How it works
From the System Library: the source's numbers, checked in this game's physics but not reviewed by a coach.
The double rail: maximum side into the short rail just by the corner, along the long rail and back onto the same short rail, then down to the balls. Aim = 17 − (Cue + Arrival).
Two numbers are read on lines from that corner, not along the ball's path: the cue value through the cue ball, the arrival through where the cue ball must meet the first ball, both carried on to the near long rail's diamonds.
Reading the numbers
Start On the near long rail, 10 a diamond from the corner below the first cushion: where the line from the first cushion's corner through the cue ball meets it.
Aim On the first cushion, the short rail: 0 in the corner, 10 a diamond away from it to 20 at the second diamond.
Arrival On the near long rail, the same numbers: where the line from that corner through the point the cue ball must reach meets it.
Step by step
- Pick the point the cue ball must reach to make the balls, and read its number on the line from the corner.
- Read the cue ball's number on the line from the same corner.
- Aim = 17 − (Cue + Arrival). Cue 5, arrival 10: aim at 2, a fifth of a diamond from the corner.
- Add the table correction: the sources set the limit anywhere from 16 to 18, by cloth.
The stroke
Maximum side — the side that brings the ball off the long rail back onto the same short rail — centre height, a soft follow stroke.