer to just play your friends? Set Accept Challenges to Friends Only.

Hi-Lo mini game

A new mini-game just landed on 8 Ball Pool on web: Hi-Lo. It’s simple to play: just predict whether the next ball is going to be higher or lower than the last one.

You need to get 4 in a row correct to reach the first Cashout milestone of 500 Pool Coins – but the further you go, the bigger the prize, right up to the jackpot of 250,000 coins. Once you’ve got past the first milestone, you can choose to Cashout at any point – so if you don’t fancy your chances of getting the next one right, you can bank your current prize. Be careful – if you get one wrong, you’ll be back down to 0.

New Trickshot Masterclass

We just released the new trickshot masterclass, featuring some mighty fine shots from Farha, Kaleem, knightshade9910, Aleksandros, Dusko and Subject 16. Check it out!

Hi-Lo is a new minigame on web, coming soon to mobile.

We had some amazing shots sent to us after we’d made this video, so if you’ve sent us one, don’t worry! It may well appear in the next masterclass.

Want to know how to make a trickshot? Don’t miss our How To post, featuring a video tutorial from trickshot expert, Kilkiju.

Best tweets

Thousands of you are sharing tweets about 8 Ball Pool every day – here are some of our favorites from the last few weeks. Don’t forget, you can find us on Twitter on @8ballpool!

You don't know the meaning of pressure until you play a 100k match in miniclip 8 ball pool—
nick (@NickelLusts) June 26, 2014

It’s the ultimate test of character.

this is a whole lot harder than the 8 ball pool app http://t.co/1TH1D4vjIW—
Taylor Barrios (@tayyynicole_) June 19, 2014

No guidelines or boosts in real life :(

On my down time I still end up enjoying a lil #8BallPool then I tweet about it-rest and repeat http://t.co/L2WWmigE6J—
Kristina (@KriscVP) June 20, 2014

Sounds good to us.

All of them are sat playing 8 ball pool :/ http://t.co/FSRQvkZy9A—
brk☮ (@brookewilliamsx) June 16, 2014

It’s what mobiles were invented for, right?

When you get two balls into the pocket in 8 ball pool. http://t.co/MTY3pllJwi—
Jenny Hayes (@JENerally_x) June 12, 2014

Good, but three is even better…

If your tweet has been featured in our Best Tweets round-up, and you’d rather it wasn’t – just email social at miniclip.com and we’ll remove it :)

Soccer Stars

Finally this month… we just launched a new mobile game that we think you’ll like, called Soccer Stars. Check it out for free on Android and iOS – join the thousands of players who are scoring great goals today!

That’s all for this month – don’t forget to keep an eye on our Facebook page to get all the latest 8 Ball Pool news and info in the meantime!

So maybe you’ve just started 8 Ball Pool for the first time or just want to learn a few new tricks to improve your game, well we’ve got you covered. We’ve also included some questions we get asked a lot on our Facebook pages and on Twitter.

We’ve even got tips from the best: M A G I C C U E, Kunal908 and G A R Y have sent us their advice on how to become a top 8 Ball Pool player.

Click the links below to go skip straight to the specific section.

Game Rules
Common Fouls
Game Mechanics
Mini Games
Commonly Asked Questions

PROTIP: G A R Y says “The safety side of things is very important also. It’s very easy to clear 5 or 6 balls after the break but sometimes you may run into trouble. That’s where frames are lost. If you’ve messed up after clearing the table of most of your balls and left your opponent a nice easy table. You can avoid this by identifying the balls in awkward positions early on and try to break them up so you can pot them easily or play a safety game to force your opponent to make an error and take advantage of it.

Game Rules

• Calling pockets
  • To call a pocket all you need to do is click the pocket you want to pot the ball into. Some of the mid-ranked tables require you to call the pocket on the 8 Ball and the higher rank tables require you to call a pocket for every ball.

Common fouls

• Fouls that will result in a ball in hand for the other player
  • Running out of time: you have a short amount of time to take your shot, so don’t take too long or play passes to the other player. Your time gets a little shorter with every ball you pot in a game.
  • Cue ball not hitting your own balls: if the white doesn’t make contact with one of your own balls before hitting your opponent’s balls, or it misses altogether, this is a foul.
  • No ball hitting the rail: if neither the object ball nor the cue ball hit the rail around the edge of the table, this is a foul. This is to designed to prevent negative play

• Potting the 8 Ball: the following situations are fouls, and result in the win being awarded to the other player.
  • Potting the 8 Ball before all your object balls have been potted.
  • Potting the cue ball and the 8 Ball on the same shot.
  • Potting any coloured ball before the 8 Ball on the same shot.
  • In a tier that requires calling pocket on the 8 Ball, potting the 8 Ball into an uncalled pocket.
  • NOTE: Potting the 8 Ball from the break off shot is not a foul. The 8 Ball will be respotted on the table, and play passes to the other player.

