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(Redirected from Billiards)
'Cue sports' (sometimes spelled 'cuesports') are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, 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 among certain groups and geographic regions. For example, in the United Kingdom, "billiards" refers exclusively to a specific game, while in the United States 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: 1) carom billiards, referring to games played on tables without , including among others balkline and straight rail, cushion caroms, three-cushion billiards and artistic billiards; 2) pocket billiards (or "pool") generally played on a table with six pockets, including among others 8-ball (the world's most widely played cue sport), nine-ball, straight pool, one-pocket and bank pool; and 3) snooker, 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, including the famous line "let us to billiards" in ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (1606-07); to the dome on Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, which conceals a billiard room he hid, as billiards was illegal in Virginia at that time; and through the many famous enthusiasts of the sport including, Mozart, King Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, George Washington, Charles Dickens, George 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 games[2], and as such to be related to croquet and golf, and more distantly to the stickless bocce and bowling. The word "billiard" may have evolved from the French word ''billart'', meaning "mace", an implement similar to a golf club, which was the forerunner to the modern cue. The term "cue sports" can be used to encompass the ancestral mace games, and even the modern cueless variants, such as finger pool, for historical reasons....
Accordingly, in addition to the three general subdivisions listed earlier, a now rare category was prevalent in early times. The obstacle games (see illustration to the right, featuring a croquet-like variant), appear to have been the earliest, and include the obsolete bagatelle and pin pool among many other variations, some with elaborate structures (likely inspirational of miniature golf), and yet others on a sloped table (the ancestors of pinball), up to the relatively recent bumper pool (popular in the 1970s in home game rooms).
The object of obstacle games varies from avoiding obstructions and traps, to hitting or passing through or into them on purpose to score, to using them strategically to score in some other way, such as by rebounding off them to reach a hole in the table or trapping opponents' balls.
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 most areas over the last few generations, are games played with three or sometimes four balls, on a table without holes (or obstructions in most cases, five-pins being an exception), 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 ball. Variations include three-cushion, straight rail, balkline variants, cushion caroms, Italian 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 eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century carom games.
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.[3] 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, held in Duisburg, Germany, and the 2006 Asian Games also saw the introduction of a "Cue sports" category. Efforts have also been underway for many years to have cue sports become Olympic competitions.
Billiard balls vary from game to game, in size, design and number. 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 also known as yotsudama). 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 (fifteen 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, crystalite, ivory, plastic, steel and wood. The dominant material from 1627 until the early to mid 1900s 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.[4][5] Today, billiard balls are often made with the thermoset resin Bakelite.
Main articles: Billiards table
There are many sizes and styles of pool and billiard tables. 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 long on the longest side. Pool halls tend to have tables and cater to the serious pool player. Pubs will typically use tables which are often coin-operated. Formerly, tables were common, but such tables are now considered antique collectors items; a few, usually from the late 1800s, 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 table as a compromise. High quality tables are mostly 4.5 by . (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 billiard parlours and home billiard rooms 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.[6] However, the color also serves a useful function, as non-color-blind human eyes have a higher sensitivity to green than to any other color.[7]
Main articles: Rack (billiards)
A rack is the name given to a frame (usually wood or plastic) 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.
:Main articles: Cue stick
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 "butt" end of the cue is of larger circumference and is intended to be gripped by a player's hand. The "shaft" of the cue is of smaller circumference, usually tapering to an 0.4 to 0.55 inch (11-14 mm) terminus called a ferrule, where a leather tip is affixed to make final contact with balls. The leather tip, in conjunction with chalk, can be used to impart spin to the cue ball when not being hit in its center.
Cheap cues are generally one piece cues made of ramin or other low quality wood with inferior tips of various materials (usually plastic). A quality cue can be expensive and may be made of exotic woods and other expensive materials which are artfully inlaid in decorative patterns. Skilled players may use more than one cue during a game, including a separate cue for the opening break shot and another, shorter cue with a special tip for jump shots.
The mechanical bridge, sometimes called "the ladies aid", "rake", "bridge stick" or simply "bridge", and known as a "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 available for this kind of tricky shots.
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. "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.
