An intellectually challenging game of loop

Always a fan of new approaches to old games. It would be interesting to see pool tables of other geometries and how someone skilled with traditional tables could translate those skills on to the new designs.

I remember seeing this on Numberphile a few weeks ago [1].

For anyone interested in this, I suggest taking a look at hyperbolic baseball & golf [2] too !

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KHCuXN2F3I

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6Got0X41pY

Another article about the game:http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numbe...

So what happens if instead of an ellipse you take a curve of negative curvature, so that the reflections would be a lot less predictable?

Well you'd loose your reference points to pocket the ball in the hole, and thus the game would become a lot harder.

Also you'd have to be more specific about your shape to get a more detailed answer.

Would really like to see a video of this in action.

There is at the start of the article?

Oh, my bad! Flash blocker...

Many years ago Johnny Ball had a similar table on one of his shows. All I can find on the Internet is someone else with the same memory. Find in page "Johnny Ball" is useful. http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/geeky-simulated-gravit...