Game mechanics

• Breaking off
  • If you get to break off, you can move the cue ball anywhere in the space to the left of the white line.
  • If you pot one of more balls during your break you get another turn. However, the table will remain “open” so you can choose if you want pot the spots or stripes.
  • However, any spotted or striped balls potted during the break won’t count until you pot either pattern during your next turn.
  • If you pot the cue ball on your break, the opponent gets a ball in hand.
  • If the 8 Ball is potted on the break, if it will be placed back onto the table.

• Having a ball in hand
  • You will be able to move the cue ball anywhere on the table. Hover the mouse over the cue ball and it will change to a hand symbol for you to pick the ball up.
  • On Mobile just swipe to drag the ball around the table.

• Using spin
  • Spin can help you better position the cue ball after you’ve taken a shot, setting you up for your next one. You can also use it to snooker your opponent or stop you from potting the cue ball on your turn.
  • You can put spin on the ball by moving the red symbol on the cue ball with your mouse or using the arrow keys. That will cause the ball to spin in that direction after it’s hit a ball.
  • On Mobile, all you need to do is tap the cue ball in the top right of the screen and move the red circle to apply spin in that direction.

PROTIP: M A G I C C U E says “The key to being a great 8 Ball Pool player is positioning. Positioning of the cue ball is key and keeping a tight control on where that cue ball is at all times. Don’t smack the balls like your life depends on it. Use all of the time given to you and think about not just your first shot, but the very last shot you want to play.”

• Challenging/adding friends
  • You can challenge your Facebook friends if you’ve linked your Facebook and Miniclip accounts. Check our knowledge base to see how.
  • You can search for a user if you know their player name. NOTE: players will only show up in search if they are online.
  • You can search using user IDs (Mobile only).
  • You can add a player by clicking the “plus” sign on their profile picture.

• How do I earn coins/cash for free
  • You can earn 25 coins every 30 mins on Web and 1 hour on Mobile. Tap of the Free Coins button to get the coins.
  • You can also watch short adverts to earn coins.
  • You earn 1 Pool Cash each time you level up.
  • If you get to play against Big Rob during Beat the Boss you could win 50 Pool Cash!
• Experience points, levels and ranks
  • For information on this, check out this blog post.

Mini games

• Spin & Win
  • Spin the wheel to win a variety of prizes. The top prizes are pretty rare, but thousands of Lucky Cues are won each day! You get one free spin each day you log in.
• Scratch & Win
  • Scratch the cards to match 3 and win big. Not every card is a winner, but the prizes tend to be higher than Spin & Win.
• Hi-Lo
  • Guess if the next number will higher or lower – you can win up to 250k coins! You can cash out anytime over 500 coins.

PROTIP: Kunal908 says “The amount of power you use in your shot is always very important. If the ball is closer to the pocket, using a low power shot will be a better solution. Don’t try for longer shots with lot of power, otherwise there’s a higher chance the ball won’t go in. Practicing will make you perfect in deciding how much power you need to use in a shot”

Commonly Asked Questions

• If your issue requires more help you can contact our super-friendly Support team
  • Support also have an extensive knowledge base where you’ll probably be able to find a solution to your issue.
  • You can also contact Support directly and submit a ticket here or email support@miniclip.com.

• Using the Pool Shop
  • You can buy Pool cues, table frames, colours, patterns and chat phrases and Pool cash.
  • You can also buy Pool Coins and Cash.
  • Cues do not have any effect on gameplay – they’re just for showing off!

• How to turn chat phrases on/off, reorder phrases
  • Go into the settings menu, you can choose to ignore all chat phrases or not.
  • In the settings menu you can move your favourite chat phrases to the top of the list for easy selection during a match.

• Beat the Boss
  • Open to all users. They can challenge Big Rob, the Miniclip CEO! If they win they get a special award and 50 Pool Cash. We will announce the event on our Facebook page so keep an eye out.
  • Check our FAQ to find out all about Beat the Boss.