Cue tip chalk (invented in its modern form by straight rail billiard pro William A. Spinks and chemist William Hoskins in 1897)[8][9] is made by crushing silica and the abrasive substance corundum or aloxite (aluminum oxide),[10][11] into a powder9 and using forced air to achieve the desired consistency. 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).9 Finally, a 15 ton-per-square-inch hydraulic press is used to compress the "chalk" into large cakes which are dried on a rack, and then cut into small cubes, dimpled on the top to receive the cue tip, and wrapped in paper sleeves. 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 eponymous "". 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+4...+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 "".
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[6] (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.
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 billiards) is a line parallel to one end of a billiards table. In the ''games'' of balkline — 18.1 and 18.2 (pronounced "eighteen-point-two") balkline, among other more obscure variations — the players have to drive at least one object ball past a balkline set at 18 inches from each rail, after one or two points have been scored, respectively.
:''Main article: 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.
Dating to approximately 1800, English Billiards is a hybrid of carom ''and'' pocket billiards played on a by 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).
Main articles: Snooker
A pocket billiards game originated by British officers stationed in India during the 19th century. The name of the game became generalized to also describe one of its prime strategies: to "snooker" the opposing player by causing that player to foul or leave an opening to be exploited (see Glossary of cue sports terms - "").
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.
Main articles: Eight-ball
In the United States, the most commonly-played game is eight-ball. On the professional scene, eight-ball players who are on the International Pool Tour (IPT) are the highest paid players in the world. 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. Pool halls in North America are increasingly settling upon the International Standardized Rules. But tavern eight-ball, typically played on smaller, coin-operated tables and in a "winner controls 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. 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.
Main articles: Nine-ball
Nine-Ball is a rotation game where only the 1 through 9 balls and cue ball are used. The player at the table must make a legal shot on the lowest numbered ball on the table or a foul is called. The game is won by legally pocketing the nine ball (which can be done by striking the lowest numbered ball first and then driving the 9 into a pocket). Nine-ball is the predominant professional game. There are many local and regional tours and tournaments that are contested with nine-ball. There is no particular governing body of Nine-ball. Most places play with a version of "Texas Express", Billiard Congress of America (BCA) or World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) rules. The largest nine-ball tournaments are the independent US Open Nine-ball Championship and the
Illustration of a three ball pocket billiards game in early 19th century Tübingen, Germany, using a table much longer than the modern type.
'Cue sports' (sometimes spelled 'cuesports') are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, 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 among certain groups and geographic regions. For example, in the United Kingdom, "billiards" refers exclusively to a specific game, while in the United States 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: 1) carom billiards, referring to games played on tables without , including among others balkline and straight rail, cushion caroms, three-cushion billiards and artistic billiards; 2) pocket billiards (or "pool") generally played on a table with six pockets, including among others 8-ball (the world's most widely played cue sport), nine-ball, straight pool, one-pocket and bank pool; and 3) snooker, 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, including the famous line "let us to billiards" in ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (1606-07); to the dome on Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, which conceals a billiard room he hid, as billiards was illegal in Virginia at that time; and through the many famous enthusiasts of the sport including, Mozart, King Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, George Washington, Charles Dickens, George Custer, Theodore Roosevelt, Lewis Carroll, W.C. Fields, Babe Ruth, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, and many others.
History
All cue sports are generally regarded to have evolved into indoor games from outdoor stick-and-ball lawn games[2], and as such to be related to croquet and golf, and more distantly to the stickless bocce and bowling. The word "billiard" may have evolved from the French word ''billart'', meaning "mace", an implement similar to a golf club, which was the forerunner to the modern cue. The term "cue sports" can be used to encompass the ancestral mace games, and even the modern cueless variants, such as finger pool, for historical reasons....
Accordingly, in addition to the three general subdivisions listed earlier, a now rare category was prevalent in early times. The obstacle games (see illustration to the right, featuring a croquet-like variant), appear to have been the earliest, and include the obsolete bagatelle and pin pool among many other variations, some with elaborate structures (likely inspirational of miniature golf), and yet others on a sloped table (the ancestors of pinball), up to the relatively recent bumper pool (popular in the 1970s in home game rooms).
The object of obstacle games varies from avoiding obstructions and traps, to hitting or passing through or into them on purpose to score, to using them strategically to score in some other way, such as by rebounding off them to reach a hole in the table or trapping opponents' balls.
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 most areas over the last few generations, are games played with three or sometimes four balls, on a table without holes (or obstructions in most cases, five-pins being an exception), 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 ball. Variations include three-cushion, straight rail, balkline variants, cushion caroms, Italian 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 eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century carom games.
