You can play snooker yourself, using the controls, or you can watch the computer simulate the game. You can also play against the simulated player, who pots well but is hopeless at positional play.
The new version of The Snooker Simulation has much better graphics and simulates the motions of the balls much more accurately than the old version of by the same name. Naturally, it also uses more memory (about 4 Mbytes), needs a faster processor(66 MHz or more), and runs only on Windows. It should work with any graphics card and monitor, but high resolution gives better results. If your monitor is capable of 1280x1024, it looks pretty realistic.
According to Peter Grogono, the author of the game, the new simulation has more complete kinematics than its predecessor. The effects of ball/ball and ball/cushion collisions are simulated by solving differential equations numerically, rather then by relying on analytical solutions of simplified equations. The behaviour of balls in the simulation is very similar to the behaviour of balls on a real table. There are some limitations, however: the cue is always horizontal, so massé shots are not possible, and balls remain on the table.
The early version (March 1999), unlike older version models positional play. There are several simulated players ("autoplayers") who use the same basic strategy but differ in their style of play.
The new version (September 1999) corrects some bugs (disappearing object ball in 3D view, etc.) and improves the realism of the "automatic players". You can now limit the number of adjustments that a manual player can make before having to shoot - this makes competitive games more interesting.
All in all, its a pretty realistic simulation for a game that takes up only a teeny portion of your resources.
Click here to obtain a download of the game. Enjoy yourselves!
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