The balls used to play on snooker tables were originally made of wood!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!

Snooker is a Billiards style game enjoyed by millions of people around the World. It is another form of a billiard game that was thought to be created in the late 19th century. The game is played with a cue ball and 15 red balls that are worth one point each; there are also six different balls with different colors that will be used during the game of snooker.

This game was thought to come about when the British officers in India played it, starting with the regular game of billiards and modifying it to the game of snooker. The name of the game came about when an inexperienced player made a bad shot he was called a snooker.

To play the game of snooker you score points for the balls that you hit in, in order to win you need to score the most points in the frames that are played.It’s just a game of skill and being able to pocket the most points in a frame and in your turn. You do so by controlling your stroking speed and planning your shots ahead just like in any type of pool game you play. Also in snooker you should worry about aiming the ball too, with any type of skilled game it takes practice to get better at. Snooker is no exception to this rule; if you practice you will surely become a better player of the game of snooker.

Nowadays the game is played in Britain and Asia, not so much in the United States. But it is a challenging game to try, so if you get a chance at playing the game of snooker you should try it. If nothing else then to say that you’ve tried the game that isn’t that popular anymore. So good luck in playing the game of snooker!