ITItaliano

Freeware · Windows · 2001–2002

Biliardo 2

Italian billiards on your PC: 5 Pins, Goriziana, Bowls, Carom and 3 Balls, with a physics engine that still rolls true more than twenty years later.

Download it free
Watch it in action
  • 2.2version
  • 1996first break
  • 7games
  • 867KB

01 The game

Italian billiards, taken seriously.

Biliardo 2 is a free videogame that simulates the billiard games most played in Italy and in several other countries — the pocketless ones, where you score with cushions, pins and a good deal of patience.

The physics engine is particularly realistic: you can play any shot you would try on a real table, even parabolic ones, and you can even change the temperature of the cloth. If you don’t know the rules, the game explains every specialty in detail. The interface is friendly and simple, with two table settings, classic and pub.

  • 5 Pins
  • Goriziana
  • Bowls
  • Carom
  • 1-cushion Carom
  • 3-cushion Carom
  • 3 Balls
  • Realistic physicsSpin, power, cue elevation: any shot of a real table, parabolic ones included.
  • Table temperatureA warmer cloth means less friction, so the balls run faster. Really.
  • Two settingsA classic championship table, or a well-worn pub one.
  • Training modePractise your shots with nobody keeping score.
  • Replay and undoWatch your best shot again, or quietly take back the last one.
  • Detailed statisticsEvery match dissected down to the smallest detail.
  • The rules, built inComplete documentation on each game, for newcomers and purists.
  • Sound and musicThe click of the balls, the applause of the crowd, and a catchy intro tune.

02 Screenshots

As seen in 2002.

The original screenshots, 640×480 pixels, untouched. Click one to enlarge it.

The main menu of Biliardo 2: New game, Training, Load game, Options, Help, Exit, on a wooden panel
Biliardo 2 – Main menu
A Bowls (Boccette) training game: coloured bowls spread across the green table and the hand used to throw, with the nearest-ball, spin and aim panels below
Biliardo 2 – Bowls
A game of 5 Pins with the pins in the centre of the table and the predicted trajectories drawn as dotted lines
Biliardo 2 – 5 Pins
A Goriziana shot: the cue on the table and the predicted trajectory bouncing off the cushions drawn in yellow
Biliardo 2 – Goriziana
The blue Statistics window comparing the two players, Marco and Francesco: sets, points, shots, cushion points and fouls
Biliardo 2 – Statistics
A Carom training shot with the cue raised to 72 degrees: the white trajectory curves across the table in a parabolic shot
Biliardo 2 – Carom

03 Video

See it in motion.

A gameplay video recorded by a fan, The Rarest Gamer, and published on YouTube.

Pressing play loads the player from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com): from then on Google’s rules apply. Nothing is sent before you click. Privacy policy

04 Download

Free, as it always was.

Version 2.2 of the game is available free of charge for Windows. No registration, no ads, no installer tricks: just the original setup program from 2002 in a zip file.

Note: on more recent versions of Windows (Vista, 7, 8, 10 and later), if you run into problems you may need to run the game in Windows XP (Service Pack 3) compatibility mode. More info ⇒

Biliardo 2 Setup

Setup is ready to download Biliardo 2 to your computer.

File
biliardo2-v2.2.zip
Size
867 KB
Version
2.2 · 19 March 2002
System
Windows
Licence
Freeware

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05 Story

A little bit of history.

  1. 1996

    The first version is written for MS-DOS by Marco Chiesi, purely as a C++ programming exercise, and handed out for free through whatever channels existed: back then the internet was still a rarity in Italy. It was the first, and at the time the only, billiards game to simulate 5 Pins.

  2. 2001

    Version 2 arrives for Windows, much richer in features: new graphics thanks to the precious help of Francesco Schiumerini, a new physics engine for the balls, sound effects, statistics and more. It is a big success on the internet, with millions of downloads and reviews on websites and in the specialised press.

  3. 2002

    Riding that success, work starts on a brand-new version 3 between late 2001 and early 2002. Unfortunately it never saw the light of day, and development of the project has essentially stopped since then.

  4. Today

    Version 2.2 is the latest release and can still be downloaded here. It still works, although it is clearly a little dated by today’s standards — which is half of its charm.

A late-1990s desk at night: a beige CRT monitor showing a green billiard table game, a keyboard, a ball mouse, floppy disks, a CD, a programming book, a mug and a cube of blue chalk, lit by a desk lamp
The kind of desk where it all began.

06 Reviews

What the press said.

Between 2002 and 2007 Biliardo 2 was reviewed by Italian magazines and websites. The reviews were written in Italian and are reproduced exactly as they were published.