Playing billiards on a Palm device has a major advantage over playing in real life. If you're not sure that you've lined up your shot as perfectly as you hoped, you can hit the Test button, and the projected flight path of your cue ball and target ball will be displayed for you. In some circles, they might call this cheating. Figure D demonstrates an example of the Test function.

FIGURE D

Find out where your balls are headed before you take your shot.

Figure D shows another of the entertaining features of PalmPool. In the upper left-hand corner you'll see the cigar chomping character, Steven. Other characters include Anna, and the enigmatically named Man, and Woman. You can choose among them to represent yourself and your human or computer opponent. Throughout the game, your computer opponent will attempt to psych you out with trash talk. Even the genteel looking Anna can rattle off some morale-crushing zingers.

Remember to focus and don't let them throw you off your game. If you do manage to beat the computer, though, it won't give you much satisfaction. Both Anna and Steven are incredibly sore losers. They also have an odd tendency to quote from Bruce Campbell's character in Army of Darkness.

Billiard
Megasoft's Billiard can be found at http://www.megasoft2000.com/games/Billiard.html. The game has a slightly different look and feel to it than does PalmPool. The tabletop is smaller, and the balls are represented with much larger graphics, as you can see in Figure E.

FIGURE E

Billiard has a bigger set of balls.

While it certainly makes the various balls easier to tell apart, they don't quite bang around the table with the same exuberance as they do in PalmPool. When a cluster forms in one corner, they just kind of shuffle around together like a bunch of shy preteen boys at a school dance. It can be extremely difficult to break up a clump. You just kind of have to chip away at it.

On the other hand, Billiard does offer far more options than PalmPool, one of which allows you to change the size of the billiard balls, making them smaller. You can also change the size of the pockets, the table speed, and the strength of the cushion rebound. Figure F shows the main menu screen, where you can also select the type of game you wish to play: 8-ball, 9-ball, or Pyramid.

FIGURE F

Billiard allows for a lot of game customization.

Once you begin playing, you can open up the Menu and select Options in order to customize your gaming experience even further. There you can toggle on or off the sound, Step Mode, and Trace. Step Mode interrupts the game after each shot to ask if you'd like to continue or to watch a replay of the last shot, and trace displays the projected trajectory of your cue ball. The Options screen also gives you a choice between green and cyan for the cloth color of the tabletop.

Going back to the tabletop view, on the righthand side there are a number of other controls. The power-meter bar works much the same way as in PalmPool, and the R button begins a replay of the last shot. You can also reverse the view of the tabletop and rotate the cue stick with the circular arrow buttons. The most unique feature, however, is the display in the center of the right-hand control panel. There, you can adjust your aim in order to make dramatic curve shots, as shown in Figure G.