Two meters on your cue
Tip condition, its glaze and shape, comes back whenever you scuff and shape it. Tip life, its thickness, only comes back with a new tip.
In-game economy
One currency, Cue Credits, earned only by playing. Spend it on what real players buy: new tips, fresh grips, a break cue and cues set up your way, all of which wear as you play, just as they do in a real hall.
In development: coming to Cue Republic. Every figure on this page is a starting value we will tune in playtesting.
At a glance
Four ways to earn, one wallet
Every kind of play pays into one wallet, and the shop is the only place credits go. Nothing is sold for real money that changes how a cue plays.
You earn
Your wallet
You spend
- Against the computerHarder levels pay more30–170 an hour
- Career and tournamentsMore the further you go200–600 an hour
- Online, 1v1 and 2v2Every frame, win or lose25 a frame
- Feats and learningBreaks, runs, lessons, the daily challengeUp to 1,000
Cue Credits
One currency, earned only by playing. Never bought, traded or sold.
- 300to start
- 150always protected
Chalking, scuffing and shaping your tip are always free.
- EquipmentTips, a break cue, cue set-ups100–4,000
- LooksGrips, cloths, ball sets, chalk, cue designs100–10,000
- FittingsRe-wrap a worn grip with a design you own50
Earning
Earned at the table
Harder play pays more, and the career pays most. Every new player starts with 300 credits, enough for a new grip or a chalk colour on the first day.
| Against the computer | Frame won | Frame lost | An hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | +10 | −2 | 30 |
| Normal | +20 | −4 | 65 |
| Hard | +35 | −6 | 115 |
| Extreme (planned) | +50 | −8 | 170 |
An hour assumes 8 frames of 8-ball and winning about half. Tournaments pay the level's rate plus 30, 50 and 80 for each round won and 150 for the title.
The career
A match won pays 40 at the first venue, rising to 200 at the World Championship, and clearing each venue pays a milestone: 200, 300, 450, 600, 800 and 1,000, then 3,000 for the world title. A whole career pays about 10,000 credits, enough for two or three cue set-ups. The cues you win in the career stay yours as well.
Losing costs a little
- Enough to make winning matter. A lost frame against the computer costs 2 to 8 credits, and the game says how many.
- Every level stays worth playing. Even winning only a quarter of your frames, you come out ahead at every level.
- Your balance is protected. A loss never takes you below 150 credits, the price of a tip, so your cue always stays in play.
- No deductions online, in the daily challenge, the academy, drills or practice. Quitting a frame counts as losing it.
- Quick match, Easy30
- Quick match, Normal65
- Quick match, Hard115
- Quick match, Extreme planned170
- Online, 1v1 or 2v2 win or lose150–200
- Career rising venue by venue200–600
Learning pays
The daily challenge, the academy and drills
Rewards for learning and for coming back, never for repeating the same thing. Finishing every course is worth enough for a first cue upgrade.
| Activity | Credits | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Daily challenge cleared | 30 | Once a day |
| Academy lesson completed | 50 | First time |
| A game's whole course completed | 200 | First time, for each of the eleven taught games |
| Drill or trick shot completed | 25 | First time |
| Free practice table | 0 | Never pays, so it cannot be farmed |
Online
Paid for every frame
Online pays a fixed amount, so credits grow with how much you play against people, not with how hard the match was.
- 25 credits a frame, win or lose, for every player, in 1v1 and in 2v2 alike: about 150 to 200 an hour.
- Paid per frame, so a race to 5 pays more than a single rack and longer formats are never a worse use of your time.
- Only finished matches pay. A player who quits gets nothing; the player left at the table is paid for every frame, and the one in progress.
- No farming. A frame counts only if both sides took a few shots, and after five matches against the same opponent in a day, the next ones pay half.
25credits a frame, for every player online, win or lose
Feats
Bonuses for the shots people talk about
What counts as special depends on the game: a run of four means something very different at 8-ball, snooker and three-cushion.
| Game | Runs and breaks | Opponent never at the table | On the break |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8-ball, English and Chinese 8-ball | 4 in a row: 5. Run out from your first visit: 15 | Break and run: 40 | 3 or more on the break: 10. The 8 on the break: 25 |
| 9-ball | 5 in a row: 5. Run out from your first visit: 15 | Break and run: 40 | The 9 on the break, a golden break: 40 |
| 10-ball | 5 in a row: 5. Run out from your first visit: 15 | Break and run: 50 | — |
| Straight pool | Runs of 14, 28 and 50: 10, 30 and 100 | — | — |
| Snooker | Breaks of 50 and 100: 15 and 60. A maximum 147: 1,000 | Total clearance: 80 | — |
| Carom, one-cushion, balkline, four-ball | Series of 5 and 10: 5 and 25 | — | — |
| Three-cushion | Series of 3 and 5: 10 and 40 | — | — |
- One payment a visit: the highest tier you reached, not every tier on the way.
- Scaled by level against the computer: a quarter on Easy, half on Normal, in full on Hard, and a quarter more on Extreme. Online and the career pay in full.
- Paid everywhere but the practice table and drills, online included, and the rack is varied a little every time, so a perfect break cannot simply be repeated.
