![]() Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, send it to. And if you get challenged to a game of snooker, be prepared for a very lengthy explanation of the rules. The other principal games are played on tables that have six pockets, one. Carom, or French, billiards is played with three balls on a table that has no pockets. The table and the cushioned rail bordering the table are topped with a feltlike tight-fitting cloth. If you're in the UK, it could mean the pocket-less version. Billiards is a category of games played on a billiard table. billiards, any of various games played on a rectangular table with a designated number of small balls and a long stick called a cue. The bottom line? If you're in a social setting and get challenged to a game of billiards, it's probably going to be pool. ![]() At 10 to 12 feet in length, a snooker table is also larger than a conventional pool surface (from 7 to 9 feet) and its pockets are an inch smaller in diameter. Since it's played with a cue and a cue ball, it's technically billiards, but snooker has a specific rule set involving 22 balls that need to be sunk with consideration given to each color's point value. You may wonder where this leaves snooker, an even more obscure game. In the UK, however, billiards can refer to English Billiards, a variation in which only three balls are used, with the player striking his cue ball and a red striker ball to move his opponent's cue ball. Typically, billiards can refer to any kind of tabletop game played with a cue stick and cue ball, while pool largely means a game with pockets. ![]() Some professional pool players still use the term billiards to describe what's more commonly known as pool. Because a collection of wagers is known as a pool, pocket billiards began to be associated with the term. The term billiards comes from the French words billart ("wooden stick") and bille ("ball").Īs the popularity of billiards grew, billiards tables became common sights in gambling parlors where horse racing wagers or other bets were being placed. The game evolved and expanded over time to include pocketed tables and shot-calling for points, enjoying wide popularity in America in the 1920s. Originally, the balls in billiards were driven by a mace with a large tip instead of a stick and through something similar to a croquet wick. When play moved indoors, green tables were used to simulate grass. What's the difference?Īccording to the Billiard Congress of America, billiards was developed out of a lawn game similar to croquet in the 15th century. Yet both terms seemingly refer to the same activity. If you're invited to join, most people will ask about a game of pool, not a game of billiards. There do not appear to be any standards to Bar Billiards rules and at least one other variation is in wide circulation that utilises 4 skittles instead of 3.īar Billiards is still popular in the South of England but has, unfortunately, lost a lot of its popularity due to the emergence of American 8 ball Pool.įor more information on the History of Bar Billiards, see the Online Guide to Traditional Games.Walk into a bar or private rec room and you're likely to encounter a pool table, with patrons and guests leaning over a green felt surface and striking a white cue ball with a cue stick in an effort to sink the rest of the balls into six pockets. Eventually, a governing body was formed called the All-England Bar Billiards Association which supervises the game across 18 counties, mainly in the South of England. The first pub league was created in Oxford in 1936 and shortly afterwards leagues sprang up in Reading, Canterbury and High Wycombe. Pubs seemed keen to buy tables and other manufacturers soon got in on the act. ![]() Points were scored by pocketing balls, scratching the cue ball, or by making caroms on two or three balls. Gill convinced the English manufacturer Jelks to make a version of the game which he called Bar Billiards. It was a direct extension of English Billiards. A Russian link is therefore a possibility but it seems more likely that the game was named so as to sound slightly exotic to the ears of West Europeans at the time. The game is played on a table that has exactly the same dimensions (3569 mm x 1778 mm) as a snooker table, and in many places both games are played on the same table. Beyond that assumed and mysterious connection, it isn't known how Bar Billiards originated but in the early 1930s an Englishman called David Gill observed a game called Russian Billiards (Billiard Russe) being played in Belgium. English Billiards can be played one-vs-one or two-vs-two with the singles version of the game being the most popular. (57 mm) in diameter and of the same weight. The similarity of Bar Billiards with Bagatelle, the pub game that was most popular for at least a century after 1770 is so evident that it seems highly likely that Bar Billiards is a derivative of Bagatelle via some lineage but that lineage is, at present, unknown. Billiard balls are 61.5 mm (2-7/16 in.) in diameter and weigh the same, between 205 and 220 g (7.23 7.75 oz.) Internationally standardized pool balls are 2.25 in. ![]()
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