"Rack (billiards) A rack (sometimes called a triangle) is a piece of equipment that is used to place billiard balls in their starting positions at the beginning of a pocket billiards game. ""Rack"" may also be used as a verb to describe the act of setting billiard balls in their starting positions (e.g. ""to rack the balls""), or as a noun to describe a set of balls that are in their starting positions (e.g. ""a rack of balls"", more often called a ""pack"" or a ""pyramid"" in British English). Traditional racks are in the form of triangular frames, usually made"
"balls tightly together. Most commonly it is a thin plastic sheet with diamond-shaped cut-outs that hold the balls that is placed on the table with the balls set on top of the rack. The rack is used to set up the ""break"" and removed before the ""break shot"" occurs. Billiards games are mostly played with a stick known as a cue. A cue is usually either a one piece tapered stick or a two piece stick divided in the middle by a joint of metal or phenolic resin. High quality cues are generally two pieces and are made of a"
"consist of a completely white cue ball, a second cue ball with typically a red or black dot on it (to aid in differentiation between the two cue balls), and a third, red ball. In some sets of balls, however, the second cue ball is solid yellow. Both types of ball sets are permitted in tournament play. Billiard balls have been made from many different materials throughout the history of the game, including clay, wood, ivory, plastics (including celluloid, Bakelite, crystalate, and phenolic resin, polyester and acrylic) and even steel. The dominant material from 1627 until the early- to mid-20th"
"Billiard ball A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played. Various particular ball properties such as hardness, friction coefficient and resilience are important to accuracy. Early balls were made of various materials, including wood and clay (the latter remaining in use well into the 20th century). Although affordable ox-bone balls were in common use in Europe, elephant ivory was favored since at least 1627 until the early 20th century; the earliest"
"the appeal of the game. After a transitional period where only the better players would use cues, the cue came to be the first choice of equipment. The demand for tables and other equipment was initially met in Europe by John Thurston and other furniture makers of the era. The early balls were made from wood and clay, but the rich preferred to use ivory. Early billiard games involved various pieces of additional equipment, including the ""arch"" (related to the croquet hoop), ""port"" (a different hoop) and ""king"" (a pin or skittle near the arch) in the 1770s, but other"
"third and fourth ball, all in the same hand. The magician will then vanish the balls, one at a time, until only one remains. Often, part of the routine involves the magician giving the impression that he is ""passing"" the balls through his body, in and out of his mouth, fingertips, and pockets. Sets of multiplying billiard balls are available from magicians' supply stores. The quality, size, material, and price of the balls can vary greatly and are dependent on the magician's personal taste. The balls are most frequently made of wood, plastic, or metal. From an article by Tom"
"hardwood, generally maple for billiards and ash for snooker. The end of the cue is of larger circumference and is intended to be gripped by a player's hand. The of the cue is of smaller circumference, usually tapering to an terminus called a (usually made of fiberglass or brass in better cues), where a rounded leather is affixed, flush with the ferrule, to make final contact with balls. The tip, in conjunction with chalk, can be used to impart spin to the cue ball when it is not hit in its center. Cheap cues are generally made of pine, low-grade"
"playing nine-ball. Snooker balls are smaller than American-style pool balls with a diameter of 52.5 mm ( in), and come in sets of 22 (15 reds, 6 """", and a cue ball). English billiard balls are the same size as snooker balls and come in sets of three balls (two cue balls and a red, an object ball). Other games, such as bumper pool, have custom ball sets. Billiard balls have been made from many different materials since the start of the game, including clay, bakelite, celluloid, crystallite, ivory, plastic, steel and wood. The dominant material from 1627 until the"
"century was ivory. The search for a substitute for ivory use was not for environmental concerns but based on economic motivation and fear of danger for elephant hunters. It was in part spurred on by a New York billiard table manufacturer who announced a prize of $10,000 for a substitute material. The first viable substitute was celluloid billiard balls, invented by John Wesley Hyatt in 1868, but the material was volatile and highly inflammable, sometimes exploding during manufacture. Carom billiard cues have specialized refinements making them different from the typical pool cue with which many people are more familiar. Such"
"Billiard table A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pocket billiards, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth (usually of a tightly-woven worsted wool called baize), and surrounded by vulcanized rubber cushions, with the whole elevated above the floor. More specific terms are used for specific sports, such as snooker table and pool table, and different-sized billiard balls are used on these table types. An obsolete term is billiard board,"
"(smaller than the squares on the board, or the game may be too easy), and usually made of wood. The game is played in several rounds, with two players (or potentially with two teams of players alternating turns or shots during their turn). During the first round, white pieces are placed on the first row, and black on the last. White opens the game. (To neutralize the advantage, the pie rule can be used, allowing the black player to choose to switch places after the first move; this is similar to the in the pocket billiards game nine-ball.) A player"