• Can I practice alone?
  • If you’re playing on Mobile you can practice for 25 coins.
  • There is no practice mode on Web but you can play our other pool game, Quick Fire Pool.

• Can I send you a trickshot video?
  • Yes, you can attach it to a Facebook message, send us a YouTube video or email us at social@miniclip.com.
  • Check out the trickshot masterclass videos on our YouTube channel to see the best.
  • Check out our blog post on making trickshot videos.

• Will you add free chat?
  • Sorry, but we won’t be adding unrestricted chat to our game. This is why.

• I’m playing on PC, can I play my friend on Mobile?
  • Unfortunately not. You can only play against people using the same device e.g. both on PC or using iOS and Android devices. Note that you don’t need to have the same device: an iPhone user can play an Android user, for example.

• Will you release 8 Ball Pool on Windows Phone?
  • There are currently no plans to release 8 Ball Pool on Windows Phone.

We hope that this has given you a great start to your 8 Ball Pool career, we’re looking forward to seeing you joining the ranks of the best players in the game. We’ll be continually updating this guide with new info about 8 Ball Pool. If you have any suggestions, let us know in the comments section or tell us on Facebook.

Let’s play some Pool!

You’ve probably already heard about Cues With Powers coming to 8 Ball Pool – in this blog post, we lift the lid on this big upgrade to the game, to tell you everything you need to know.

UPDATE: Cues with powers is out now on mobile! Get it on Android and iOS!

Cues With Powers will be released as an update on mobile first, with the web version of the game getting the upgrade soon after.

What are Cues With Powers?

Ever wished your cue had greater shot strength, or could put even more spin on the ball than normal? How about when you’re on the black, and you want just a little more time to line up the winning shot? Cues With Powers will allow you to do all this and more – you’ll be able to take your game to the next level.

It’ll also add even more depth and strategy to 8 Ball Pool: we’ll be reintroducing the ability to switch your cues during games, allowing you to choose a cue for specific situations.

Each cue will have 4 different attributes:

1) Spin – this is the amount of spin you can put on your shot

2) Force - how hard you can hit the cueball

3) Aim – this determines the length of your aim-line when taking a shot

4) Time – this determines how much time you have to take your shot

Of course, there’s no insta-win cue – you’re still going to need skill to win!  But it does mean that some will be better suited for certain situations. You may want to use a Force cue to try and pot more balls off the break, or you may decide that a cue with a better Aim will help you make a game-winning shot into the middle pocket.

How will this affect the cues I already own?

You’ll keep all your existing cues, of course. But we’re also giving a free upgrade to every player who already owns a cue with attributes that are higher than the standard cue.

This update is automatic – if you own a cue already, you’ll find the upgraded version of the cue in your collection and ready to go as soon as we update the game.

All the cues

As well as upgrading the cues that are in the game at the moment, we’re also adding OVER EIGHTY new cues! Our personal favorites so far are the Shark, Galaxy, Titan and Sheriff cue, and we’ll bring you a closer look at all the other new ones in another blog post soon.

Oh, we’re also including a load of new country cues, including the Philippines, Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. Get ready to play some patriotic pool!

Don’t forget – you can switch cue at any time, even during a game.

We’re introducing LOTS of new cues to the game.

What about existing boosts?

The existing boosts – the spin, aim and power boosts that you can buy in the shop – are no longer going to be part of 8 Ball Pool. You’ve still got a few weeks to use up the ones you have at the moment, before Cues With Powers arrive in the game. We recommend you use them up before the update!

Playing on mobile

Cues With Powers is coming to mobile first, then the web version of the game soon after. Remember, if you’re playing on web or Facebook you can only play against other players also on web or Facebook, so you won’t be going up against players who are playing on mobile who already have the update.

Charge your cue for maximum benefit

Every cue has a maximum charge of 50 shots, although you can recharge it at any time with Pool Coins. You can also set it to auto-recharge, so you never have to break up your flow during a game. You can play on with an uncharged cue, but its attributes will be lower than normal. Auto-recharge is set to ON by default: you can change this easily by tapping on one of your cues and setting auto-recharge to OFF.

Remember, if you do run out of charge during a game and don’t want to charge up, you can always switch to another cue in your collection mid-game.

How to turn off auto-recharge

Cues are set to auto-recharge automatically – but you can turn this off easily! Just go to the Owned section of the Shop, tap on the cue, and slide the Auto Recharge button to red – as shown in the picture below.

