Billiards
Encyclopedia
Cue sports also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill
generally played with a cue stick
which is used to strike billiard ball
s, moving them around a cloth
-covered billiards table
bounded by rubber .
Historically, the umbrella term was billiards. While that familiar name is still employed by some as a generic label for all such games, the word's usage has splintered into more exclusive competing meanings in various parts of the world. For example, in British
and Australian English
, "billiards" usually refers exclusively to the game of English billiards
, while in American
and Canadian English
it is sometimes used to refer to a particular game or class of games, or to all cue games in general, depending upon dialect and context.
There are three major subdivisions of games within cue sports:
More obscurely, there are games that make use of obstacles and targets, and table-top games played with disks instead of balls.
Billiards has a long and rich history stretching from its inception in the 15th century, to the wrapping of the body of Mary, Queen of Scots, in her billiard table cover in 1586, through its many mentions in the works of Shakespeare
, including the famous line "let's to billiards" in Antony and Cleopatra
(1606–07), and through the many famous enthusiasts of the sport: Mozart
, Louis XIV of France
, Marie Antoinette
, Immanuel Kant
, Napoleon
, Abraham Lincoln
, Mark Twain
, George Washington
, French president Jules Grévy
, Charles Dickens
, George Armstrong Custer
, Theodore Roosevelt
, Lewis Carroll
, W.C. Fields
, Babe Ruth
, Bob Hope
, Jackie Gleason
, and many others.
All cue sports are generally regarded to have evolved into indoor games from outdoor stick-and-ball lawn game
s (retroactively termed ground billiards), and as such to be related to trucco, croquet
and golf
, and more distantly to the stickless bocce
and balls.
The first known mention of a form of the word "billiards" appears in Edmund Spenser
's Mother Hubberd's Tale in 1591, where he speaks of "all thriftles games that may be found ... with dice, with cards, with ." The word "billiard" may have evolved from the French word billart or billette, meaning "stick", in reference to the , an implement similar to a golf club
, which was the forerunner to the modern cue
; the term's origin may have also been from French bille, meaning "ball". The modern term "cue sports" can be used to encompass the ancestral mace games, and even the modern cueless variants, such as finger billiards, for historical reasons. "Cue" itself came from queue, the French word for a tail
. This refers to the early practice of using the tail of the mace to strike the ball when it lay against a .
A recognizable form of billiards was played outdoors in the 1340s, and was reminiscent of croquet. King Louis XI of France
(1461–1483) had the first known indoor billiard table. Louis XIV
further refined and popularized the game, and it swiftly spread amongst the French nobility. While the game had long been played on the ground, this version appears to have died out in the 17th century, in favor of croquet, golf and bowling games, while table billiards had grown in popularity as an indoor activity. Mary, Queen of Scots, claimed that her "table de billiard" had been taken away by what would eventually become her executioners (who covered her body with the table's cloth). In 1588, the Duke of Norfolk
, owned a "billyard bord coered with a greene cloth... three billyard sticks and 11 balls of yvery". Billiards grew to the extent that by 1727, it was being played in almost every Paris
cafe
. In England, the game was developing into a very popular activity for members of the gentry.
By 1670, the thin butt end of the mace began to be used not only for shots under the cushion (which itself was originally only there as a preventative method to stop balls from rolling off), but players increasingly preferred it for other shots as well. The cue as it is known today was finally developed by about 1800.
Initially, the mace was used to push the balls, rather than strike them. The newly developed striking cue provided a new challenge. Cushions began to be stuffed with substances to allow the balls to rebound, in order to enhance the appeal of the game. After a transitional period where only the better players would use cues, the cue came to be the first choice of equipment.
The demand for tables and other equipment was initially met in Europe by John Thurston
and other furniture makers of the era. The early balls were made from wood
and clay
, but the rich preferred to use ivory
.
Early billiard games involved various pieces of additional equipment, including the "arch" (related to the croquet hoop), "port" (a different hoop) and "king" (a pin or skittle near the arch) in the 1770s, but other game variants, relying on the cushions (and eventually on pockets cut into them), were being formed that would go on to play fundamental roles in the development of modern billiards.
The early croquet-like games eventually led to the development of the carom or carambole billiards category – what most non-US and non-UK speakers mean by the word "billiards". These games, which once completely dominated the cue sports world but have declined markedly in many areas over the last few generations, are games played with three or sometimes four balls, on a table without holes (and without obstructions or targets in most cases), in which the goal is generally to strike one with a , then have the cue ball rebound off of one or more of the cushions and strike a second object ball. Variations include three-cushion, straight rail and the balkline variants
, cushion caroms
, five-pins
, and four-ball, among others.
Over time, a type of obstacle returned, originally as a hazard and later as a target, in the form of pockets, or holes partly cut into the table bed and partly into the cushions, leading to the rise of pocket billiards
, especially "pool" games, popular around the world in forms such as eight-ball, nine-ball, straight pool and one-pocket amongst numerous others. The terms "pool" and "pocket billiards" are now virtually interchangeable, especially in the US. English billiards
(what UK speakers almost invariably mean by the word "billiards") is a hybrid carom/pocket game, and as such is likely fairly close to the ancestral original pocket billiards outgrowth from 18th to early 19th century carom games.
Pool and Billiards had died out for a bit, but between 1878 and 1956 Pool and Billiards became very popular. Players in annual championships began to receive their own cigarette cards. This was mainly due to the fact that if was a popular pastime for troops to take their minds off from battle. However, by the end of WWII Pool and Billiards began to die down once again. It wasn’t until 1961 when the movie “The Hustler” came out that sparked a new interest in the game. Now the game is generally a well-known game and has many players of all different skill levels.
Snooker, though technically a pocket billiards variant and closely related in its equipment and origin to the game of English billiards, is a professional sport organized at the international level, and its rules bear little resemblance to those of pool games.
A "Billiards" category encompassing pool, snooker and carom was featured in the 2005 World Games
, held in Duisburg
, Germany
, and the 2006 Asian Games
also saw the introduction of a "Cue sports" category
.
Billiard balls vary from game to game, in size, design and quantity. There are three main pool ball sizes, Carom billiards are generally larger with a diameter of 2 and 7/16” where regular American-style pool balls are 2 and 1/4” and snooker balls are 2 and 1/16”. Carom billiards balls are larger than pool balls, and come as a set of two cue balls (one colored or marked) and an object ball (or two object balls in the case of the game four-ball). American-style pool balls, used in any pool game and found throughout the world, come in sets of two of object balls, seven and seven , an and a ; the balls are racked differently for different games (some of which do not use the entire ball set). Blackball (English-style eight-ball) sets are similar, but have unmarked of (or ) and balls instead of solids and stripes, and are smaller than the American-style; they are used principally in Britain
, Ireland
, and some Commonwealth
countries, though not exclusively, since they are unsuited for playing nine-ball. Snooker balls are also smaller than American-style pool balls, and come in sets of 22 (15 reds, 6 "", and a cue ball). Other games also have custom ball sets, such as Russian pyramid and bumper pool
.
