8 Pool Stars

8 Pool Stars Overview

8 Pool Stars is a billiards-themed video slot from NetGame, released on 29 April 2024. The reels sit on a green pool table in a dim, lamp-lit bar, with two players in red dresses leaning on their cues on either side. NetGame’s official game sheet gives a 96.26% RTP, medium volatility, a hit frequency of 19.67% and a maximum win of 3,000x the bet, capped at €250,000 per spin. SlotCatalog lists slightly different figures – 96.39% and 19 April 2024 – but the studio’s own numbers are the ones used here.

A Diamond-Shaped Grid

The layout is not the usual rectangle. The five reels hold 3, 4, 5, 4 and 3 symbols, so the grid widens towards the middle and narrows again at the edges, like a rack of balls turned on its side. Across it run 20 fixed paylines, drawn in the rules as small honeycomb diagrams. Wins pay from left to right on adjacent reels, and only the highest win per line is counted.

The Paytable

At a €10 total bet the paytable shows these values for five, four and three of a kind:

• Dark-haired player in green: €150 / €75 / €30 – 15x, 7.5x and 3x the bet
• Player with the blue background: €100 / €37.50 / €15
• Players in pink and orange: €20 / €10 / €5 each
• A and K balls: €12.50 / €5 / €2.50
• The other four letter balls: €5 / €3 / €1

The low symbols are pool balls printed with card letters and numbers, the high symbols are four different pool players. It is a flat table: the best regular symbol pays 15x for five, so the bigger wins come from the wilds and the free spins.

Three Kinds of Wild

NetGame lists three wild symbols for the game, and the screenshots show all of them: a plain golden 8 Ball WILD, a 2X WILD and a 3X WILD. The multiplier wilds do what their labels say to any line they complete. In the base game we saw several golden 8 Ball wilds and 2X wilds stacked on the second and third reels in one spin, which turns the middle of the diamond into a solid block of substitutes.

What Our Spins Showed

We played the demo at a €10 stake. Two base-game spins filled most of the screen with the player symbols: one paid €90 – 9x, another €40 – 4x. In both cases the high symbols covered almost every position on the middle three reels, which is how a flat paytable still produces decent hits on a 20-line game – many lines pay at once.

Free Spins and the Wheel

Three BONUS scatters on the middle reels trigger the bonus, and the game confirms it with a full-screen panel: “Congratulations! You won 8 free spins.” The trigger itself paid nothing in our round; the balance stayed at €650.50.

The key part of the round is the wheel on the left of the table. The rules explain it: before each free spin the wheel turns and shows how many Golden 8 Ball symbols will drop onto the reels during that spin. Its sectors carry the values 10, 3, 1, 8, 2, 3, 4 and 2. Bonus scatters do not drop during the free spins, so the round cannot be retriggered that way.

On our second free spin the wheel stopped on 3, and the reels filled with golden wilds – plain 8 Ball wilds together with 2X and 3X versions stacked down the middle columns. A 10 on the wheel is the jackpot sector in practice: ten extra wilds on a grid of only nineteen positions.

The Symbol Set

NetGame’s own summary of the reels is short and precise: 3 wilds, a scatter, 4 high symbols, 6 common symbols, plus two special pieces – the Golden 8 Ball and an 8 Pool Stars symbol. The paytable screens match that count exactly: four players, six letter balls, the BONUS scatter and the three wild variants. The two special symbols belong to the features rather than to the regular paytable, so they do not appear in the win table at all.

Match ‘N’ Link

The studio lists two features: Free Games and Match ‘N’ Link. SlotCatalog describes the second one as a Hold and Win-style bonus with a spin-the-wheel element. Our screenshots do not show that round, so we cannot describe its prize values or how long it lasts; what we can say is that the game has two separate routes to a bonus, and the free spins are the one we saw in action.

Where the 3,000x Comes From

With wilds dropping every free spin and multiplier wilds among them, the top prize is tied to the bonus. A spin where the wheel lands on 10 and the drops include 2X and 3X wilds can cover most of the grid and pay several lines of the dark-haired player at once. The official figure caps the total at 3,000x.

The Numbers Behind the Game

NetGame publishes more detail than most studios. Alongside the RTP and hit frequency, its game sheet gives a feature hit rate of 1 in 141 spins and a big-win hit rate of 1 in 86 spins. The bonus is therefore not rare, and big wins – in NetGame’s own definition – come more often than the free spins do. Put together with the 19.67% hit frequency, roughly one spin in five pays something, one in 86 pays big, and one in 141 opens a feature. SlotCatalog lists stakes from 0.20 to 200 per spin.

Graphics and Sound

The art is glossy and warm: brass lamps over the table, a wooden rail, glowing balls and a heavy red-and-gold frame around the reels. The wheel sits on the left like a scoreboard, and the golden 8 Balls flash when they land. The two players at the sides are purely decorative, but they give the game a lively lounge-bar feel.

Who It Is For

8 Pool Stars suits players who like a medium-volatility game with a clear hook. The base game is steady, the paytable is easy to read, and every free spin comes with a visible wheel that tells you exactly how many wilds are coming. With a 96.26% RTP and a 3,000x ceiling it is a balanced choice rather than an all-or-nothing one. All six casinos we checked carry it.

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