Now, when your cue runs out of charge, you’ll be prompted to recharge it – but you can just cancel that any carry on playing with an uncharged cue, or switch to a different one.

Get Pool Cash with the update

The update will also add 2 Pool Cash to your balance to get you started with some of those new cues

More news soon

We’ll bring you a close look at all the new cues, plus all the latest news on Cues With Powers, over the next few weeks as we get closer to launch. Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for your daily dose of all things 8 Ball Pool.

Breaking news, 8 Ball Pool fans: the much anticipated Cues With Powers update is finally here! This huge update adds a bunch of new features to the game, making 8 Ball Pool better than ever.

Cues With Powers adds exactly that, and all your existing cues now have individual statistics that affect how good they are in different areas. Finding the right one for you will be a tough task, but the ability to switch cues during a game will make it easier! Some cues will naturally have higher stats than others, but worry not, as skilled players will still have the natural advantage of practice and ability.

As well as these new powers, we are also adding over EIGHTY new cues, all as useful to use as they are good to look at. We’re also adding new country cues, including the Philippines, Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. Now more of you than ever can represent your country of choice in a patriotic showdown!

The Cues With Powers update is out now on iOS and Android platforms, and will be coming to PC in the near future. Can’t get enough 8 Ball Pool? Like the game on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter! While you are at it, why not like Miniclip on Facebook, follow our Twitter account and subscribe to our YouTube channel for even more brilliant, free games.

Get the upgrade on ANDROID

Get the upgrade on iOS

You may have already seen this new feature teased on our Facebook and Twitter pages – but now it’s time to give you all the details ahead of leagues landing in 8 Ball Pool!

Leagues, huh? What’s that?

Leagues are an addition to the Weekly Competitions that were released on 8 Ball Pool mobile earlier this year. They’re another way for you to win a ton of Pool Cash and Pool Coins but, best of all, each league will be customized for each player.

How will that work, you ask? Read on!

Leagues are a new feature coming to 8 Ball Pool.

Welcome to My League

You’ll find the My League tab in the Weekly Competition section of 8 Ball Pool. In here, you’ll see the other 8 Ball Pool players who make up your league. These players have been assigned to your league based on your own level in the game, plus your own coin balance – the game will match you up against players similar to yourself, to make the playing field as fair as possible.

We wanted to give more people more chance to win – so your league will have a much smaller number of other players than the Country or Global leaderboards.

In your league, you’ll be ranked on your total weekly winnings. Every week, the top 3 players in your league win a prize.

Climb the leagues for bigger prizes

There are 10 different league tiers for you to play in, each one based on your level. So if you’re just starting out in 8 Ball Pool, you’ll be playing in the Brass League, but if you’re a level 20 player you’ll be competing in the Gold League. Get yourself into the Level 100 Club and there’s 200 Pool Cash to be won for topping your individual league!

Remember, each week you’ll be competing against other players who will have similar level and coin balances to yourself. You can climb into a higher tier by earning XP and levelling up: you earn XP every time you play a game, but you get more for winning than losing. Winning tournaments earns you the maximum XP, with more XP for winning a high-ranking tournament than a low-ranking one. For more information about experience points, levels and ranks, check out this blog post.

Important info

Here’s some other important bits you’ll need to know:

• All In matches don’t count towards the total weekly winnings
• If you play the same opponent more than once in the same week, only the winnings from the first match are counted.
• You can only move into a new tier at the end of a week, even if you level up during a week. You’ll stay in that tier until the week comes to an end, then be in the higher tier the following week.

Claim your prize!

At the end of the week, come back to see if you’ve finished in the top 3! You need to open the app to claim your prize - so don’t miss out!

When can I play this?

Soon! We’ll bring you more news about the arrival of this update in the coming weeks – keep an eye on our Facebook page and the official 8 Ball Pool Twitter feed for all the latest info.

Got any questions about how leagues will work in 8 Ball Pool? Comment below!

What is life without friends? It’s something we’ve been asking ourselves recently, and now we can tell you why! Miniclip.com has received a big update behind the scenes that adds a ton of new and exciting social features. The first of these are rolling out now, while many more are still to come. Now, let’s go through what has already launched:

FRIENDS

Firstly, the new friends system! This is pretty simple if you’ve played video games in the last decade. Friending another player adds them to your friends list, an easy way to keep track of the people you are close to. Don’t worry if you are being friended by people you don’t want to though – it’s very easy to block other players and avoid unwanted attention.