Billiard balls have been made from many different materials since the start of the game, including clay, bakelite, celluloid
, crystallite
, ivory
, plastic, steel and wood. The dominant material from 1627 until the early 20th century was ivory. The search for a substitute for ivory use was not for environmental concerns but based on economic motivation and fear of danger for elephant hunters. It was in part spurred on by a New York billiard table manufacturer who announced a prize of $10,000 for a substitute material. The first viable substitute was celluloid
, invented by John Wesley Hyatt
in 1868, but the material was volatile, sometimes exploding during manufacture and was highly flammable.
There are many sizes and styles of pool and billiard table
s. Generally, tables are rectangles twice as long as they are wide. Most pool tables are known as 7-, 8-, or 9-footers, referring to the length of the table's long side. Full-size snooker and English billiard tables are 12 feet (3.7 m) long on the longest side. Pool hall
s tend to have 9 feet (2.7 m) tables and cater to the serious pool player. Pubs
will typically use 7 feet (2.1 m) tables which are often coin-operated. Formerly, 10 feet (3 m) tables were common, but such tables are now considered antique collectors items; a few, usually from the late 19th century, can be found in pool halls from time to time. Ten-foot tables remain the standard size for carom billiard games. The slates on modern carom tables are usually heated to stave off moisture and provide a consistent playing surface.
The length of the pool table will typically be a function of space, with many homeowners purchasing an 8 feet (2.4 m) table as a compromise. High quality tables are mostly 4.5 by 9 ft (2.7 m). (interior dimensions), with a bed made of three pieces of thick slate to prevent warping and changes due to humidity. Smaller bar tables are most commonly made with a single piece of slate. Pocket billiards tables normally have six pockets, three on each side (four corner pockets, and two side pockets).
All types of tables are covered with billiard cloth (often called "felt", but actually a woven wool or wool/nylon blend called baize
). Cloth has been used to cover billiards tables since the 15th century. In fact, the predecessor company of the most famous maker of billiard cloth, Iwan Simonis, was formed in 1453.
Bar or tavern tables, which get a lot of play, use "slower", more durable cloth. The cloth used in upscale pool (and snooker) halls and home billiard room
s is "faster" (i.e. provides less friction, allowing the balls to roll farther across the table ), and competition-quality pool cloth is made from 100 % worsted wool
. Snooker cloth traditionally has a nap (consistent fiber directionality) and balls behave differently when rolling against versus along with the nap.
The cloth of the billiard table has traditionally been green, reflecting its origin (originally the grass of ancestral lawn games), and has been so colored since the 16th century, but it is also produced in other colors such as red and blue.
The cloth was earlier said to be the most important part of the game, most likely because of the reflection of the game's origin. The players were stubborn in the fact that the cloth should not be ripped. They even made women continue to use maces after cues were invented, for fear that they would rip the cloth with the sharper cues.
is the name given to a frame (usually wood
, plastic
or aluminum) used to organize billiard balls at the beginning of a game. This is traditionally triangular in shape, but varies with the type of billiards played. There are two main types of racks; the more common triangular shape which is used for eight-ball and straight pool and the diamond shaped rack used for nine-ball.
Billiards games are mostly played with a stick known as a cue. A cue is usually either a one piece tapered stick or a two piece stick divided in the middle by a joint of metal or phenolic resin. High quality cues are generally two pieces and are made of a hardwood, generally maple for billiards and ash for snooker.
The end of the cue is of larger circumference and is intended to be gripped by a player's hand. The of the cue is of smaller circumference, usually tapering to an 0.4 to 0.55 in (10.2 to 14 mm) terminus called a (usually made of fiberglass or brass in better cues), where a rounded leather is affixed, flush with the ferrule, to make final contact with balls. The tip, in conjunction with chalk, can be used to impart spin to the cue ball when it is not hit in its center.
Cheap cues are generally made of pine, low-grade maple (and formerly often of ramin, which is now endangered), or other low-quality wood, with inferior plastic ferrules. A quality cue can be expensive and may be made of exotic woods and other expensive materials which are artfully inlaid in decorative patterns. Many modern cues are also made, like golf club
s, with high-tech materials such as woven graphite. Skilled players may use more than one cue during a game, including a separate generally lighter cue for the opening break shot (because of cue speed gained from a lighter stick) and another, shorter cue with a special tip for .
Commonly in snooker they are available in three forms depending on how the player is hampered; the standard rest has a simple cross, the 'spider' has a raised arch around 12 cm with three grooves to rest the cue in and for the most awkward of shots, the 'giraffe' (or 'swan' in England) which has a raised arch much like the 'spider' but with a slender arm reaching out around 15 cm with the groove.
Chalk is applied to the tip of the cue stick, ideally before every shot, to increase the tip's friction coefficient so that when it impacts the cue ball on a non-center hit, no (unintentional slippage between the cue tip and the struck ball) occurs. Cue tip chalk is not actually the substance typically referred to as "chalk
" (generally calcium carbonate
, also known as calcite
or carbonate of lime
), but any of several proprietary compounds, with a silicate
base. It was around the time of the Industrial Revolution that newer compounds formed that provided better grip for the ball. This is when the English began to experiment with side spin or applying curl to the ball. This was shortly introduced to the American players and is how the term “putting English on the ball” came to be. "Chalk" may also refer to a cone of fine, white ; like talc
(talcum powder) it can be used to reduce friction between the cue and bridge hand during shooting, for a smoother stroke. Some brands of hand chalk actually are made of compressed talc. (Tip chalk is not used for this purpose because it is abrasive, hand-staining and difficult to apply.) Many players prefer a slick pool glove over hand chalk or talc because of the messiness of these powders; buildup of particles on the cloth will affect ball behavior and necessitate more-frequent cloth cleaning. Some players find it useful to moisten the chalk with saliva thereby creating a chalky paste which performs as a lubricant on the cue stick. This lubrication method is usually attributed to professional pool player Hal "Spitty-Smitty" Smith.
Cue tip chalk (invented in its modern form by straight rail billiard pro William A. Spinks
and chemist William Hoskins in 1897) is made by crushing silica and the abrasive substance corundum
or aloxite (aluminum oxide
), into a powder. It is combined with dye (originally and most commonly green or blue-green, like traditional billiard cloth
, but available today, like the cloth, in many colors) and a binder (glue). Each manufacturer's brand has different qualities, which can significantly affect play. High humidity can also impair the effectiveness of chalk. Harder, drier compounds are generally considered superior by most players.
There are two main varieties of billiard games: carom and pocket. The main carom billiards games are straight billiards, balkline and three cushion billiards. All are played on a pocketless table with three balls; two cue balls and one object ball. In all, players shoot a cue ball so that it makes contact with the opponent's cue ball as well as the object ball.