Every game pays the same an hour
A frame of snooker takes two or three times as long as a frame of 8-ball, so every amount is multiplied by the game's length: a snooker frame pays about two and a half times as much. Play the game you love, not the one that pays.
Cue wear
A tip that lives and wears
Your tip glazes and loses its shape as you play, the way a real one does. Look after it for free between shots; replace it with credits when the leather wears thin.
| Tip state | Rises with | In the game | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glazed | Every stroke; faster after miscues and on worn chalk | Less grip: the safe striking area shrinks and the tip holds chalk less well | Scuff it: free, a few seconds of the shot clock, a little leather |
| Mushroomed | Hard strokes; faster on soft tips | A little less grip again | Shape it: free, a little leather |
| Thin | Play, scuffing and shaping | Nothing, until a warning when it is thin | A new tip, for Cue Credits |
A cost for skipping chalk
Play without chalking and your tip glazes faster: a lazy player pays later, with more scuffing and an earlier new tip. How the chalk works
Wears as you play, not as you wait
A tip lasts about 80 to 100 hours of play, some 10,000 to 12,000 strokes: about five months at four hours a week. It is counted in strokes, never in days, so it never wears out while you are away.
New tips
Three kinds of leather
| Tip | Credits | How it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | 100 | Lasts 0.7 times as long, and glazes and spreads faster |
| Standard | 150 | About 80 to 100 hours of play |
| Premium layered | 400 | Lasts half as long again, and glazes more slowly |
A reason for a break cue
Hard breaks spread a tip, which is why real players keep a cue just for breaking. Buy one and the game picks it up by itself on the break, so your playing tip lasts longer.
Where wear applies
In the career, practice and tournaments at home. Never in ranked play or the daily challenge, which use the standard cue with no wear, so equipment never decides a rated match.
Grips
Wear you can see
The wrap on your handle wears too, over about 160 to 200 hours: new, then worn, then frayed. Only in looks: it never changes how your cue plays.
Keep a frayed grip if you like a cue with history, re-wrap it with any design you own for a 50-credit fitting, or buy a new design.
The shop
What your credits buy
Every price is set by how long a typical player takes to earn it, at about 150 credits an hour: a standard tip is about an hour of play, a break cue about ten.
Tips
Equipment- Budget
- 100 credits
- Standard
- 150 credits
- Premium layered
- 400 credits
A budget tip wears faster; a layered one lasts half as long again and glazes more slowly.
Grips
Looks- Linen, 8 colours
- 100–200 credits
- Leather, 6 colours
- 300–600 credits
- Weaves, two-tone, carbon
- 800–1,500 credits
Re-wrap a frayed grip with any design you own for a 50-credit fitting.
Break cue
Equipment- Used by itself on the break
- 1,500 credits
Hard breaks spread a tip, so real players keep a cue for the break. Yours saves your playing tip.
Cue set-ups
Equipment- Weight, shaft and tip type
- 2,000–4,000 credits
Tune how your cue plays in the career, practice and tournaments at home.
The table and balls
Looks- Cloths
- 300–600 credits
- Ball sets
- 500–1,000 credits
- Chalk colours
- 200 credits
Make every room your own.
Cue designs
Looks- In-house designs
- 500–1,500 credits
- Showpiece cues
- 5,000–10,000 credits
The long-term goals for the most dedicated players.
- 10 hoursA break cue, a leather grip, a new cloth and a ball set, with change.
- 50 hoursAll of that, plus two cue set-ups and a few designs.
- 100 hoursMost of what a dedicated player wants, a third set-up and a first showpiece cue among it.
Owning the whole catalogue takes about 540 hours: a long-term goal for the most dedicated, and it grows as new designs are added.
Fair play
Fair by design
Matches are won on skill. That rule comes first, and the economy is built around it.
Credits are earned, never sold
You earn Cue Credits by playing. They cannot be bought, traded or sold, and there is no premium currency.
No loot boxes
Every item has a fixed price you can see before you buy. Nothing random, no timers, no "today only".
Skill decides rated matches
Ranked play and the daily challenge use the standard cue with no wear, so equipment never decides a rated match.
Nobody is ever stuck
A free house cue waits in every venue, chalking, scuffing and shaping are always free, and losses never take you below 150 credits, the price of a tip.
Yours for good
A design you own is never bought twice. Wear may suggest a new look; it never makes you re-buy one.
Wear on your terms
A tip never runs out mid-frame, you are warned at 20% of its life, and equipment wear can be switched off.
Real money buys looks, and only looks
Later, designs made by artists and studios may be sold for real money, alongside the in-house designs you buy with credits. Every one is priced in real money, previewed on your own cue before you buy, kept for good, and changes nothing but how a cue looks:
- Stickers. Small graphics placed on the butt or shaft in the cue designer.
- Decals. Larger wraps and patterns over a section of the cue.
- Premium grips. Grip designs by artists.
- Cue designs. Complete official designs, by artists and design studios.
- Design packs. Themed bundles, also on the Steam store as DLC.
Free to try
Rack up a free game
The demo is 8-ball in the Classic Room, with its whole spoken tutorial, a practice table and a computer player, for Windows, Linux and macOS. The full game is coming to Early Access on Steam at $12.99.