Free tool · Kicks & banks
Diamond system & kick calculator
Drag the balls (or select one and use the arrow keys). Numbers on the rails are diamonds; the table is a regulation 9-ft, 100" × 50" playing surface.
Rails
Rail 1 · Top long rail
Diamond 3.7
Counted from the left corner
Ball travel
87"
Hits the first rail 37° from straight-on
Reading the result on a real table
The contact point is where the cue ball's centre meets the cushion — aim through it, half a ball in from the rail. The line assumes medium speed and a centre-ball hit. Hard speed shortens the angle off the rail; running side lengthens it. Check the line, then adjust with speed, not spin, first.
How the kick is calculated
A ball rebounds from a cushion at roughly the same angle it came in. So the table is "folded" over: we reflect the target ball through the cushion and aim straight at that mirror image. Where the line crosses the rail is your contact point. Two rails simply means folding twice.
This is the same principle behind the diamond systems professionals use. Practise it here, then take it to the table with the kicking drills, or work out pots with the cut angle calculator.
The Corner-5 diamond system (three rails)
For three-rail kicks the angles get too long to fold by eye, so players use numbers. Every cue-ball position gets a number (the far corner is 50), every first-rail diamond gets an aim number (10 per diamond from the corner by the short rail), and the formula is simple: cue number − aim number = landing number on the third rail. From the corner (50) aiming at 20, the ball lands on 30.
The system assumes running side, medium speed and a well-maintained cloth. Every table plays a little differently, so treat the number as your starting line: shoot it three times, see where it really lands, and correct by the difference. Use the 3-rail mode above to check the numbers before you go to the table.
Not sure where to start? Take the free skill test.