Quick Look: Pure Pool

Sometimes "oo" is pronounced like "oo", and other times it's pronounced like "oo". It's English. It's fine. Still a bit surprised they didn't know it was "oo" in this case though.

I'm terrible at pool, so I only play pool, and after one or two drinks. Anything more difficult than that and I don't have the faintest chance. And yeah, every bar/pub/hotel around here has pool tables. We totally say potted sometimes.

(I feel like at some point Danny is going to blow up, in a manner perhaps exaggerated for comedy, over being called European. I want to see that on UPF)

Is that when you make the ball curve, as to curve around another ball?

URGH THAT UI IS HORRIBLE

I watched the entire thing expecting at least one Minnesota Fats reference, especially after Dan won both rounds. I was disappointed.

I enjoy the comments on this quick luke.

After seeing how cheap this game was, I immediately went and bought it. $9 US (with PS+) is a steal for a good-looking pool game.

Also, I'm 100% fine with there being no overhead view, as a more "realistic" pool game is actually something I'm interested in. I also wish the ball trajectory markers weren't there, as lining up hard shots is sort of the whole point of the game, but that might make the game too difficult for some people.

Here in Europe they spell it Poul

Pool Nation 85% off on Steam now, it's a great game.

That lower left-hand user name menu annoys the hell outta me. What's the point of all that wasted space to the left of the profile pic and user name???? AH! I won't be purchasing this game because of that.

As an Englishman I do love me some snuker.

@vn1x: I'd rather be ignorant of something than be a judgmental cock about a person.

Snooker is such a better game than pool. Snooker has style.

I'm gonna start saying snucker, just to annoy everyone else in the pub.

@neozeon: oh yeah I agree. I meant my quote as a "it wasn't an omission" by the devs part. I personally would prefer a slightly better realised solution as well than what's currently in the game. :)

Dan thinks 'snookering' is odd... then what the fuck is 'hornswoggle'?

It's a great word, that's what.

Like someone said before, this looks -Dead On- like Pool Nation, but honestly from this Quick Look, Pool Nation handles better as far as the Camera goes. Although I think Pool Nation's physics are a bit better too. But that's just me.

"Royal Rumble? Is that when every 30 seconds a new ball's intro music plays?"

God bless you, Dan Ryckert.

How can you call your game "Pure Pool" and not even have diamonds on your pool table?

It also has the benefit of currently being $1.49 on Steam.

Pool Nation looks similar to this and it's pretty good. It's 85% off on Steam right now. $1.49

Ooh, that's a bad miss...

Is it just me or do the balls seem to have a little too much "action" in this game?

And goddammit, backspin isn't "english"

@superslidetail: yes! When you see someone hold the cue almost completely vertically in the air and strike the cue ball downward to make it curve, that's masse!

I love that they pronounce snooker like Snuka. That's great. Also what do you zany Americans call a "snooker" (putting a ball between the cue ball and object ball) if not that? Also I feel like "potted" is a pretty normal term in the UK, I guess you could say "sunk/sank" instead but that's just a more slang term that you might use on a one-off here.

And yeah there's plenty of pool here in the UK, but snooker is more widely recognised in terms of competitive stuff. Pool is a more relaxed, casual game that most people can pick up fairly quickly, whereas the rules of snooker are more complex and it takes a while to get the hang of.

A top-down view would be great, but my main question is if you can disable the guide feature. It seems kinda pointless playing with that on, as much as it is fairly restricted in what it'll tell you. I used to play a bunch of Virtual Snooker on PC when I was young and I used their guidelines for a long time, but as soon as you want to not just get max-breaks every time and actually have a challenge you need to turn those things off. Especially so in multiplayer.

It was all part of their devious plan to make us wait for a sale!

What the hell is a slop? Is it like a fluke?

Also, that "ball in hand" rule is bullshit.

I have never heard of bank and scratch. What are you even SAYING?

@neozeon: Well.. it's got a PS+ discount in Europe at least. :P

@tunesmith said:

@neozeon: Well.. it's got a PS+ discount in Europe at least. :P

Soon then, soon.

What the hell is snucker? lol

As someone from the uk I do not even know what billiards is, but trust me Dan plenty of pool over here i believe it was invented over here in Europe

He has said some dumb stuff but this was almost staggering in its stupidity. Sometimes he just seems like the epitome of the dull, insular american who thinks that the rest of the world are still eating raw meat and hitting sticks against rocks for entertainment.

