Pool Coach
betaTake a photo of a pool table and it finds the balls, reads their numbers and plans your run-out.
What it is
A phone app for 8-ball and 9-ball. Pick your game, take a photo of the table from wherever you’re standing, and it finds the table, picks out each ball, works out its number and suggests the shot — then the shots after that.
It shows the plan on your photo or on a top view of the table, turned so your side is at the bottom. If it gets a ball wrong, tap it and pick the right number, and the plan updates.
It started from a Reddit clip of a projector-and-camera rig that draws shots onto the cloth. I wanted to know how much of that a phone could do on its own.
Where I want it to go
Three versions on one engine: the phone app you can take to any table, a camera mounted over a table that notices when the balls stop and sends the next shot to your phone, and then a projector that draws the shot on the cloth.
Next up
- More real photos from more tables. Lighting, cloth colour and balls touching each other are what it gets wrong most.
- A test of the camera-over-the-table version.
Want early access?
It's not finished, but it works. Leave your email and I'll let you in and check on you occasionally.
Tell me what you think
If you play, try it on your table. Did it read the balls right, and was the shot it suggested the one you’d have taken?