The most popular of the large variety of pocket games are eight-ball, nine-ball, one-pocket
, bank pool, snooker
and, among the old guard, straight pool. In eight-ball and nine-ball the object is to sink object balls until one can legally pocket the winning eponym
ous "". Well-known but waning in popularity is straight pool, in which players seek to continue sinking balls, rack after rack if they can, to reach a pre-determined winning score (typically 150). Related to nine-ball, another well-known game is rotation, where the lowest-numbered object ball on the table must be struck first, although any object ball may be pocketed (i.e., combination shot). Each pocketed ball is worth its number, and the player with the highest score at the end of the rack is the winner. Since there are only 120 points available (1 + 2 + 3 ⋯ + 15 = 120), scoring 61 points leaves no opportunity for the opponent to catch up. In both one-pocket and bank pool, the players must sink a set number of balls; respectively, all in a particular , or all by . In snooker, players score points by alternately potting and various special "".
Although a difficult and subtle game, some of the best players of straight billiards developed the skill to the balls in a corner or along the same rail for the purpose of playing a series of to score a seemingly limitless number of points.
The first straight rail professional tournament was held in 1879 where Jacob Schaefer, Sr. scored 690 points in a single turn (that is, 690 separate strokes without a miss). With the balls repetitively hit and barely moving in endless "nursing", there was little for the fans to watch.
) is a line parallel to one end of a billiards table. In the games of balkline – 18.1 and 18.2 balkline, among other more obscure variations – the players have to drive at least one object ball past a balkline set at 18 inches (457.2 mm) from each rail, after one or two points have been scored, respectively.
Points are awarded for:
stationed in India
during the 19th century. The name of the game became generalized to also describe one of its prime strategies: to "" the opposing player by causing that player to foul or leave an opening to be exploited.
In the United Kingdom, snooker is by far the most popular cue sport at the competitive level. It is played in many other countries as well. Snooker is far rarer in the U.S., where pool games such as eight-ball and nine-ball dominate. The first International Snooker Championship was held in 1927, and it has been held annually since then with few exceptions. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) was established in 1968 to regulate the professional game, while the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) regulates the amateur games.
In the United States, the most commonly-played game is eight-ball. The goal of eight-ball, which is played with a full rack of fifteen balls and the cue ball, is to claim a suit (commonly stripes or solids in the US, and reds or yellows in the UK), pocket all of them, then legally pocket the 8 ball, while denying one's opponent opportunities to do the same with their suit, and without sinking the 8 ball early by accident. On the professional scene, eight-ball players on the International Pool Tour
(IPT) were the highest paid players in the world as of 2006 (the IPT nearly folded in 2007, and as of 2008 is attempting a comeback). In the United Kingdom the game is commonly played in pubs, and it is competitively played in leagues on both sides of the Atlantic. The most prestigious tournaments including the World Open are sponsored and sanctioned by the International Pool Tour. Rules vary widely from place to place (and between continents to such an extent that British-style eight-ball pool/blackball
is properly regarded as a separate game in its own right). Pool halls in North America are increasingly settling upon the World Pool-Billiard Association
International Standardised Rules. But tavern eight-ball (also known as ""), typically played on smaller, coin-operated tables and in a "winner keeps the table" manner, can differ significantly even between two venues in the same city. The growth of local, regional and national amateur leagues may alleviate this confusion eventually.
Nine-ball uses only the 1 through 9 balls and cue ball. It is a rotation game: The player at the table must make legal contact with the lowest numbered ball on the table or a foul is called. The game is won by legally pocketing the nine ball. Nine-ball is the predominant professional game, though as of 2006–2008 there have been some suggestions that this may change, in favor of ten-ball. There are many local and regional tours and tournaments that are contested with nine-ball. The World Pool-Billiard Association
(WPA), and it American affiliate the Billiard Congress of America
(BCA), publish the World Standardized Rules. The European professional circuit has instituted rules changes, especially to make it more difficult to achieve a legal break shot. The largest nine-ball tournaments are the independent US Open Nine-ball Championship
and the WPA World Nine-ball Championship
for men and women. Male professionals have a rather fragmented schedule of professional nine-ball tournaments. The United States Professional Pool Players Association
(UPA) has been the most dominant association of the 1990s and 2000s. A hotly contested event is the annual Mosconi Cup
, which pits invitational European and US teams against each other in one-on-one and nine-ball matches over a period of several days. The Mosconi Cup games are played under the more stringent European rules, as of 2007.
. This statement can be verified by watching a game of one pocket. Most times, accomplished players choose to position balls near their pocket instead of trying to actually pocket them. This allows them to control the game by forcing their opponent to be on defense instead of taking a low percentage shot that could result in a loss of game. These low percentage shots are known as "flyers" by one pocket aficionados.
is a standard billiards game where the balls must be pocketed in as little time as possible. Rules vary greatly from tournament to tournament. The International Speed Pool Challenge
has been held annually since 2006.
Game of skill
A game of skill is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental and/or physical skill, rather than by pure chance.One benefit of games of skill is that they are a means of exploring one's own capabilities. Games encourage the player to look at, understand, and experience things...
generally played with a cue stick
Cue stick
A cue stick , is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the...
which is used to strike billiard ball
Billiard ball
A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played...
s, moving them around a cloth
Baize
Baize is a coarse woollen cloth, sometimes called felt in American English based on a similarity in appearance.-Usage:...
-covered billiards table
Billiards table
A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which billiards-type games are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth and surrounded by vulcanized rubber cushions, with the whole elevated above...
bounded by rubber .
Historically, the umbrella term was billiards. While that familiar name is still employed by some as a generic label for all such games, the word's usage has splintered into more exclusive competing meanings in various parts of the world. For example, in British
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
and Australian English
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
, "billiards" usually refers exclusively to the game of English billiards
English billiards
English billiards, called simply billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as "the English game", "the all-in game" and "the common game".The game is for...
, while in American
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
and Canadian English
Canadian English
Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...
it is sometimes used to refer to a particular game or class of games, or to all cue games in general, depending upon dialect and context.
There are three major subdivisions of games within cue sports:
- Carom billiards, referring to games played on tables without , including among others balkline and straight railBalkline and straight railBalkline is the overarching title of a large array of carom billiards games generally played with two and a third, red , on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, less table that is divided by on the cloth into marked regions called...
, cushion caromsCushion caromsCushion caroms sometimes called by its original name, the indirect game, is a carom billiards discipline generally played on a cloth-covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, pocketless table with two cue balls and a third red-colored ball...
, three-cushion billiards and artistic billiardsArtistic billiardsArtistic billiards, sometimes called fantasy billiards or fantaisie classique, is a carom billiards discipline in which players compete at performing 76 preset shots of varying difficulty... - Pool or pocket billiards, generally played on a table with six pockets, including among others eight-ball (the world's most widely played cue sport), nine-ball, ten-ball, straight poolStraight PoolStraight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...
, one-pocket and bank pool. - SnookerSnookerSnooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, which while technically a pocket billiards game, is generally classified separately based on its historic divergence from other games, as well as a separate culture and terminology that characterize its play.