You can now search for players in exactly the same way you do games. Type their name or their unique player ID number into the search bar (the same one you use for games!) and you’ll be able to find them.

ACTIVITY FEED

Another new feature is the Activity Feed, a running ticker on the right hand side of every game page that lets you know what your friends and other players are up to on Miniclip. Keep an eye on it and who knows, you might see somebody beating your highscore or even discover some cool new games. If the Activity Feed distracts you however, there is an easy pause button that stops it in its tracks.

TIMELINE

Finally, your profile page now features a Timeline that gives you an easy glance at what you’ve been doing on Miniclip recently. Games played, awards earned, scores logged and more will appear in this look back at previous gaming glories. Played a game a while back but don’t remember its name? Just check your Timeline! You can also visit the profiles of other players and see what they have been up to, an easy way to keep track of your friends.

The best news of all is that this is just phase one of our huge update. Even more new social features are on the way to help you connect with your friends and fellow gamers.

Leagues are out now on 8 Ball Pool on iOS, Android and Amazon devices! Get the latest update for the game and start winning some matches to climb up your league. Get into the top 3 and a prize bonus is yours at the end of the week!

Each league is your league: 300 players who’ve been matched with you based on your own level and coin balance. This ensures that each league is as competitive as possible, giving everyone a fighting chance of getting that prize.

You may also have noticed that your level star has a new design to it – this is based on which league tier you currently sit in. The only way to climb up into new leagues is by earning XP in the game and increasing your level. Higher leagues have bigger prizes to win.

At the end of every week, your league season will end and a new one will begin. If you’ve levelled-up enough to move into a higher league, you’ll be promoted!

Got a question about the new leagues in 8 Ball Pool? Check out this blog post which has everything you need to know. Or, hit the comments and tell us what you think! Good luck!

Get the 8 Ball Pool update on iOS

Get the 8 Ball Pool update on Android

Get the 8 Ball Pool update on Amazon

Get into the top 3 in your league to win!

Find out all about the best new games coming to Miniclip.com and to your mobile in our latest video update!

Every month, we bring you a video roundup of everything that’s new and coming soon to Miniclip, as well as games that we’re making for your Android, iOS or Windows devices. We’ll show you exclusive gameplay footage from unreleased games, as well as giving you a behind-the-scenes look at some of the big games we’re developing right now!

This month, we take a look at our new mobile game, Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Rush, which has been featured on the App Store and even shown on the Times Square Jumbotron in New York City! We also bring you an update on our action racer, On The Run, which should be hitting mobile stores in the next month, and we’ve got some exclusive new footage of our massive action adventure game Beast Quest.

On Miniclip.com, you can now play the new fighting game Gladiator: A True Story, and look out for Money Movers and I Eat Bananas coming to the site in the future.

We wrap up this month by telling you all about our 8 Baller of the Week competition on our Facebook page, plus we announce the game you voted as the Best Miniclip Game of 2014, and tell you about some sweet new features in Soccer Stars.

Seriously, you’re still reading?! Watch this month’s video right now, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you never miss a minute of Miniclip.

Do you play 8 Ball Pool? Do you follow us on Facebook? If so, you’ll probably be familiar with our 8 Baller Of The Week competition! Each week, we choose one of our awesome fans to highlight on the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page, and give them 50 free Pool Cash as a reward!

Want to enter? It’s easy. First, head to the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page here and Like us! Then, send us a Facebook message containing a photo of you playing 8 Ball Pool and your user ID number. Make the photo as interesting, weird or exciting as possible to increase your chances of winning!

Why not take a shot of yourself playing pool while also playing some sport, or cooking some dinner? Get a pic of all your friends playing together, or just you playing in the back of class (it’s not our fault if you get caught!) Get a photo of your dog playing, or hook your phone up to a projector and play a giant version of 8 Ball Pool!  Every Wednesday, we post a new winner to our page, and only the most crazy, out-there entries will make the cut.

Want some examples? Check out some of the best photos we’ve had so far!

Ah, 8 Ball Pool. Simplest game in the world: just hit the ball into the pocket. But there are some things that you may not know about our game, even if you’ve played thousands of matches. Even if you eat, sleep and breathe 8 Ball Pool. Yep, here are seven things you probably didn’t know about the beautiful game.

