Eight-ball (often spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes in the UK[1] or, more rarely, bigs and littles/smalls, highs and lows, halves and wholes) is a poolgame popular in much of the world, and the subject of international professional and amateur competition. Played on a pool table with six pockets, the game is so universally known in some countries that beginners are often unaware of other pool games and believe the word “pool” itself refers to eight-ball. The game has numerous variations, mostly regional. Standard eight-ball is the second most competitive professional pool game, after nine-ball, and for the last several decades ahead of straight pool. (source)