More obscurely, there are games that make use of obstacles and targets, and table-top games played with disks instead of balls.
Billiards has a long and rich history stretching from its inception in the 15th century, to the wrapping of the body of Mary, Queen of Scots, in her billiard table cover in 1586, through its many mentions in the works of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, including the famous line "let's to billiards" in Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
(1606–07), and through the many famous enthusiasts of the sport: Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
, Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
, Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, French president Jules Grévy
Jules Grévy
François Paul Jules Grévy was a President of the French Third Republic and one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans faction. Given that his predecessors were monarchists who tried without success to restore the French monarchy, Grévy is seen as the first real republican President of...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
, W.C. Fields
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
, Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
, and many others.
History
Lawn game
A lawn game is any outdoor game that can be played on a lawn. Many games that are traditionally played on a pitch are marketed as "lawn games" for home use in a front or back yard.Common lawn games include:*Horseshoes*Lawn darts*Croquet*Cornhole*Bocce...
s (retroactively termed ground billiards), and as such to be related to trucco, croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, and more distantly to the stickless bocce
Bocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
and balls.
The first known mention of a form of the word "billiards" appears in Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
's Mother Hubberd's Tale in 1591, where he speaks of "all thriftles games that may be found ... with dice, with cards, with ." The word "billiard" may have evolved from the French word billart or billette, meaning "stick", in reference to the , an implement similar to a golf club
Golf club (equipment)
A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...
, which was the forerunner to the modern cue
Cue stick
A cue stick , is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the...
; the term's origin may have also been from French bille, meaning "ball". The modern term "cue sports" can be used to encompass the ancestral mace games, and even the modern cueless variants, such as finger billiards, for historical reasons. "Cue" itself came from queue, the French word for a tail
Tail
The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds...
. This refers to the early practice of using the tail of the mace to strike the ball when it lay against a .
A recognizable form of billiards was played outdoors in the 1340s, and was reminiscent of croquet. King Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
(1461–1483) had the first known indoor billiard table. Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
further refined and popularized the game, and it swiftly spread amongst the French nobility. While the game had long been played on the ground, this version appears to have died out in the 17th century, in favor of croquet, golf and bowling games, while table billiards had grown in popularity as an indoor activity. Mary, Queen of Scots, claimed that her "table de billiard" had been taken away by what would eventually become her executioners (who covered her body with the table's cloth). In 1588, the Duke of Norfolk
Duke of Norfolk
The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
, owned a "billyard bord coered with a greene cloth... three billyard sticks and 11 balls of yvery". Billiards grew to the extent that by 1727, it was being played in almost every Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
. In England, the game was developing into a very popular activity for members of the gentry.
By 1670, the thin butt end of the mace began to be used not only for shots under the cushion (which itself was originally only there as a preventative method to stop balls from rolling off), but players increasingly preferred it for other shots as well. The cue as it is known today was finally developed by about 1800.
Initially, the mace was used to push the balls, rather than strike them. The newly developed striking cue provided a new challenge. Cushions began to be stuffed with substances to allow the balls to rebound, in order to enhance the appeal of the game. After a transitional period where only the better players would use cues, the cue came to be the first choice of equipment.
The demand for tables and other equipment was initially met in Europe by John Thurston
John Thurston
John Mellen Thurston was a United States Senator from Nebraska.Thurston was born in Montpelier, Vermont. He moved with his parents to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1854 and two years later to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He attended the public schools and graduated from Wayland University in Beaver Dam, where...
and other furniture makers of the era. The early balls were made from wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
and clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
, but the rich preferred to use ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
.
Early billiard games involved various pieces of additional equipment, including the "arch" (related to the croquet hoop), "port" (a different hoop) and "king" (a pin or skittle near the arch) in the 1770s, but other game variants, relying on the cushions (and eventually on pockets cut into them), were being formed that would go on to play fundamental roles in the development of modern billiards.
Balkline and straight rail
Balkline is the overarching title of a large array of carom billiards games generally played with two and a third, red , on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, less table that is divided by on the cloth into marked regions called...
, cushion caroms
Cushion caroms
Cushion caroms sometimes called by its original name, the indirect game, is a carom billiards discipline generally played on a cloth-covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, pocketless table with two cue balls and a third red-colored ball...
, five-pins
Five-pins
Five-pin billiards or simply five-pins or 5-pins , is a today usually a carom but sometimes still a pocket form of cue sport, popular especially in Italy and Argentina but also in some other parts of Latin America and Europe, with international, televised professional tournaments...
, and four-ball, among others.
Over time, a type of obstacle returned, originally as a hazard and later as a target, in the form of pockets, or holes partly cut into the table bed and partly into the cushions, leading to the rise of pocket billiards
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
, especially "pool" games, popular around the world in forms such as eight-ball, nine-ball, straight pool and one-pocket amongst numerous others. The terms "pool" and "pocket billiards" are now virtually interchangeable, especially in the US. English billiards
English billiards
English billiards, called simply billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as "the English game", "the all-in game" and "the common game".The game is for...
(what UK speakers almost invariably mean by the word "billiards") is a hybrid carom/pocket game, and as such is likely fairly close to the ancestral original pocket billiards outgrowth from 18th to early 19th century carom games.
Pool and Billiards had died out for a bit, but between 1878 and 1956 Pool and Billiards became very popular. Players in annual championships began to receive their own cigarette cards. This was mainly due to the fact that if was a popular pastime for troops to take their minds off from battle. However, by the end of WWII Pool and Billiards began to die down once again. It wasn’t until 1961 when the movie “The Hustler” came out that sparked a new interest in the game. Now the game is generally a well-known game and has many players of all different skill levels.
As a sport
At least the games with regulated international professional competition have been referred to as "sports" or "sporting" events, not simply "games", since 1893 at the latest. Quite a variety of particular games (i.e. sets of rules and equipment) are the subject of present-day competition, including many of those already mentioned, with competition being especially broad in nine-ball, snooker, three-cushion and eight-ball.Snooker, though technically a pocket billiards variant and closely related in its equipment and origin to the game of English billiards, is a professional sport organized at the international level, and its rules bear little resemblance to those of pool games.
A "Billiards" category encompassing pool, snooker and carom was featured in the 2005 World Games
World Games
The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events within a sport, that are not contested in the Olympic Games...
, held in Duisburg
Duisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the 2006 Asian Games
Asian Games
The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...
also saw the introduction of a "Cue sports" category
Cue sports at the 2006 Asian Games
The cue sports of snooker, English billiards, and three-cushion carom for men, as well as eight-ball and nine-ball pool for both men and women, were contested at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar from December 4 to December 11...
.
Billiard balls
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, and some Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries, though not exclusively, since they are unsuited for playing nine-ball. Snooker balls are also smaller than American-style pool balls, and come in sets of 22 (15 reds, 6 "", and a cue ball). Other games also have custom ball sets, such as Russian pyramid and bumper pool
Bumper pool
Bumper pool is a pocket billards game played on an octagonal or rectangular table fitted with an array of fixed cushioned obstacles, called bumpers, at the center of its surface.- Table :...