Tap to Aim

In 8 Ball Pool, the closer you get to potting the black ball, the less time you’ll have to line up your shot. In cases like this, Tap to Aim can be the difference between winning or losing. All you have to do is activate Tap to Aim in the Settings menu on mobile, and then just tap your finger on the ball you want to aim at during a game – and like magic, the cue will reposition.

This is especially handy if you’ve just potted a ball at one end of the table, and you now want to pot one at the other end. Instead of dragging the cue with your finger, you can just tap on the screen and you’ll be in position. Of course, Tap to Aim doesn’t line up the shot perfectly: you’ll still need to adjust your aim in order to pot the ball. But it can save you some time and make sure you’re never rushing that last crucial shot.

Vibrating

Maybe you’re a busy person, and you like to play 8 Ball Pool on your mobile while doing something else – watching TV, cooking a nice meal, or maybe talking to friends. (It’s okay, we’re totally not offended that you aren’t giving 8 Ball Pool your 100% undivided attention. No really. It’s fine. IT’S FINE, OKAY?)

Anyway. If you are a multitasking kind of person, then the Vibrating setting is for you. Turning this on means that your mobile will vibrate when your opponent’s turn ends, and play switches to you. This means that you’ll never miss your shot because you were too busy slicing onions or watching football or… playing pool in real-life.

Poolception.

Practice without guidelines

Want to try the no guideline tiers, but are put off by the high stakes? We added the option to practice offline on mobile with no guidelines, so you can familiarize yourself with how it works. Just use the Disable Guideline in Offline Mode option, then choose Practice Offline from the menu, and play without guidelines to your heart’s content. Once you’ve got the hang of it, get online and take on the world!

This shot is definitely going in. I think.

“Shhh.”

There’s always some cheeky player who will try to put you off by sending you a chat message just as you’re about to pot the black. Personally, we find that this just makes victory even sweeter when that 8 Ball drops. But if you’re the kind of person who would not take the risk of being distracted, you can activate Ignore Chat Messages in Settings, and enjoy your victory in peace. Shhh.

Customize your controls

There are two options in the Settings menu on mobile that we recommend you experiment with: Power Bar Location and Power Bar Orientation. These shift where the power bar appears in the game. Sure, you may be used to its current position – but maybe you’ll find your game improved even more if you move them elsewhere. Give it a shot and see what works best for you.

Check it out – power bar on the right.

Tweak the sensitivity

We sometimes get messages from mobile players who find it tricky to make a precise shot because the cue control is too sensitive. We also get messages from players who say that it’s not sensitive enough. Fortunately, you can tweak the sensitivity in Settings – have a play around and see if it improves your game.

Focus Mode

Here’s one for those who play 8 Ball Pool on Miniclip.com, and it’s called Focus Mode. It’s a shiny blue button that removes all “distractions”, like the other games and animations that sit around the game, so you can focus purely on Pool. Players who use Focus Mode have been shown to be around 73% better than those who don’t*. So if you’re playing on Miniclip, check out this mode.

* Based on this survey that I just made up

Click the blue button at the bottom and you’ll get FOCUS MODE – no distractions.

We hope you learned something new from these Pool Pro-Tips! If you’ve got some other things to share that you think some players may not know, or if you just want to gloat and say “I already knew all this, duh!”, then hit the comments section below. Or, click here to start playing now!

One of the best things about 8 Ball Pool is challenging your friends. Whether its someone you’ve known in real life for years, or someone you’ve played multiple times online but never met, having a friendly game with acquaintances is a blast. But if that wasn’t enough, we’ve added a new feature that makes having tons of friends in 8 Ball Pool even more essential than before. Let us introduce “gifting”.

Gifting will allow you to send a package of free coins to every single one of your Facebook friends once per day. These coins are not taken from your current total – they are completely free for you and your friends. The amount you send is randomly generated, so some friends may get luckier than others!

Similarly, every single person who has you on their Facebook friends list can send you a free gift once a day. When you get sent a gift, you’ll be able to return the favour if you haven’t already. Make lots of friends and send them a gift every day, and you’ll get loads in return!

Remember: the coins you send are not taken out of your balance! Sending and receiving gifts are both TOTALLY FREE.

Sending and receiving gifts is easy. You’ll see a new gift button on the 8 Ball Pool homepage. Press it and you’ll have the option of either sending coins or requesting them from others. Then you can choose who to send to/request from, or simply press “all” to do so for all your Facebook friends. Simple! You’ll be notified whenever you have received coins yourself.

