The Probert Encyclopaedia of Recreation

BILLIARDS

Billiards is a formerly well-known game, probably (like its name) of French origin, traditionally played with ivory balls, now plastic, on a flat table. The game of billiards was known in the 18th century, and evolved very quickly over the next one hundred years. Writing in 1768, the Encyclopaedia Britannica described billiards as 'an ingenious kind of game, played on a rectangular table, covered with green cloth, and played exactly level, with little ivory balls, which are driven by crooked sticks, made on purpose, into hazards or holes, on the edge and corners of the table, according to certain rules of the game.' The most striking evolution of the game during the next one hundred years was the replacement of the crooked sticks for straight, tapering sticks, which remain in use to this day.

Various modes of play, constituting many distinct games, were adopted, according to the tastes of the players, some being more in favour in one country, some in another. The common English billiard-table is a rectangle, about 12 feet by 6, covered with fine and very smooth green cloth, on a perfectly level bed of slate, and having a raised edge all round lined with cushions which are made tolerably firm and elastic, much of the skill of the game consisting in calculating the rebound of the balls in various directions from the cushions. Along the edges of the table are six semicircular holes arranged at regular intervals in the cushion, through which the balls are allowed to drop into small nets called pockets, under the sides of the table. The pockets are placed one at each corner of the table, and two opposite each other in the middle of the long sides. Each player is provided with a cue to strike the balls. The cue is a wooden rod from 4 or 5 to 6 or 8 feet long, rounded in form, and tapering gradually from 1.5 inch in diameter at the butt to .75 inch or less at the point, which is tipped with leather and rubbed with chalk to make the stroke smooth.

In the common game two players engage. Each has a white ball, and a red ball is common to the two. In beginning the game the red ball is placed on a spot near one end of the table, and equidistant from the corner pockets. A line drawn across the table at the other end marks off a space called baulk. In this space a semicircle is described, out of which the player, in commencing, must send his ball, either striking the red or giving his opponent a 'miss', that is, playing without striking the red ball, which scores one against him. When the game has commenced the player is at liberty to strike at either his opponent's ball or the red, and continues to play as long as he succeeds in scoring. The whole of an uninterrupted run of play is called a break. There are various modes of scoring. When a player strikes both balls with his own it is called a cannon, and counts two; when he pockets his own ball, after striking another, it is called a losing hazard, and counts two if made off his opponent's ball, three if off the red; when he pockets his opponent's ball it counts two; when he pockets the red, three. When the player fails to strike either ball, it scores one against him; if he goes into a pocket without striking, it scores three against him.

After the ordinary game the most favourite varieties were pyramids and pool. The former is so called from the position in which the balls are placed at the beginning of the game. It is played with fifteen balls; and the object of the players is to try who will pocket, or 'pot', the greatest number of balls.

Pool was also a game of 'potting', but is played somewhat differently. It is a favourite game with those who play for stakes, insomuch that it may be considered almost exclusively a gambling game. It embraces an indefinite number of players, each of whom is provided with a ball of a different colour from any of the others. They play in succession, and each tries to pot his opponent's ball. If he succeeds with one he goes on to the next; if he fails another player takes his turn, playing first on the ball of the last player. There are thus two points which a pool-player has to aim at: to pot as many balls as possible, and to keep his ball in a safe position relatively to that of the following player, as the player whose ball is potted has to pay the penalty prescribed by the game.

The common billiard-table used in France was smaller than the English, and has no pockets, the game being entirely a cannon game. This kind of table was very common in America after about 1900, and there a four-pocket table was also in use. The American term for cannon was 'carom' and in American play two red balls (or a red and a pink) and two white ones were commonly employed.
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