.
Billiard balls have been made from many different materials since the start of the game, including clay, bakelite, celluloid
Celluloid
Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1862 and as Xylonite in 1869, before being registered as Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is...
, crystallite
Crystallite
Crystallites are small, often microscopic crystals that, held together through highly defective boundaries, constitute a polycrystalline solid. Metallurgists often refer to crystallites as grains.- Details :...
, ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
, plastic, steel and wood. The dominant material from 1627 until the early 20th century was ivory. The search for a substitute for ivory use was not for environmental concerns but based on economic motivation and fear of danger for elephant hunters. It was in part spurred on by a New York billiard table manufacturer who announced a prize of $10,000 for a substitute material. The first viable substitute was celluloid
Celluloid
Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1862 and as Xylonite in 1869, before being registered as Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is...
, invented by John Wesley Hyatt
John Wesley Hyatt
John Wesley Hyatt was an American inventor. He is mainly known for simplifying the production of celluloid, the first industrial plastic. Hyatt, a Perkin Medal recipient, is an inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.-Biography:Hyatt was born in Starkey, New York, and began working as a...
in 1868, but the material was volatile, sometimes exploding during manufacture and was highly flammable.
Tables
Billiards table
A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which billiards-type games are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth and surrounded by vulcanized rubber cushions, with the whole elevated above...
s. Generally, tables are rectangles twice as long as they are wide. Most pool tables are known as 7-, 8-, or 9-footers, referring to the length of the table's long side. Full-size snooker and English billiard tables are 12 feet (3.7 m) long on the longest side. Pool hall
Pool hall
A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards...
s tend to have 9 feet (2.7 m) tables and cater to the serious pool player. Pubs
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
will typically use 7 feet (2.1 m) tables which are often coin-operated. Formerly, 10 feet (3 m) tables were common, but such tables are now considered antique collectors items; a few, usually from the late 19th century, can be found in pool halls from time to time. Ten-foot tables remain the standard size for carom billiard games. The slates on modern carom tables are usually heated to stave off moisture and provide a consistent playing surface.
The length of the pool table will typically be a function of space, with many homeowners purchasing an 8 feet (2.4 m) table as a compromise. High quality tables are mostly 4.5 by 9 ft (2.7 m). (interior dimensions), with a bed made of three pieces of thick slate to prevent warping and changes due to humidity. Smaller bar tables are most commonly made with a single piece of slate. Pocket billiards tables normally have six pockets, three on each side (four corner pockets, and two side pockets).
Cloth
Baize
Baize is a coarse woollen cloth, sometimes called felt in American English based on a similarity in appearance.-Usage:...
). Cloth has been used to cover billiards tables since the 15th century. In fact, the predecessor company of the most famous maker of billiard cloth, Iwan Simonis, was formed in 1453.
Bar or tavern tables, which get a lot of play, use "slower", more durable cloth. The cloth used in upscale pool (and snooker) halls and home billiard room
Billiard room
A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table...
s is "faster" (i.e. provides less friction, allowing the balls to roll farther across the table ), and competition-quality pool cloth is made from 100 % worsted wool
Worsted
Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...
. Snooker cloth traditionally has a nap (consistent fiber directionality) and balls behave differently when rolling against versus along with the nap.
The cloth of the billiard table has traditionally been green, reflecting its origin (originally the grass of ancestral lawn games), and has been so colored since the 16th century, but it is also produced in other colors such as red and blue.
The cloth was earlier said to be the most important part of the game, most likely because of the reflection of the game's origin. The players were stubborn in the fact that the cloth should not be ripped. They even made women continue to use maces after cues were invented, for fear that they would rip the cloth with the sharper cues.
Rack
A rackRack (billiards)
A rack is the name given to a frame used to organize billiard balls at the beginning of a game. Rack may also be used as a verb to describe the act of setting billiard balls in starting position in billiards games that make use of racks , as well as a noun to describe the balls in that starting...
is the name given to a frame (usually wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
or aluminum) used to organize billiard balls at the beginning of a game. This is traditionally triangular in shape, but varies with the type of billiards played. There are two main types of racks; the more common triangular shape which is used for eight-ball and straight pool and the diamond shaped rack used for nine-ball.
Cues
Billiards games are mostly played with a stick known as a cue. A cue is usually either a one piece tapered stick or a two piece stick divided in the middle by a joint of metal or phenolic resin. High quality cues are generally two pieces and are made of a hardwood, generally maple for billiards and ash for snooker.
The end of the cue is of larger circumference and is intended to be gripped by a player's hand. The of the cue is of smaller circumference, usually tapering to an 0.4 to 0.55 in (10.2 to 14 mm) terminus called a (usually made of fiberglass or brass in better cues), where a rounded leather is affixed, flush with the ferrule, to make final contact with balls. The tip, in conjunction with chalk, can be used to impart spin to the cue ball when it is not hit in its center.
Cheap cues are generally made of pine, low-grade maple (and formerly often of ramin, which is now endangered), or other low-quality wood, with inferior plastic ferrules. A quality cue can be expensive and may be made of exotic woods and other expensive materials which are artfully inlaid in decorative patterns. Many modern cues are also made, like golf club
Golf club (equipment)
A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...
s, with high-tech materials such as woven graphite. Skilled players may use more than one cue during a game, including a separate generally lighter cue for the opening break shot (because of cue speed gained from a lighter stick) and another, shorter cue with a special tip for .
Mechanical bridge
The mechanical bridge, sometimes called a "rake", "bridge stick" or simply "bridge", and "rest" in the UK, is used to extend a player's reach on a shot where the cue ball is too far away for normal hand bridging. It consists of a stick with a grooved metal or plastic head which the cue slides on. Many amateurs refuse to use the mechanical bridge based on the perception that to do so is unmanly. However, many aficionados and most professionals employ the bridge whenever the intended shot so requires. Some players, especially current or former snooker players, use a screw-on cue butt extension instead of or in addition to the mechanical bridge. Bridge head design is varied, and not all designs (especially those with cue shaft-enclosing rings, or wheels on the bottom of the head), are broadly tournament-approved. In Italy a longer, thicker cue is typically available for this kind of tricky shot.Commonly in snooker they are available in three forms depending on how the player is hampered; the standard rest has a simple cross, the 'spider' has a raised arch around 12 cm with three grooves to rest the cue in and for the most awkward of shots, the 'giraffe' (or 'swan' in England) which has a raised arch much like the 'spider' but with a slender arm reaching out around 15 cm with the groove.
Chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
" (generally calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...
, also known as calcite
Calcite
Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 380-470°C, and vaterite is even less stable.-Properties:...
or carbonate of lime
Calcium oxide
Calcium oxide , commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature....
