BIlliards

BILLIARD

I INTRODUCTION

Billiards, family of games played on rectangular tables twice as long as they are wide, with balls propelled by tapered, leather-tipped rods called cues. There are a variety of popular forms of billiards, which dates back at least to the 14th century.

 

II

BASIC PLAY

Billiards is played on a specially designed surface referred to as a table. Lining the raised sides of the table are rubber cushions from which the balls rebound when struck. Tables range in size from 0.9 to 1.8 m (3 to 6 ft) wide and from 1.8 to 3.6 m (6 to 12 ft) long. The level table surface, called the bed, is most often made of slate and is covered with a finely woven fabric, usually green in color. A typical cue is 145 cm (57 in) long, weighs 538 g (19 oz), and has a tip diameter of 1.2 cm (0.5 in). Balls, once made of ivory, are now composed of a hard compound, usually a cast phenolic resin, and range in size from about 5 cm (2 in) to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter. The white ball, which the player is allowed to strike with the tip of the cue, is called the cue ball. Other balls, which are usually colored, are called object balls.

Two styles of billiards play are most common. One requires tables with openings, called pockets, at the corners and at the midpoints of the long sides. The other requires tables without openings. On a pocket table, the goal is to drive object balls into pockets with the cue ball. On a pocketless table, points are scored by caroming (bouncing) the cue ball off one ball into another, sometimes requiring that the cue ball make contact with a cushion. Carom games on pocketless tables are most popular in continental Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Pocket games, which include pool, predominate in English-speaking countries.

The international governing body of billiards is the World Confederation of Billiard Sports, located in Basel, Switzerland. The ruling body of the sport in the United States is the Billiard Congress of America, with headquarters in Colorado City, Colorado. In the United States billiards is one of the most popular participant sports.

III

TYPES OF GAMES

As billiards developed over the centuries, various types of games emerged and gained popularity. Some of the varieties that continue to be played by large numbers of people are carom billiards, pool, and snooker. Pool is usually played by two players, but some games allow more and team play (such as two-on-two) is also possible.

A

Carom Billiards

Carom billiards is usually played on a pocketless table measuring 1.5 by 3 m (5 by 10 ft), using two cue balls (one for each player) and one or two red object balls. Like all billiards games, carom billiards begins with a break, in which the balls are grouped together at one end and the player going first breaks them apart by hitting the cue ball into them from the other end. The simplest version of carom, called straight, or free, billiards, is the most widely played; a point is scored by caroming the cue ball from one object ball to another. More difficult are cushion caroms, in which the cue ball must come into contact with one or more cushions before completing the required carom (hitting the second ball). Balkline is another difficult game, in which lines drawn on the table impose certain restrictions. Most difficult is three-cushion billiards, in which the cue ball must come into contact with three or more cushions and one object ball before contacting the second ball. The cue ball can hit the cushions and the first object ball in any order, as long as all are struck before contacting the second ball.

Straight billiards, still popular in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, lost popularity along with balkline in the United States before World War II (1939-1945). Straight billiards was replaced by three-cushion billiards. Balkline and three-cushion were dominated from 1910 to 1952 by three Americans, Jake Schaefer, Jr., Welker Cochran, and Willie Hoppe. Allen Gilbert was the leading American player from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. San Chun Lee, an American who immigrated from South Korea, won the U.S. three-cushion championship 12 straight times beginning in 1990 and was world champion in 1993. Internationally, Raymond Ceulemans of Belgium dominated the three-cushion game from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, winning more than 140 national and international billiards titles. He won the 2001 world title at the age of 64.