Sounds like Danny O'Dwyer should have been in this so he could hustle everyone.

Is any one else catching a lot of Mr. Show references lately? I love it keep them coming. Such a great show.

..Or simply and completely harmlessly ignorant. I would think that knowledge of what sports or hobbies are bigger or smaller in other countries is a pretty common thing to be ignorant of.

I would be understanding if he said 'I don't know if they play pool in Europe.' but he doesn't he just says 'I didn't think they had pool in Europe' The first is an admission of (barely) understandable ignorance, the second is a completely unjustified statement based on zero rational thought. Its like he can't believe that people he hasn't met could possibly share the same interests or pastimes. Its not a huge deal on its own, but it smacks of someone who is extremely inward looking, which is kind of bad news for someone who aspires to be some sort of writer/journalist.

As much as I hate the phrase when said online, you gotta relax. Dan saying that wasn't automatically an insinuation that Europeans are idiots incapable of hitting balls with a stick. Is it a bit ignorant? Sure. But it's not offensive to anyone and Dan is very open about not being exposed to a whole lot of stuff both inside and outside of the states and most importantly he is willing to give things a chance (well unless it's mustard!)

Almost every single European I've ever talked to almost always inevitably say something to the extend of "aren't all Americans really fat?" So the ignorance and stupidity really go both ways. There are plenty of overweight people in America, but should an entire nation be characterized by fat, stupid, racist idiots as apparently most Europeans perceive them as? Heck no.

Isn't he kinda right though? As Jeff said a moment later, in Europe it's known as Billiards, not pool.

@fisk0: No Billiards is a different game, played on a snooker (or snuker) table with just 3 balls.

@humanity Yeah my polemic came over a bit harsher than it should have. I am just growing in despondency with Dan's ignorance and insularity. I think I am going to try and put this all into a blog post because it is churning me up a bit, I don't want to be nasty to the guy because he seems like a decent chap at heart but listening to him is tending to make me frustrated.

Its just this comment seemed symptomatic of his wider attitudes. I have re-written this sentence so many times because I don't want to write something harsh, but there is no other way to put it, I just feel he is a bit shallow, un-curious, and un-empathetic (retweeting homophobic tweets from his dad just seems weird and clueless, however mild the insult might be).

I really hope I have got the wrong first impression but I come to this site to be informed and amused by a group of people who feel like they could be my friends. Dan is just making me cringe a lot.

God I feel horrible - Dan if you do happen to read this, I am just some idiot on the internet, ignore me.

You may be relieved to know that you can turn off the logo on the table in options.

@MikeyM: slop is sinking a ball that you didn't intend to.

Bank is to ricochet

Scratch means the cue ball goes into a pocket. This often results in a ball in hand, but in a game of 8 ball if you scratch on the 8 ball you lose.

What annoys me more than the mispronunciation on Snooker is when they don't understand a term of something, like Snookered. The attitudes (whether intentional or not) make it sound like they're passing it off as wrong simply because they don't know about it. Just look it up right there in the QL and there will be more comments applauding your willingness to research it, than appearing ignorant. (Although, to say a whole continent doesn't play a game, is dumbfounded)

Also, this looks like the perfect setting for a few games of Pool or Snooker. In what scummy places do the GB team spend their time?

Otherwise, I've been enjoying the nice increase in content. They've got me checking GB far too many times every day.

@kippers: You seem to be taking it a bit too seriously.

@mikaelboogart said:

Best pool movie ever.

Man, The Hustler is twice the movie that The Color of Money will ever be.

@fallen189 said:

Maybe because literally no other word in the English language works like that? Booker, looker, cooker, hooker: all pronounced with "uh" as opposed to "OO". Snooker is a weird anomaly in pronunciation, and if people want to pronounce it as an "OO", it would make more common sense if it were spelled "snuker", like "duke" or "nuke" or "fluke".

So I really can't blame people for pronouncing it the way that Jeff and Dan did. If you live an area where snooker is not commonly played (so: most countries other than the UK), then you've probably never heard anyone talk about snooker, and by the usual rules of English, Jeff and Dan's pronunciation would be right.