), but any of several proprietary compounds, with a silicate
Silicate
A silicate is a compound containing a silicon bearing anion. The great majority of silicates are oxides, but hexafluorosilicate and other anions are also included. This article focuses mainly on the Si-O anions. Silicates comprise the majority of the earth's crust, as well as the other...
base. It was around the time of the Industrial Revolution that newer compounds formed that provided better grip for the ball. This is when the English began to experiment with side spin or applying curl to the ball. This was shortly introduced to the American players and is how the term “putting English on the ball” came to be. "Chalk" may also refer to a cone of fine, white ; like talc
Talc
Talc is a mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula H2Mg34 or Mg3Si4O102. In loose form, it is the widely-used substance known as talcum powder. It occurs as foliated to fibrous masses, its crystals being so rare as to be almost unknown...
(talcum powder) it can be used to reduce friction between the cue and bridge hand during shooting, for a smoother stroke. Some brands of hand chalk actually are made of compressed talc. (Tip chalk is not used for this purpose because it is abrasive, hand-staining and difficult to apply.) Many players prefer a slick pool glove over hand chalk or talc because of the messiness of these powders; buildup of particles on the cloth will affect ball behavior and necessitate more-frequent cloth cleaning. Some players find it useful to moisten the chalk with saliva thereby creating a chalky paste which performs as a lubricant on the cue stick. This lubrication method is usually attributed to professional pool player Hal "Spitty-Smitty" Smith.
Cue tip chalk (invented in its modern form by straight rail billiard pro William A. Spinks
William A. Spinks
, known professionally as or , and occasionally also referred to as ), was an American professional player of carom billiards in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
and chemist William Hoskins in 1897) is made by crushing silica and the abrasive substance corundum
Corundum
Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide with traces of iron, titanium and chromium. It is a rock-forming mineral. It is one of the naturally clear transparent materials, but can have different colors when impurities are present. Transparent specimens are used as gems, called ruby if red...
or aloxite (aluminum oxide
Oxide
An oxide is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom in its chemical formula. Metal oxides typically contain an anion of oxygen in the oxidation state of −2....
), into a powder. It is combined with dye (originally and most commonly green or blue-green, like traditional billiard cloth
Baize
Baize is a coarse woollen cloth, sometimes called felt in American English based on a similarity in appearance.-Usage:...
, but available today, like the cloth, in many colors) and a binder (glue). Each manufacturer's brand has different qualities, which can significantly affect play. High humidity can also impair the effectiveness of chalk. Harder, drier compounds are generally considered superior by most players.
Major games (carom and pocket)
There are two main varieties of billiard games: carom and pocket. The main carom billiards games are straight billiards, balkline and three cushion billiards. All are played on a pocketless table with three balls; two cue balls and one object ball. In all, players shoot a cue ball so that it makes contact with the opponent's cue ball as well as the object ball.
The most popular of the large variety of pocket games are eight-ball, nine-ball, one-pocket
One Pocket
One-pocket is a two-player pool game. The object of the game is to score by pool balls into specific pockets. A point is made when a player makes any into that player's designated pocket. The winner is the first to score an agreed-upon number of points...
, bank pool, snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
and, among the old guard, straight pool. In eight-ball and nine-ball the object is to sink object balls until one can legally pocket the winning eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous "". Well-known but waning in popularity is straight pool, in which players seek to continue sinking balls, rack after rack if they can, to reach a pre-determined winning score (typically 150). Related to nine-ball, another well-known game is rotation, where the lowest-numbered object ball on the table must be struck first, although any object ball may be pocketed (i.e., combination shot). Each pocketed ball is worth its number, and the player with the highest score at the end of the rack is the winner. Since there are only 120 points available (1 + 2 + 3 ⋯ + 15 = 120), scoring 61 points leaves no opportunity for the opponent to catch up. In both one-pocket and bank pool, the players must sink a set number of balls; respectively, all in a particular , or all by . In snooker, players score points by alternately potting and various special "".
Straight rail or straight billiards
In straight rail, a player scores a point and may continue shooting each time his cue ball makes contact with both other balls.Although a difficult and subtle game, some of the best players of straight billiards developed the skill to the balls in a corner or along the same rail for the purpose of playing a series of to score a seemingly limitless number of points.
The first straight rail professional tournament was held in 1879 where Jacob Schaefer, Sr. scored 690 points in a single turn (that is, 690 separate strokes without a miss). With the balls repetitively hit and barely moving in endless "nursing", there was little for the fans to watch.
Balkline
In light of these phenomenal skill developments in straight rail, the game of balkline soon developed to make it impossible for a player to keep the balls gathered in one part of the table for long, greatly limiting the effectiveness of nurse shots. A (not to be confused with , which pertains to the game of English billiardsEnglish billiards
English billiards, called simply billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as "the English game", "the all-in game" and "the common game".The game is for...
) is a line parallel to one end of a billiards table. In the games of balkline – 18.1 and 18.2 balkline, among other more obscure variations – the players have to drive at least one object ball past a balkline set at 18 inches (457.2 mm) from each rail, after one or two points have been scored, respectively.
Three-cushion billiards
A more elegant solution was three-cushion billiards, which requires a player to make contact with the other two balls on the table and contact three rail cushions in the process. This is difficult enough that even the best players can only manage to average one to two points per turn.English billiards
Dating to approximately 1800, English billiards incorporates aspects of both carom and pocket billiards and is typically played on a 6 feet (1.8 m) by 12 feet (3.7 m) snooker table. Like most carom games, it requires two and a red . The object of the game is to score either a fixed number of points, or score the most points within a set time frame, determined at the start of the game.Points are awarded for:
- Two-ball : striking both the object ball and the other (opponent's) cue ball on the same shot (2 points)
- Winning hazards: the red ball (3 points); potting the other cue ball (2 points) (or "in-offs"): potting one's cue ball by cannoning off another ball (3 points if the red ball was hit first; 2 points if the other cue ball was hit first, or if the red and other cue ball were "", i.e. hit simultaneously).
Snooker
Snooker is a pocket billiards game originated by British officersHistory of the British Army
The history of the British Army spans over three and a half centuries and numerous European wars, colonial wars and world wars. From the early 19th century until 1914, the United Kingdom was the greatest economic and imperial power in the world, and although this dominance was principally achieved...
stationed in India
Colonial India
Colonial India refers to areas of the Indian Subcontinent under the control of European colonial powers, through trade and conquest. The first European power to arrive in India was the army of Alexander the Great in 327–326 BC. The satraps he established in the north west of the subcontinent...
during the 19th century. The name of the game became generalized to also describe one of its prime strategies: to "" the opposing player by causing that player to foul or leave an opening to be exploited.
In the United Kingdom, snooker is by far the most popular cue sport at the competitive level. It is played in many other countries as well. Snooker is far rarer in the U.S., where pool games such as eight-ball and nine-ball dominate. The first International Snooker Championship was held in 1927, and it has been held annually since then with few exceptions. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) was established in 1968 to regulate the professional game, while the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) regulates the amateur games.
