Billiards Games

Billiards games are a wide assortment of games played by striking billiard balls on a cloth or felt-covered billiards table bounded by rubber cushions using a cue stick.

Eight-Ball, Nine-Ball and Snooker are probably the most popular billiards games. However, there are many more billiards variants.

Traditionally, the term billiards refers to all forms of billiards games. Though billiards is still used today as a generic label for all such games, the word's usage has broken into more exclusive, sometimes competing, meanings in various parts of the world.

In UK and Australia, "billiards" refers to only the game of English Billiards. Meanwhile, in the US and Canada, "billiards" is used to refer to a particular game or class of games, or to all cue games in general, depending upon dialect and context.

But whatever it is called whichever part of the globe you're in and whichever variation you're playing, the game is undoubtedly exciting and fun!

There are three major billiards subdivisions:

• Carom billiards - games played on tables without pockets, including games such as Balkline, Straight Rail, Cushion Caroms, Three-Cushion Billiards and Artistic Billiards

• Pool - games played on a table with six pockets, including games such as 3 Ball, 6 Ball, 8 Ball, 9 Ball, 10 Ball, Straight Rail, One-Pocket and Bank Pool.

• Snooker - technically a pocket billiards game similar to pool, but is classified separately because of its historic difference from other billiards games, as well as a distinct culture and terminology that differentiates its game play.

There are also billiards games that are played using disks in place of balls or obstacles and targets.

Billiards originated in the 15th century. Since then, it has had a long and colorful history.

It is said that the body of Mary, Queen of Scots was wrapped in her billiard table cover in 1586. Even Shakespeare mentioned billiards in many of his works, including the famous line "let's to billiards" in Antony and Cleopatra in 1606-07. Thomas Jefferson's had a hidden billiard room, as billiards was illegal in Virginia at that time.

It is said that billiards aficionados include many famous names like Mozart, Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette, Immanuel Kant, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, even George Washington.