Multiplayer Pool Users Guide

How To Play

For online games, we recommend that you have your antenna (if any) fully extended, and your battery fully charged. This helps to strengthen your connection to the server.

When select is pressed at the splash screen, the main menu entitled “Selections” will appear:

The menu is scrollable. To view additional selections, use the arrow keys

If Help is chosen from the menu, you will be presented with a read only text control that explains the basic mechanical operations of the game:

Like the above-mentioned menu, the help is scrollable using the arrow keys. You can use select to clear the menu, but CLR, or ‘Back’ will also work. Back, or CLR will always take you one level back in the application.

One Player, and Two Player menu options will begin a new pool game.

Practice, and Play Online menu options will begin a new pool game.

For example, a Practice game:

Or an Online game (in progress):

How to aim and shoot the cue ball

Use the pointer (triangle) to aim the cue ball. The cue ball will move towards the point of the triangle when the select button is pressed.

Like a regular pool game, the side pockets are a bit more difficult to sink balls in. Try to make sure the center of the ball is shot into the center of the pocket.

The Status Bar

In a practice game, the status bar displays the power and sunk balls. In an online game, the status bar will display waiting messages when the user is waiting for the other players shot, playing messages when replaying the other users shot, and power and sunk balls when it is your turn to shoot.

The Rules (Abbreviated 8 Ball Rules)

A one-player game ends when the user sinks the 8 ball last (win), or sinks the 8 ball prematurely, or scratches trying to sink the 8 ball. If the player loses, they are presented with a message box indicating that they lost, and the reason. For example,

in an online game, the game ends when the 8 ball is sunk, or a player scratches while attempting to sink the 8 ball (as a final ball for that player). Balls are not removed when a player scratches, but the turn passes to the next player. The cue ball is placed at the top center of the screen after a scratch occurs. If a player sinks the 8 ball prematurely, they lose. The type of ball a player is assigned is determined by the first type of ball that is sunk in the match. A player’s ball type is indicated on the status bar, by either a visual representation of their pocketed balls, (solids shown here),

or by the statement “solids” or “stripes” if that user has not pocketed any balls yet.

If a game is won, then the user is presented with an animation (the pool balls shown will cycle through different colors). The user can press any key or CLR to exit this animation

Online Play

“Play Online” connects to a Multiplayer Pool server and pairs you up with another user doing the same. Once you are paired up with another user, a classic pool table will appear. If it is your break, then you will see a shot timer in the upper left hand corner (you have 2 minutes to make your shot).

The progress bar and clock will move along, and eventually the progress bar will turn first yellow, and then red as your shot time runs out.

Finally, if you take more than 2 minutes to shoot, you will see the following screen:

If you abandon a game by taking too long to shoot or running out of battery power, your opponent will see the following screen:

When your turn is over, you will be waiting for your opponent to complete his shot. Your screen will display a progress bar at the top, and the nickname (if any) of your opponent. Nicknames are entered using the “Edit Profile” selection at the “Selections” menu.

When your opponent has uploaded a shot to the server, and you have retrieved it, the shot will playback on your handset. While the shot is playing, the status bar will read “Playing” in the upper left hand corner. The application flips the handset’s backlight on when a shot arrives for playing, allowing the user to be alerted to the arriving shot.

If your opponent loses by prematurely knocking in the 8-ball or scratching while attempting to sink the 8-ball, then you will be presented with a win screen. If you win by knocking in all of your balls and then the 8-ball, you will be presented with a win screen. If your opponent wins by knocking in all of his balls and then the 8-ball, you will be presented with a “GAME OVER” screen that indicates you have lost.

Advanced Features

Multiplayer Pool allows users to send each other text messages before each shot in the game. Simply pressing the star (*) key before executing a shot, will invoke a text box where the user can enter their message. The message will be displayed on the opponent’s screen prior to shot playback.

Want to play a specific friend in Multiplayer Pool? Simply enter your friends Nickname in the Private game field under “Edit Profile”. Your friend must do the same.

Miscellaneous Information

On some phones, pressing two arrow keys at the same time will send a BACK/CLR message to the system. In order to keep this from ending a game prematurely, a confirmation message was placed in the application. It displays, as follows:

To clear this message without exiting the application, simply press any key other than CLR/BACK.