Nowadays, 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.

The balls used to play on snooker tables were originally made of wood! These wooden balls were popular all the way through the sixteenth century. However, though they were marvelously crafted, these wooden balls were prone to warping and no matter how fine your snooker table was, a warped ball just didn’t lend itself to cultivating your expertise. In essence, what you had were excellent snooker tables with horrible balls. A terrible combination to be sure!

When the seventeenth century rolled around, those who made fine snooker tables knew they had to find a better ball. The answer, sadly for the elephant, was ivory snooker balls.

Although only the wealthiest members of society could afford them, and those whose passion for snooker exceeded financial sense, ivory snooker balls began to be found on my snooker tables the world over. By the mid to late eighteenth century, elephants had been hunted to the brink of extinction to satisfy our need to provide high quality balls for our snooker table.

A certain gentleman by the name of John Wesley Hyatt came to the rescue of the elephant and developed a nitrocellulose compound to replace ivory snooker and billiard balls in 1869.

However, while the new compound made for a beautiful round ball, there was a problem. If you hit the ball too hard, it could explode. Exploding balls were not conducive to any snooker table so it was back to the drawing board.

As every good snooker table who is worth his salt knows, the story has a happy ending. New balls made from Bakelite and phenolic resin were developed and could be produced with the finest finishes and were almost perfectly round. The key point was that they did not explode on impact which was a great relief to snooker table owners all over the world!

Now you can entertain your mates at your next private snooker tournament with the history and origin of the snooker ball!