billiards

Being a thematic catalog of nodes about games which involve balls, sticks, and a felt-covered table. (Those that involve such things and are playable in public, at least.)

• Types of games:
  • Pool
  • Billiards
  • Snooker
• Equipment:
  • billiard
  • cue stick
  • cue ball
  • eight ball
• Terms:
  • called shot
  • spotted balls
  • long string
  • head string
  • foot string
  • head spot
  • foot spot
  • kitchen
  • break
  • carom
  • combination
  • scratch
  • anchor space
• Rules for specific games:
  • lag for break
  • seven ball
  • eight ball
  • nine ball
  • straight pool
  • cutthroat
  • one pocket courtesy of koreykruse
  • bank pool courtesy of koreykruse
• Related:
  • pool hall
  • Billiards Congress of America
  • behind the eight ball
  • magic eight ball

These are the most common table sizes one might find in a pool hall.

These include:

Six foot table - smallest size of regulation pool table, six feet from end to end.
Eight foot table - The table itself is eight feet from end to end
Super Eight - The table is eight feet from one inside rail to the other longways.
Nine foot - Barely larger than a Super Eight, nine feet from end to end.

Each of the above mentioned have 6 pockets, one at each corner and in the center of the longer sides.

The original game of Billiards is hardly seen in America, but is the origin for most "pool" games like eight ball, nine ball, and snooker.

A billiard table looks a lot like a pool table, except for the fact that it has no pockets. Also, there are only three balls: your ball, your opponent's ball, and an object ball. They're usually colored something like red, yellow, white.
Games are usually played to a predetermined number of points, depending on the skill of the players. Getting a point is no easy task. You must strike your ball into either of the other balls, bank your ball off of three cushions, and then strike the third ball. This is referred to as "three-cushion billiards" and is very hard for beginners, who often start off with "one-cushion billiards".

Billiards requires being able to hit your ball off of another ball and maintain control of it. To some extent, the same rules apply to this type of shot as a bank shot...your ball will come away at roughly the same angle it went in (with some variation due to friction and momentum loss).

Hitting one ball off of another to make a shot is called a "billiard shot". This shot is vital to any billiards-style game, including pocket-billiards (pool).

If you want to see exactly how hard this game is try setting up a shot with just the cue ball and one other ball, hit the cue off of the ball and try to control where it will end up. Then try and control where it will end up after the billiard shot plus three banks.

Bil"liards (?), n. [F. billiard billiards, OF. billart staff, cue form playing, fr. bille log. See Billet a stick.]

A game played with ivory balls on a cloth-covered, rectangular table, bounded by elastic cushions. The player seeks to impel his ball with his cue so that it shall either strike (carom upon) two other balls, or drive another ball into one of the pockets with which the table sometimes is furnished.

 

© Webster 1913.