8/5/2023 0 Comments Games for billiards room![]() ![]() There had never been any hard, fast or "official" rules for English billiards. The French word for tail is queue, which became "cue" in England. It was this alternate use of the "tail" of the mace which inspired the name of a new playing stick. Soon, players discovered that using the other end of the mace stick to tap the ball could give them much better results. Pushing the ball with the mace could not move the ball with the speed or accuracy this new game required. French, and in fact, all billiard tables on the Continent, from that time were made without pockets, while English billiard tables were all made with pockets.Īs English billiards evolved, greater skill was needed to propel the ball across the table. Thus, the beginning of the nineteenth century marks the final fork in the English and Continental versions of billiards. English billiards did make use of the pockets. But carom billiards was played on a table with no pockets. This new game included components of carom billiards, which had been developed and remained popular in France. Like the older games, this composite game was a game for two players, played with three balls, a white cue ball for each player and a single red target or object ball. At about that time, three ancient table games were combined to become the game of English billiards which was played during the Regency. The next major change to the game occurred at the turn of the nineteenth century. They were also more durable than wooden balls as they did not become dented, abraded or wear down as typically happened with wood. Though ivory balls were also susceptible to the effects of humidity, it was less severe with ivory than it was with wood. It was during the eighteenth century that the affluent began to have their billiard balls made of ivory. The original wooden balls were a problem, since the wood would expand or shrink unevenly, based on the level of humidity, causing them to go out of round and wobble as they rolled. The table bed was covered with green baize to provide some surface resistance for the rolling balls. The wooden rails around the table bed were padded to improve the rebound of the balls. The word may have derived from the French word for "ball," bille, or it may have evolved from another French word, billart or billette, which meant "stick."īy the turn of the eighteenth century, the English version of the game no longer included the king post or the hoop, so both had been removed from the billiard tables made in England, but the pockets were retained. The game came to be called billiards in France. The hoop and the king post were retained and the table bed was covered with a green cloth to simulate the grass on which the original game was played. The top of the table was surrounded with a set of rails to keep the balls on the table. Before the end of the century, someone had the idea of moving the game onto a table for the convenience of the players. This game was so popular that by the sixteenth century it had been moved indoors so that it could be played during inclement weather. Wooden balls were pushed around this field by a mace, a long wooden stick with a scoop-shaped block at the lower end. A hoop, or "pass" was located near the center of one half of the field, while a peg, or "king post" was located near the center of the other half of the field. This game was played on a grass field surrounded by a low fence to keep the balls on the field. Scholars of games and sports have determined that the game now known as billiards originated as a field game similar to croquet during the Middle Ages, probably in France. How billiards went from field to table, and how it was played during the Regency … And yet, even before the Regency began, many changes had already been made to this ancient game. It was only in the last year of the Regency that changes began to be made to the game which would eventually result in the form in which it is played today. ![]() The only similarity between modern-day pool or snooker and the game of billiards which was played during the Regency was that they are all played on a large table with long sticks. It required only three balls, no rack and a mace was used as often as a cue. The Regency version of the game was played very differently than the way it is played today. ![]()
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