Jonathon Hardcastle asked:


Bars and recreation venues in rural or urban areas offer to their visitors the excitement and the sportsmanship of a famous table-played game, called pool or billiard. On the billiards table’s totally flat surface, pool game fans strike, with the use of a specially designed long wooden stick known as “cue stick,” colorful balls moving them around the table’s area. Pool games attract a variety of publics from around the world, who enjoy the exhilaration of calculating angles and estimating how many strikes it will take them to accomplish their winning goal.

Pool tables are mainly separated into two categories, called carom and pocket tables. In fact, the word “billiards” when standing alone refers to the carom games played on a table without pockets, as opposed to games played on pocket billiards which people recognize as “pools” or also known as “snooker” tables. In Britain and Ireland though, the word “billiards” denotes the “English billiard” exclusively, which is the version of the table with the ball pockets. The difference between the two types is that carom billiards tables do not have six openings four at each table corner and two at the middle of each of the table’s largest sides in which the pool player is called to direct the colorful balls on the surface of the table by striking each one of them, or more than one at a time, with a white ball. The white ball acts as the “mediator” between the cue stick’s point and the round surface of the colored ball the striker aims to hit. If the striker manages to hit the white ball with the right speed and from the right angle then it will in turn hit the colored one which will be directed to fall into one of the tables’ holes. Pool table fans generally refer to pocket billiard games, such as 8-ball, 9-ball, straight pool and one-pocket.

Found in many sizes and styles, billiards or pools are tables in a rectangular shape and are generally twice as long as they are wide. When someone refers to the number of a pool table’s foots this actually denotes its longer sides’ length. Mainly a function of space, the pool table’s length varies. English billiard tables, for example, are 12 feet long, while bars typically offer 7-foot tables. Pool halls tend to have 9-foot tables for more professional players, whereas the once commonly found 10-foot tables are now considered collectible items. Finally, the “felt” or “baize” is the cloth that covers the pool table’s exposed surface and he higher its quality the faster the balls run on its completely flat surface.

While the world “billiard” has presumably originated from the French word “billart,” which means “mace”-an implement that was the predecessor of the modern cue-the game did not remain constricted in Europe. Evolving from an outdoor to an indoor game, billiard became known as “pool,” which originates from “poolrooms” where people gambled off their money betting on horse races. Since billiard tables were commonly found in this type of venues, pools became a synonym of billiards and gained fanatic supporters in every continent.



Brittany

Josephine Thunder asked:


8-ball is the most popular billiard game in the world. It is so popular, that 8-ball pool is almost a synonym for billiards. However, 8-ball is only a part of a one big happy family of billiard games.

8-ball pool, 9-ball pool, snooker, one pocket, balkline are all cue sports games. They all share a rectangular cloth-covered table, a long cue stick, a set of balls and an ambition to score, but they differ in their rules, objects, and even their terminology.

Generally, billiard games divide into two types: pocket billiard games and carom billiard games. Pocket billiard games, usually referred to as pool games, are the type of billiard played on a table that has six pockets. In pocket billiard games, the players aspire to sink the balls into the table pockets, according to specific games rules.

Carom billiard games, on the other hand, are played on pocketless tables. Only three billiard balls are involved in the carom games. The purpose of the players in most carom games is to maneuver their cue ball so it will carom off the other two balls, again, according to the specific requirements of the game.

8-ball pool is a pocket billiard game. Other popular pocket billiard games include 9-ball pool, 14.1 continuous (formerly known as straight pool) and even snooker. Snooker is the most popular cue sports in the UK. Even though snooker is played on a pocketed pool table, it is not governed by the same association that administrates pocket billiard rules. Therefore, pocket billiard general rules do not apply to snooker.

The equipment used in snooker games is also different from the one used in pocket billiard tournaments. For example, the snooker table is a bit larger than the standard pool table plus its pockets are narrower. The terminology used in both billiard games is different as well. While pool players’ goal is to “pocket” the “object balls”, snooker players aim to “pot” the “red” or the “on-ball”.



Cathy

Josephine Thunder asked:


8-ball pool is one of the most popular games in America. It is played in pool halls, restaurants, private billiard rooms and on personal computers everywhere throughout the nation, as well as in other parts of the world. While the origins of billiards – the general name used to describe all indoor games played on a rectangular covered with felt table with a stick and a set of balls – stretches back to the 15th century, it was not until the late 18th century that the game we refer to as 8-ball pool, or simply pool had become a legitimate recreation.

First there was billiart. Actually, first there was the outdoor game called croquet used to be played the French upper classes during the 14th century. At this time, billiart was introduced as an indoor version of croquet. The green felt that covered the table meant to evoke the lawn on which it was played.

The billiard game was brought to America by the middle of the 19th century, no one knows exactly how. Back then, one pocket was the most popular billiard game followed by a game called four-ball. Later on, a game called straight, similar to the popular European billiard game was carombole game and played on a table with no pockets, was the favorite billiard game in America.

The most ancient version of modern pool game can be tracked back to the end of the 18th century. The game fifteen-ball pool used to be played with a set of 15 balls in poolrooms, which mainly acted as horse betting parlors. Fifteen-ball pool, which was later called straight pool, continuous pool or 14.1 continuous, was the most popular pool game for a long time. That, until the game of 8-ball was invented.

Michael Phelan, a legendary billiard player, the first American billiard author and the ancestor of American billiards, is the one who brought the pool games from the underground poolrooms into the light of day. By establishing the first billiard championship in America (and winning it too) as well as publishing the first set of billiard rules and pool table etiquette, Phelan made the pool and billiards the popular sports they are today.



Antonio