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.[3] 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, held in Duisburg, Germany, and the 2006 Asian Games also saw the introduction of a "Cue sports" category. Efforts have also been underway for many years to have cue sports become Olympic competitions.
Equipment
Billiard balls
Pool balls
Billiard balls vary from game to game, in size, design and number. 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 also known as yotsudama). 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 (fifteen 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, crystalite, ivory, plastic, steel and wood. The dominant material from 1627 until the early to mid 1900s 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.[4][5] Today, billiard balls are often made with the thermoset resin Bakelite.
Pool table with equipment
Tables
Main articles: Billiards table
Carom billiards table in a Parisian café.
There are many sizes and styles of pool and billiard tables. 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 long on the longest side. Pool halls tend to have tables and cater to the serious pool player. Pubs will typically use tables which are often coin-operated. Formerly, tables were common, but such tables are now considered antique collectors items; a few, usually from the late 1800s, 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 table as a compromise. High quality tables are mostly 4.5 by . (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
Women playing on an elaborately decorated green-covered table in an early 1880s advertising poster
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 billiard parlours and home billiard rooms 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.[6] However, the color also serves a useful function, as non-color-blind human eyes have a higher sensitivity to green than to any other color.[7]
Rack
Main articles: Rack (billiards)
A rack is the name given to a frame (usually wood or plastic) 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
:Main articles: Cue stick
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 "butt" end of the cue is of larger circumference and is intended to be gripped by a player's hand. The "shaft" of the cue is of smaller circumference, usually tapering to an 0.4 to 0.55 inch (11-14 mm) terminus called a ferrule, where a leather tip is affixed to make final contact with balls. The leather tip, in conjunction with chalk, can be used to impart spin to the cue ball when not being hit in its center.
Cheap cues are generally one piece cues made of ramin or other low quality wood with inferior tips of various materials (usually plastic). A quality cue can be expensive and may be made of exotic woods and other expensive materials which are artfully inlaid in decorative patterns. Skilled players may use more than one cue during a game, including a separate cue for the opening break shot and another, shorter cue with a special tip for jump shots.
The mechanical bridge
The mechanical bridge, sometimes called "the ladies aid", "rake", "bridge stick" or simply "bridge", and known as a "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 available for this kind of tricky shots.
Chalk
Billiard chalk
Cue tip chalk (invented in its modern form by straight rail billiard pro William A. Spinks and chemist William Hoskins in 1897)[8][9] is made by crushing silica and the abrasive substance corundum or aloxite (aluminum oxide),[10][11] into a powder9 and using forced air to achieve the desired consistency. 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).9 Finally, a 15 ton-per-square-inch hydraulic press is used to compress the "chalk" into large cakes which are dried on a rack, and then cut into small cubes, dimpled on the top to receive the cue tip, and wrapped in paper sleeves. 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, 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 eponymous "". 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+4...+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 "".
Man playing billiards with a cue and a woman with mace, from an illustration appearing in Michael Phelan's 1859 book, ''The Game of Billiards''
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[6] (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 billiards) is a line parallel to one end of a billiards table. In the ''games'' of balkline — 18.1 and 18.2 (pronounced "eighteen-point-two") balkline, among other more obscure variations — the players have to drive at least one object ball past a balkline set at 18 inches from each rail, after one or two points have been scored, respectively.
Three-cushion billiards
:''Main article: 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 is a hybrid of carom ''and'' pocket billiards played on a by 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
Main articles: Snooker
A pocket billiards game originated by British officers stationed in India during the 19th century. The name of the game became generalized to also describe one of its prime strategies: to "snooker" the opposing player by causing that player to foul or leave an opening to be exploited (see Glossary of cue sports terms - "").
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.
Eight-ball
Main articles: Eight-ball
Eight-ball rack
Nine-ball
Main articles: Nine-ball
Nine-Ball is a rotation game where only the 1 through 9 balls and cue ball are used. The player at the table must make a legal shot on the lowest numbered ball on the table or a foul is called. The game is won by legally pocketing the nine ball (which can be done by striking the lowest numbered ball first and then driving the 9 into a pocket). Nine-ball is the predominant professional game. There are many local and regional tours and tournaments that are contested with nine-ball. There is no particular governing body of Nine-ball. Most places play with a version of "Texas Express", Billiard Congress of America (BCA) or World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) rules. The largest nine-ball tournaments are the independent US Open Nine-ball Championship and the
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