billiards

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Indoor game played, normally by two players, with tapered poles (cues) and composition balls (one red, two white) on a rectangular table covered with a green, felt-like cloth (baize). The table has six pockets, one at each corner and in each of the long sides at the middle. Scoring strokes are made by potting the red ball, potting the opponent's ball, or potting another ball off one of these two. The cannon (when the cue ball hits the two other balls on the table) is another scoring stroke. In 1998 billiards received recognition from the International Olympic Committee as an Olympic sport, along with snooker, pool, and carom (or French) billiards.

Billiards is played in many different forms. The most popular is the three-ball game played on a standard English billiards table, which is approximately 3.66 m/12 ft by 1.83 m/6 ft in size.

Carom, played on a table without pockets, is popular in Europe. Another form is pool, popular in the USA and Britain. The World Professional Championship was instituted in 1870 and organized on a challenge basis. It was restored as an annual tournament in 1980.

Red and white are the national colours, derived from a 13th-century emblem bearing a white eagle on a red field. Effective date: 23 March 1956. >>