Eight-ball
International Pool Tour
The International Pool Tour is a professional sports tour created in 2005 by Kevin Trudeau and hosted by Rebecca Grant. It aims to elevate pool to the level of other modern sports. Closely modeled on the PGA Tour, the IPT offered the largest prize funds in pool history in its first year. The tour...
(IPT) were the highest paid players in the world as of 2006 (the IPT nearly folded in 2007, and as of 2008 is attempting a comeback). In the United Kingdom the game is commonly played in pubs, and it is competitively played in leagues on both sides of the Atlantic. The most prestigious tournaments including the World Open are sponsored and sanctioned by the International Pool Tour. Rules vary widely from place to place (and between continents to such an extent that British-style eight-ball pool/blackball
Blackball (pool)
Blackball is a pool game that is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, several Western European nations, Australia and some other countries. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool"...
is properly regarded as a separate game in its own right). Pool halls in North America are increasingly settling upon the World Pool-Billiard Association
World Pool-Billiard Association
The World Pool-Billiard Association is the international governing body for pocket billiards . The group was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of representatives from Japan, the United States, Sweden, and Germany...
International Standardised Rules. But tavern eight-ball (also known as ""), typically played on smaller, coin-operated tables and in a "winner keeps the table" manner, can differ significantly even between two venues in the same city. The growth of local, regional and national amateur leagues may alleviate this confusion eventually.
Nine-ball
World Pool-Billiard Association
The World Pool-Billiard Association is the international governing body for pocket billiards . The group was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of representatives from Japan, the United States, Sweden, and Germany...
(WPA), and it American affiliate the Billiard Congress of America
Billiard Congress of America
Billiard Congress of America is a governing body for cue sports in North America , the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association...
(BCA), publish the World Standardized Rules. The European professional circuit has instituted rules changes, especially to make it more difficult to achieve a legal break shot. The largest nine-ball tournaments are the independent US Open Nine-ball Championship
US Open Nine-ball Championship
The U.S. Open Championships is an annual professional pool tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake, Virginia...
and the WPA World Nine-ball Championship
WPA World Nine-ball Championship
The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual, international, professional nine-ball pool tournament, founded in 1990, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association , and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport...
for men and women. Male professionals have a rather fragmented schedule of professional nine-ball tournaments. The United States Professional Pool Players Association
United States Professional Pool Players Association
The United States Professional Poolplayers Association is the governing body for the sport of men's professional pool in the United States, in conjunction with the World Pool-Billiard Association and its US-national affiliate, the Billiard Congress of America...
(UPA) has been the most dominant association of the 1990s and 2000s. A hotly contested event is the annual Mosconi Cup
Mosconi Cup
The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested between teams representing Europe and the USA since 1994. The trophy is named after American player Willie Mosconi, and is modeled on and compared to the Ryder Cup in golf...
, which pits invitational European and US teams against each other in one-on-one and nine-ball matches over a period of several days. The Mosconi Cup games are played under the more stringent European rules, as of 2007.
Three-ball
A variant using only three balls, generally played such that the player at turn continues shooting until all the balls are pocketed, and the player to do so in the fewest shots wins. The game can be played by two or more players. Dispenses with some fouls common to both nine- and eight-ball.One-pocket
One-pocket is a strategic game for two players. Each player is assigned one of the corner pockets on the table. This is the only pocket into which he can legally pocket balls. The first player to pocket the majority of the balls (8) in his pocket wins the game. The game requires far more defensive strategy than offensive strategy, much unlike eight-ball, nine-ball, or straight pool. It has been said that if eight-ball is checkers, one-pocket is chessChess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
. This statement can be verified by watching a game of one pocket. Most times, accomplished players choose to position balls near their pocket instead of trying to actually pocket them. This allows them to control the game by forcing their opponent to be on defense instead of taking a low percentage shot that could result in a loss of game. These low percentage shots are known as "flyers" by one pocket aficionados.
Bank pool
Bank pool has been gaining popularity in recent years. Bank pool can be played with a full rack (can be a long game), but is more typically played with nine balls (frequently called "nine-ball bank"). The balls are racked in nine-ball formation, but in no particular order. The object of the game is simple: to be the first player to bank five balls in any order (eight balls when played with a full rack). Penalties and fouls are similar to one pocket in that the player committing the foul must spot a ball for each foul. This must be done before the incoming player shoots.Speed pool
Speed poolSpeed pool
Speed pool is a solitary pool game. As its name suggests, one all the pool balls on the table as quickly as possible. It can played be competitively with the aid of a stopwatch.-Rules:...
is a standard billiards game where the balls must be pocketed in as little time as possible. Rules vary greatly from tournament to tournament. The International Speed Pool Challenge
International Speed Pool Challenge
The International Speed Pool Challenge is a pool tournament held in the United States since 2006. It is the most notable speed pool event, as well as being the richest in prize money for that discipline. Luc Salvas won the 2010 championship, defeating Bobby McGrath in the finals.Four players...
has been held annually since 2006.
Carom billiards games
- Artistic billiardsArtistic billiardsArtistic billiards, sometimes called fantasy billiards or fantaisie classique, is a carom billiards discipline in which players compete at performing 76 preset shots of varying difficulty...
- BalklineBalkline and straight railBalkline is the overarching title of a large array of carom billiards games generally played with two and a third, red , on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, less table that is divided by on the cloth into marked regions called...
games (18.1, 18.2, etc.) - Cowboy pool (a hybrid carom/pocket game)
- English billiardsEnglish billiardsEnglish billiards, called simply billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as "the English game", "the all-in game" and "the common game".The game is for...
(another hybrid) - Five-pin billiards
- Goriziana or nine-pin billiards
- Danish pin billiardsDanish Pin BilliardsDanish billiards or Keglebillard, sometimes called Danish five-pin billiards, is the traditional cue sport of Denmark, and the game remains predominantly played in that country...
or Keglebillard (another hybrid) - Four-ball (yotsudama, sagu)
- Straight-railBalkline and straight railBalkline is the overarching title of a large array of carom billiards games generally played with two and a third, red , on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, less table that is divided by on the cloth into marked regions called...
- Three-cushion billiardsThree-cushion billiardsThree-cushion billiards is a form of carom billiards, and one of the most popular and challenging cue sports in the world.The object of the game is to the off both and contact the at least 3...
Pool (pocket billiards) games
- Artistic pool
- Bank pool (banks, nine-ball banks)
- Baseball pocket billiardsBaseball pocket billiardsBaseball pocket billiards or baseball pool is a pocket billiards game suitable for multiple players that borrows phraseology and even some aspects of form from the game of baseball...
- Blackball and British eight-ball poolBlackball (pool)Blackball is a pool game that is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, several Western European nations, Australia and some other countries. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool"...
- Bottle poolBottle poolBottle pool, also known as bottle-billiards and bottle pocket billiards, is a hybrid billiards game combining aspects of both carom billiards and pocket billiards...
