No rack is used in most carom billiards games.Ī triangular rack is used to arrange the object balls at the beginning of the games of eight-ball, straight pool, and many others, while a diamond-shaped rack is used in nine-ball. The home and bar/pub market often calls for blends and even 100% synthetics, and has driven the demand for a wide array of color choices and even prints (e.g. The cloth is traditionally green, representing the lawn that the ancestral games were played on. The table is covered with a finely-woven cloth called baize, normally made of 100% worsted wool. and even smaller models are common in homes and bars/pubs. (2.7 by 1.4 m), although smaller 8 by 4 and 7 by 3.5 ft. (3.7 by 1.8 m).Ī standard pool table has a playing surface of 9 by 4.5 ft. Some games, such as English billiards are played on tables as large as 12 by 6 ft. (51 mm), and may feature a smaller, lighter cue ball.Ī standard carom billiard table has a playing surface of 2.84 by 1.42 m (9.3 by 4.7 ft.), though some American models are 10 by 5 ft. (57 mm) in diameter and of the same weight. Internationally standardized pool balls are 2.25 in. (Not all games make use of the suit markings/colorings, nor all ball in the set).īilliard 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.) Pool balls generally come in sets of 2 suits (usually stripes and solids, but reds and yellows sometimes) of 7 object balls each, an 8-ball and a cue ball. Some games call for 2 object balls and 2 cue balls. An exception is Russian billiards, in which points are scored for pocketing the cue ball.īilliard balls usually come as a set of 2 cue balls (one colored or marked) and 1 red object ball. The goal of most pool games is to use the cue ball to pocket object balls, sometimes from specific groups of balls, in a specific order, or in specific pockets. The object of the game is to score either a fixed number of points, or score the most points within a set time frame, determined at the start of the game. Pool in its modern form dates to the 1800s, but variants of pocket billiards tables are known from the earliest days of billiards. A few games such as English Billiards are hybrids, using carom balls on pocket tables, and snooker, a non-pool-based pocket game, also uses such tables.īilliards as a class of games dates back to the 15th century, and (like golf) evolved from lawn games similar to croquet. Skill at one type of billiards-family game is widely applicable to the other, but expertise usually requires at least a degree of specialization. The two types of billiards have developed into a wide array of specific games with widely divergent rules, and require equipment that differs in some key parameters. The pockets (one at each corner, and one in the center of each long rail) provide targets (or in some cases, hazards) for the balls. Pocket billiards, most commonly called 'pool', is a form of billiards usually equipped with sixteen balls (a cue ball and fifteen object balls), played on a pool table with six pockets built into the rails, splitting the cushions. Billiards as a general class of games is played with a stick called a cue which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiard table bounded by rubber cushions attached to the confining rails of the table.Ĭarom or carambole billiards ( often simply called 'billiards' in many varieties of non-British English) is a type of billiards in which the table is bounded completely by cusions, and in which (in most variants) three balls are used. Both carom billiards and pocket billiards ( pool) are cue sports.

Carom billiards wiki