Billiards is a game played with cues and balls on a cloth-covered table. There are two types: pocket billiards and carom billiards. Pool games are classified as cue sports. Different types of billiard games include cut throat, eight ball, nine ball, pocket billiards, straight billiards, and English billiards. Snooker is a popular cue sport in Britain and uses 22 balls. Straight billiards uses 15 balls, while nine ball uses only the nine lowest numbered balls. Eight ball billiards has many variations in its rules. Cut Throat is a three-person pool game played for fun.
Billiards describes games that are played using cues and balls on a rectangular, cloth-covered table. Pocket billiards games are played on a table with pockets and often use many balls, while carom billiards games are played on a table with no pockets and use only two object balls and a cue ball. Pool games are considered in the classification of cue sports or billiard games. Some types of billiard games are: cut throat, eight ball, nine ball, pocket billiards or straight billiards, and English billiards.
English snooker was the primary pool game played in Britain from 1770 to 1920. Snooker became more popular in Britain after 1920. Both snooker and English snooker are cue sports played on a six pocket table , but English billiards uses only three balls while snooker uses 22 balls. Billiards has become popular in France and the United States, as well as many other countries around the world.
Straight billiards, or continuous pocket billiards, uses 15 balls in the rack and the break must have the cue ball and two of the other balls, called object balls, go to the rail. If the three balls do not land on the track, two points are deducted and the opponent can choose to have the puzzle retried or accept the table for himself. When calling each stroke, both the ball and hole must be named.
In the game of billiards known as nine ball only the nine lowest numbered balls are used. Whoever sinks the nine ball on a legal throw wins. A player automatically loses nine balls with three fouls, or misses, in a row.
The game of eight ball billiards, also called American eight ball, has many variations in its rules. Some rules state that the winner is the one who sinks the eight ball into a break. Other rules hold that if the eight ball is sunk in a break, it is neither a win nor a loss. British pubs have different rules for the British eight ball and the white object balls are also different. In American bars, the cue ball is larger than the object balls, while in British pubs, the cue ball is smaller and lighter than the object balls.
Cut Throat is a three-person pool game. Cut Throat is often played for fun rather than as a game of skill. Each player has five balls. Player one has the numbers one through five, player two has the numbers six through ten, and player three has the numbers eleven through fifteen. The object of throat cutting is to sink other players’ balls and be the only player with a ball left on the table.
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