B

Pool

Pool, sometimes called pocket billiards, is the most popular style of play in the United States and is played in many other countries as well. A pool table is typically smaller than other types of billiards tables and has six pockets. The most widely played pool games are eight ball, nine ball, rotation, and straight pool. The most successful tournament players in the first half of the 20th century, Americans Ralph Greenleaf and Willie Mosconi, were noted mainly as straight pool players. Also called 14.1 continuous, a straight pool player tries to pocket balls consecutively in any order until missing. When a player pockets the 14th ball, the 15th ball is then left on the table while the other 14 are racked, and the player then attempts to sink the 15th ball and keep going. After a miss, the other player takes over. Each ball counts as one point, with an agreed upon point total (such as 100) required to win the game. In rotation, players must hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table first to make a legal shot, then any ball may be pocketed. Balls are valued by their number (an eight ball is worth eight points) and the first to make an agreed-upon point total wins.

Nine ball is a game similar to rotation that has more appeal for a mass audience than straight pool (which requires a delicate touch and subtle maneuvering). Nine ball became almost the exclusive choice for professional tournaments beginning in the 1970s. Nine numbered balls are used in the game. The cue ball must contact the lowest-numbered ball first and then sink a ball; the player continues to shoot until he or she fails to hit the lowest-numbered ball first or does not sink a ball. Pocketing the nine ball, which can even happen on the first shot, wins the game. This form of pool is also a popular choice for televised tournaments.

Among amateurs—who typically play in public rooms, private clubs, at home, and on the coin-operated tavern tables that became widely popular in the 1970s—eight ball is by far the most popular game. Fifteen consecutively numbered balls are used, divided into the balls numbered 1 through 7 (often called solids, because of their coloring) and those numbered 9 through 15 (stripes). The first ball sunk after the break determines which group of balls each player (or team) will target. To win, a player must pocket all the balls in his or her assigned group, followed by the 8 ball. Accidentally pocketing the 8 ball before the end of the game results in an automatic loss.

C

Snooker

Snooker is the most popular billiards game in Britain and the countries that were once part of the British Empire. The typical snooker table is 2 by 4 m (6 by 12 ft) and has six narrow pockets with rounded openings. Twenty-two balls are used: 15 red balls, 6 balls of various colors (in the United States these balls are numbered 2 through 7), and 1 cue ball. Players score points by pocketing red balls and colored balls alternately. When pocketed, the red balls remain out of play, while the other balls are returned to the table to assigned spots. When the reds are gone, the colored balls are pocketed in numerical order. Red balls are worth 1 point, the others are worth varying amounts depending on their color (or number). A player also scores points when an opponent fails to hit balls in the proper sequence.

One of the most important snooker players in history was Joe Davis of England, who retired in 1946 after dominating the game for 20 years. He made runs of 100 points or more 687 times. This record was later broken by Australia's Horace Lindrum, whose uncle Walter Lindrum was also a world-class billiards player. The most successful players in recent years include Ireland’s Ken Doherty, Scotland’s Stephen Hendry, and England’s Steve Davis, Jimmy White, and Mark Williams.

IV

HISTORY

Billiards can be traced back to the 14th century, beginning as an outdoor game played on the ground with balls and sticks. The game was eventually brought indoors. The first reference to a billiard table appears in 1470, when King Louis XI of France purchased one. The game became so popular in royal circles that Mary, Queen of Scots, while awaiting execution in 1586, complained of being deprived of her billiard table. The game was quite popular in public rooms and inns as well. In 1591 English poet Edmund Spenser denounced “balyards” as a “thriftles” pastime.

The first books containing instructions for playing were written in the 17th century in England and France. At that time the cue ball was pushed by a wooden implement called a mace, the blunt end of which rested on the table. A small arch on the table was the target. In the course of the 18th century the arch yielded to pockets, and the mace gave way to the cue, the narrow end of which was supported by one hand. The English settled on a style of play, later called English billiards, combining pocketing and caroms; it was popular until the 1930s. The French concentrated on caroms only and by the mid-19th century were making tables without pockets.

Billiards evolved as a game of precision and artistry during the first third of the 19th century, when a series of technical advances were made: the invention of the leather cue tip, the use of chalk as a means of increasing friction between the cue tip and the cue ball, and the introduction of slate for table beds and rubber for cushions.

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