Gifting will be coming to the mobile version of 8 Ball Pool in a few days, and the web version a couple of weeks after that. Make as many friends as you can and enjoy free gifts every single day!

We’re happy to announce that leagues and leaderboards are now available on 8 Ball Pool on the web and Facebook! Mobile players have already been enjoying these features, and we know web players have been requesting them for some time, which is why we are excited to finally be bringing them to you!

Weekly Leaderboards

Leaderboards are simple. You can check out the leaderboards for either your country or the whole world, seeing the top players and how well they are doing, or finding your own place and comparing yourself to your peers! Are you enough of a pro player to try and get near the top of your country’s leaderboard, or perhaps even the world’s? There are weekly prizes for those that can!

Looks like we’ve got a long way to go to climb the World leaderboard. Time to start winning!

Leagues

Leagues, on the other hand, give you an even better chance of winning! You’ll find the My League tab next to the leaderboards. In here, you’ll see the other 8 Ball Pool players who make up your league. These players have been assigned to your league based on your own level in the game, plus your own coin balance – the game will match you up against players similar to yourself, to make the playing field as fair as possible.

We wanted to give more people more chance to win – so your league will have a much smaller number of other players than the Country or Global leaderboards.

In your league, just like in the weekly leaderboards, you’ll be ranked on your total weekly winnings. Every week, the top 3 players in your league win a prize.

There are 10 different league tiers for you to play in, each one based on your level. So if you’re just starting out in 8 Ball Pool, you’ll be playing in the Brass League, but if you’re a level 20 player you’ll be competing in the Gold League. Get yourself into the Level 100 Club and there’s 200 Pool Cash to be won for topping your individual league!

Level up to move into higher leagues with bigger prizes.

Important info

Here’s some other important bits you’ll need to know:

• Matches on mobile contribute to web leaderboards and leagues, and vice versa. This means that you can carry on playing on web and mobile, and your wins will all be counted towards the overall leaderboard.
• If you play the same opponent more than once in the same week, only the winnings from the first match are counted.
• You can only move into a new tier at the end of a week, even if you level up during a week. You’ll stay in that tier until the week comes to an end, then be in the higher tier the following week.

Claim your prize!

At the end of the week, come back to see if you’ve finished in the top 3! You need to open the game to claim your prize - so don’t miss out!

We’re always looking for ways to make your time on Miniclip more fun and our newest update is huge for those of you who enjoy playing multiplayer games. We recently ran a poll asking you all for your opinions and suggestions to help us improve the site and make it the best it can be, and this new multiplayer page is the result! We’ve launched a brand new subsite featuring our most-played MMO and multiplayer games, making it easier than ever to find top games in that category.

The Miniclip multiplayer subsite currently features some of our best MMOs as well as our classic favourites, 8 Ball Pool and Soccer Stars. We’ll be adding more games as time goes by and if your favorite multiplayer game isn’t shown at the moment, you can find it using the search box on the main Miniclip site.

We are also currently running another survey for more feedback on this new subsite, so please take part and help shape our future! It’s easy to find at the top of the new page.

The new page is currently in beta and is a “soft launch”, meaning that there may be a few bugs and while we aren’t publicizing it, you can find it if you know the link. You lucky people are some of the first in the world to give it a go!

So click HERE to visit the new Miniclip multiplayer subsite and start gaming with friends all over the world!

We’ve just launched an official forum for our 8 Ball Pool players! It’s a place to talk about the game, organize tournaments or 1v1 matches, make new Pool friends, view the best trickshots, compare stats, and also get the latest news on the game, straight from the people who make it.

We hope that this will be a thriving, fun and enjoyable community! The Official 8 Ball Pool forum is now OPEN, so if you want to be one of the first people to join our growing community, head over there now and introduce yourself!

You can sign in with either your Miniclip ID or your Facebook ID. You need to be signed-in to post! Come over and say hi.

Look out for a few members of the Miniclip team, Raquel, Crunch_King and Benjo, plus our volunteer moderators KING-OLE, M4rt1n, Dalton, Tetsumonchi, thedoc70, jim_b_hello and CheeseyMonster. These people will make sure you get the most out of your forum experience

While we’ll also be using the forum to help out with any problems players might have in the game, don’t forget that if you experience a bug, the best place to get help is by contacting our Support team.

So come and join us on the official forum of the world’s biggest and best 8 Ball Pool game!