The balls are still 4 feet in the air (or whatever standard height is), but they levitate at that altitude since the floor is all superconducting magnets.

There is one pocket in each corner plus two side pockets. Trust me, the pockets are there! You can prove it because when a ball goes over that area of the floor, there is no superconducting magnet there, so the ball falls through the air and lands in the wastebasket or whatever makeshift container you have put there.

Balls hitting the boundaries will be rebounded at a symmetric angle through the use of sensors and electric currents passing through the floor magnets.
-- phundug, Apr 11 2003

3D Billiards/Pool http://www.halfbake..._20Billiards_2fPool
With vacuum. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004]

Air Pool http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Air_20Pool
With air pressure [phoenix, Oct 04 2004]

You could possibly achieve the same effect more cheaply by using a soupled-up air-hockey table. Or perhaps a non-superconducting scheme involving magnetic sensors and electromagnets.

In either case, you have to worry about balls flying out of the table.
-- cowtamer, Apr 11 2003


Monopolar magnetic balls?
-- RayfordSteele, Apr 11 2003



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