Link to the Past: Why Do the Rocks have an 8 on them?

[Pogue-Mahone]

Is there any reason the rocks in A Link to the Past have the number 8 on top of them? Is it even supposed to be the number 8? Someone said it kinda looks like a dumbbell, but I think not. There aren't 8 bosses in the game. The only real connection I found is that there are 8 dungeons in the Dark World.

Does anyone know if there is a legitimate reason for the number 8, or was Miyamoto a fan of Billiards?

[retrolinkx]

I don't think it's important. If it's not on the wiki, then all you can give is fan speculations.

Besides, this was when graphics were 16bit, so they had to do something to make it look less plain, so I assume they added the eight on top of it.