- BowlliardsBowlliardsBowlliards is a pool game often used as a training . The game borrows aspects of ten-pin bowling. The game is divided into ten frames where a player gets a maximum of two innings to ten balls.-Gameplay:...
- Chicago
- Chinese eight-ball
- Cowboy pool (hybrid)
- Cribbage poolCribbage (pool)Cribbage, sometimes called cribbage pocket billiards, cribbage pool, fifteen points and pair pool, is a two-player pocket billiards game that, like its namesake card game, has a scoring system which awards points for pairing groups of balls that total 15...
- Cutthroat
- Eight-ball (stripes-and-solids, highs-and-lows)
- English billiardsEnglish billiardsEnglish billiards, called simply billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as "the English game", "the all-in game" and "the common game".The game is for...
(hybrid) - Equal offense
- KaisaKaisa (billiards)Kaisa or karoliina is a cue sport mainly played in Finland. The game originated in Russia, where it is still played to some extent, and is a close cousin to Russian pyramid. Compared to most other billiards-type games, both use similar large 68 mm balls, small pockets barely large enough for...
- Kelly poolKelly poolKelly pool is a pocket billiards game played on a standard pool table using fifteen numbered markers called peas or pills, and a standard set of sixteen pool balls...
(pill/pea pool) - KillerKiller (pool)Killer or killers is a multi-player folk variant of straight pool in which each player is assigned a set number of "lives" and takes one shot per to attempt to a ball, or else lose a life. Usually if the player then an additional life is lost...
- Nine-ball
- One-pocket
- Poker pool (hybrid)
- Rotation
- Russian pyramid
- Seven-ballSeven-ballSeven-ball is a contemporary pool game with rules similar to nine-ball, though it differs in two key ways: the game uses only seven as implied by its name, and play is restricted to particular pockets of the table. William D. Clayton is credited with the game's invention, ca...
- Skittle pool variants (pin pool)
- Snooker (see below; popularly regarded as its own sport, not a pool variant)
- Speed poolSpeed poolSpeed pool is a solitary pool game. As its name suggests, one all the pool balls on the table as quickly as possible. It can played be competitively with the aid of a stopwatch.-Rules:...
- Straight poolStraight PoolStraight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...
(also called "14.1 continuous") - Ten-ball
- Three-ball
- Trick shot competitionTrick shotA trick shot is a shot played on a billiards table , which seems unlikely, impossible, or requires significant skill...
Snooker games
- SnookerSnookerSnooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
- Six-red snooker
- American snooker
- Sinuca brasileiraSinuca BrasileiraSinuca brasileira , often simply called sinuca, is a cue sport played on a snooker table, using only one instead of snooker's fifteen, with the normal six of the standard set of snooker balls...
- Volunteer snooker
- Snooker plusSnooker PlusSnooker plus is a cue sport based on snooker. The variant was created by Joe Davis, who added an orange ball and a purple ball to the set. The idea was that this would increase the maximum break from 147 to 210, and so help to attract a greater audience...
- Golf billiardsGolf (billiards)Golf billiards is a pocket billiards game usually played for money. Unlike the majority of such games, it allows more than two people to play without compromises or rule changes...
(and its variant, around-the-world)
Obstacle and target billiards games
<--Old name, may be linked.-->- BagatelleBagatelleBagatelle is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past wooden pins into holes...
- Bar billiardsBar billiardsBar Billiards is a form of billiards which is often thought to be based on the traditional game of bagatelle. It is actually based on the French/Belgian Billard Russe game that preceded it....
- Bumper poolBumper poolBumper pool is a pocket billards game played on an octagonal or rectangular table fitted with an array of fixed cushioned obstacles, called bumpers, at the center of its surface.- Table :...
- Danish pin billiardsDanish Pin BilliardsDanish billiards or Keglebillard, sometimes called Danish five-pin billiards, is the traditional cue sport of Denmark, and the game remains predominantly played in that country...
and other pin billiardsPin billiardsPin billiards may refer to any of a fairly large number of cue sports, including:*Australian devil's pool*British bar billiards*Danish pin billiards, the traditional cue sport of Denmark, and the game remains predominantly played in that country...
games - Devil's poolDevil's PoolDevil's pool or Devil's Pool may refer to:*Devil's Pool, Australia, a natural and legendary watercourse known for the hazards it presents to swimmers...
and victory billiards - Bottle poolBottle poolBottle pool, also known as bottle-billiards and bottle pocket billiards, is a hybrid billiards game combining aspects of both carom billiards and pocket billiards...
, skittle pool (pin pool), and Italian five-pin billiards are vestigially classifiable here as well
Cueless and/or ball-less developments
- BoccetteBoccetteBoccette is a billiards-type game played in Italy. A variation of the game of five-pins, it is played on a less billiard table with nine balls . Cue sticks are not used; the balls are manipulated with the hands directly, as in finger billiards....
- Hand billiards and finger pool (no cues)
- CrudCrud (game)Crud is a fast-paced game loosely based on billiards or pool and purported to have originated in the Royal Canadian Air Force. It is played in units of the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard, the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps and the Royal...
- CarromCarromCarrom is a family of tabletop games with gameplay that lies somewhere between billiards and table shuffleboard. Carrom is known by many names around the world, including carrum, couronne, carum, karam, karom, karum, fatta and finger billiards...
(uses small disks instead of balls; some versions use miniature cues, others no cues at all) - NovussNovussNovuss is a game of physical skill which is closely related to pocket billiards, but on a smaller scale. It is essentially a larger, cued derivative of the boardgame carrom. Novuss is a national sport in Latvia. The board is approximately 40 in. square, made out of wood, has in each corner, and...
(a variant that uses full-size cues) - CrokinoleCrokinoleCrokinole is an action board game similar in various ways to pitchnut, carrom, marbles, and shove ha'penny, with elements of shuffleboard and curling reduced to table-top size...
(some variants of this combination of carrom and shuffleboard use miniature cues)
See also
- Glossary of cue sports terms
- BCA Hall of Fame
- HustlingHustlingHustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
- Cue sports techniques
Organizations
- World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) – the International Olympic CommitteeInternational Olympic CommitteeThe International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
-recognized promulgator of international rules for a variety of cue sports. - Billiard Congress of America (BCA) – the US national WPA affiliate
- International Billiards & Snooker Federation {IBSF}
- African Billiards & Snooker Federation {ABSF}
- Asian Confederation Of Billiards Sports {ACBS}
History
- "The Billiards Family [Games] at the Online Guide to Traditional Games; includes sourced information on the early history of the sport
- "A Brief History of the Noble Game of Billiards", by Michael Ian Shamos (a BCA-published summary of Shamos's more in-depth research on the topic)
Technical information
- CueTable Billiard Diagram Software
- "The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards", by Prof. David G. Alciatore – technical billiards physics materials (and online instruction and demonstrations)
- "Physics of Billiards" resource list by Regis Petit.