Help

LitePool help:

• Registration
• The rules of pool-8
• The rules of snooker
• Other rules
• Information about statistics
• Information about program settings

Registration

The registration to pool and snooker proceeds separate. The statistics for both games is also separate. One player may register only one nickname for pool and one for snooker.

Pool - 8 rules

In the beginning of the the game there are 16 balls on the table: 7 striped, 7 coloured, one black and one white ball. The players alternately move trying to score striped or coloured ball with the white one. When one of the players scores whatever ball, the sort of the ball becomes the sort of the player. The player must strike blows only the balls of their own sort all the remaining time. If the player properly score the ball, he or she repeats the move. The game continues till all 7 balls of your own sort are scored. Then the black ball is striked. The player who scores all the balls of his or her own sort and the black ball first wins the game. If the black ball is scored before the right time, the player loses. If the player makes a mistake, the opponent may put the white ball at any place of the table and strike it at any direction. The mistakes are these: when the white ball falls into the hole, does not touch any ball of the right sort or during the first move it touches the ball of the opponent or the black ball. In addition, if the black ball is scored with a mistake, the player loses despite the fact that all 7 balls of the right sort are scored.

Snooker rules

The points of both players are calculated while playing snooker. The main purpose of the game - to score more points than the opponent when the game is over. The points are calculated for the right moves when the balls are scored or when the opponent makes a mistake.

In the beginning of the game there are 22 balls on the particular places of the table. 15 are simple (red), 6 coloured: yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black and white. The balls are striked with the white one. Each ball has its own value (except the white one): the red ball is worth 1 point, the yellow - 2, the green one - 3, the brown - 4, the blue - 5, the pink - 6, the black - 7. If the ball is striked properly, the player gets the points of the ball value. The balls are striked in a particular order. The player, who gets the move, must strike the red ball (this is the aim ball of that player). If the player scores the red ball, he or she can strike any other coloured ball except the red one. When the coloured ball is scored, it is brought back to the same place of the table as in the beginning (the red balls are never brought back). After the coloured ball the player must strike the red ball again. If the player does not score the aim ball, the next move receives the opponent and he or she must strike the red ball despite the sort of the last ball that was scored by the opponent. The game continues so till there is no red ball left on the table. When all the red balls are scored, the coloured ones are striked in such order (by their value): the yellow ball goes first, then the green one, the brown one and so on till the last - the black ball. When there is no red ball on the table, the coloured balls are not brought back on the table except if they are potted with a mistake. The game is over when there is no ball on the table.
The player is punished for a mistake: his or her opponent receives a particular number of the points and also the move. The mistakes are these:
1. If during the first touch the white ball does not touch the aim ball or not the aim ball is scored. In this situation the opponent receives the points of the first touched or scored ball's worth, but not less than 4. For example, if the player must score the black ball (this is his or her aim ball), but he or she touches the blue one by mistake, the opponent receives the points of the blue ball, that is 5, and also can make a move.
2. If no ball is touched. In this case the opponent receives the points of the aim ball, but not less than 4.
3. If the white ball falls into the hole. The opponent receives the points of the aim ball, not less than 4, puts the ball in the home area and gets a move.
Note that if the black ball falls into the hole before the right time, nobody loses and the game continues, yet the opponent receives 7 points for the mistake.

Other rules

• Logins. If the player during 30 days period does not complete at least one game, he or she is eliminated from the players database. The players who does not have 10 games in their account during 10 first days since the registration also are eliminated.
• Cheating. It is forbidden for the players: to have more than one registered name, evade the loss by simulating connection problems, to raise ratings by negotiating with other players, to play with oneself from 2 computers or to cheat by other not mentioned ways of cheating. The players who cheat are punished. They may be eliminated form the players database (also without the right to come back) or the unfairly raised rating may be withdrawn.

Information about statistics

• Rating. It is the most important characteristic, which shows how good the player plays. When the player registers the rating is 1500 and it raises when the player wins or decline when the player loses. If the player with small rating wins against the player with the big one, his or her rating greatly raises and the rating of the loser decline. On the contrary, if the player with big rating wins against the player with the small one, his or her rating raises in comparison only a bit and the loser's rating declines only a bit too. The rating may be changed only by playing, it does not change because of long inactivity. If the game ends in the draw, the ratings of both players do not change.
• The balance of the balls (the balance of points in snooker). Shows what difference of balls in average is between the opponents in the end of the game. For example, if the balance of the balls of the player is 2, that means that when he or she finishes the game the number of his or her scored balls is 2 balls more than the opponent's (except the black ball in pool). If the balance of the balls is negative, that means that he or she scores less than the opponents. The black ball is not calculated, that is why if at the end of the game there are no balls on the table, the balance of the balls is zero.
• The percentage of the winning. The percentage of the games the player has won. It does not change if the game ends in a draw.
• Win - loss. The number of the lost and won games.
• Pot ratio. Shows how much balls of his or her own sort the player pots during one turn. If the black ball is potted properly, it is also calculated. The first potted ball too.
• Potted - Strikes. The number of well potted balls and strikes in total. The number of well potted balls is when the player pots the ball of his or her own sort, the black ball properly or the first scored ball.
• Streak. Shows the number of the consecutively won or lost games of the player. If the series is negative, the games are lost, if positive - won.
• Last game. The date and time of the last game.
• Registration. The date and time of registration.

Information about program settings

• Save: Determines what must be saved after the game is over:
  • Nothing. Nothing must be saved.
  • Games played. Save only played games for replay.
  • Games and chat. Saves the games and the chat with the opponents.
  • Show game statistics after game. If checked, when the game is over, shows the statistics of the player and the opponent.
• Do when my turn and window innactive: If the game window is inactive on my turn:
  • Beep. Performs beep sound.
  • Flash game window. Flashes innactive game window.
  • Activate game window. activates innactive game window.
• My game observers:
  • Kick observers if innactive for n seconds. If for some reasons observers are lagging for n seconds they are kicked automatically.
• Connection:
  • Connect on program startup. If checked, on program startup the last nickname used is logged in and connected automatically.
  • Quit reason. Quit reason (text message shown to everyone when leaving). Quit reason may be shown using command /quit [reason] too.
• Drawing: Game drawing speed options:
  • Strike duration(pause between frames). Strike duration.The bigger value enter, the longer the strike lasts.
  • Draw scene every n frames. Determines how many frames should be skipped when each scene is drawn.
  • Determine automatically. Test computer's speed and tries to determine both parameters automatically.
    For slow computers it is recommended to decrease the first parameter and increase second one.
• Messages: Show/hide various messages:
  • Joins,quits. If checked, shows players joins and quits messages
  • Starts game, finishes game. Shows/hides players' start game and finish game messages
  • Offers, refuses, i offer, i refuse. If checked shows offering and refusing messages
  • Pop-up new version dialog. Wheter to pop-p new version dialog . If not checked, new version text is show only in chat window. This parameters influences only not-obligatory-to-update-version dialog. If version released is obligatory to update, new version dialog is shown anyway.
  • Show hints over objects. If checked, shows explanational hints over various objects in program.
  • Game sounds Turns on/off game sounds

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