"early 20th century was ivory. The search for a substitute for ivory use was not for environmental concerns but based on economic motivation and fear of danger for elephant hunters. It was in part spurred on by a New York billiard table manufacturer who announced a prize of $10,000 for a substitute material. The first viable substitute was celluloid, invented by John Wesley Hyatt in 1868, but the material was volatile, sometimes exploding during manufacture and was highly flammable. There are many sizes and styles of pool and billiard tables. Generally, tables are rectangles twice as long as they are"
"and most commonly green or blue-green, like traditional billiard cloth, but available today, like the cloth, in many colours) and a binder (glue). Each manufacturer's brand has different qualities, which can significantly affect play. High humidity can also impair the effectiveness of chalk. Harder, drier compounds are generally considered superior by most players. There are two main varieties of billiard games: carom and pocket. The main carom billiards games are straight rail, balkline and especially three cushion billiards. All are played on a pocketless table with three balls; two cue balls and one object ball. In all, players shoot a"
"but occasionally the wood is covered or bonded with other materials including graphite, carbon fiber or fiberglass. An obsolete term for a cue, used from the 16th to early 19th centuries, is billiard stick. The forerunner of the cue was the , an implement similar to a light-weight golf club, with a foot that was generally used to shove rather than strike the cue ball. When the ball was against a , use of the mace was difficult (the foot would not fit under the edge of the cushion to strike the ball squarely), and by 1670 experienced players often"
"Billiard hall A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall (or parlour/parlor, room or club; sometimes compounded as poolhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments often serve alcohol and may have gaming machines, card games, darts, foosball and other games on the side. Pool and billiards developed as in indoor option for games such as croquet which were played on lawns. Dedicated venues began to appear in the 1800s, and by the early 1900s, billiard and pool halls were common in many countries; in 1915 there"
"ball, the ball is placed on the highest available spot. If there is no available spot, it is placed as close to its own spot as possible in a direct line between that spot and the top (black end) cushion, without touching another ball. If there is no room this side of the spot, it will be placed as close to the spot as possible in a straight line towards the bottom cushion, without touching another ball. Rack (billiards) A rack (sometimes called a triangle) is a piece of equipment that is used to place billiard balls in their starting"
"range in size from tabletop 1 × 1.6 ft to free-standing 2.5 × 5 ft models, and use scaled-down cues and balls. Billiard table A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pocket billiards, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth (usually of a tightly-woven worsted wool called baize), and surrounded by vulcanized rubber cushions, with the whole elevated above the floor. More specific terms are used for specific sports, such"
"Cue sports Cue sports (sometimes written cuesports), also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Historically, the umbrella term was billiards. While that familiar name is still employed by some as a generic label for all such games, the word's usage has splintered into more exclusive competing meanings in various parts of the world. For example, in British and Australian English, ""billiards"" usually refers"
"halls, pubs and home billiard rooms. To see who will be the starting player, both players simultaneously hit a cue ball up the table, bouncing it off the top cushion so that it returns to (the first quarter-length of the table). The player who gets his ball closer to the baulk cushion can now choose which cue ball he wants to use during the game and to break or let the opponent break. The red ball is placed on the at the of the table (same as the in snooker) and the first player begins by playing in-hand from behind"
"The game makes use of one or more balls that are generally of boxwood, but higher-quality balls are of medlar. The ball is struck with a long stick with a mallet- or foot-like end, similar to a croquet mallet or golf club, respectively; it is essentially a heavy version of the billiard (which eventually developed into the cue stick). Different variants of the game may have differing goals or targets (if any), ranging from croquet-like hoops to golf-like holes in the ground. There are four known named rules variations of the game: Jeu de mail The first known written record"
"is also slang for someone who sports a shaved head. In Polandball, numbered pool balls are used to denote aboriginal, prehistoric, or native peoples who do not have a flag of their own. Green 6-balls also denote extraterrestrials. Billiard ball A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played. Various particular ball properties such as hardness, friction coefficient and resilience are important to accuracy. Early balls were made of various materials, including"
"have a higher light sensitivity to green than to any other color, so green cloth permits play for longer periods of time without eye strain. Modern billiard balls are made from highly resilient plastics with a typical diameter of . They are significantly larger and heavier than their pocket billiards counterparts, ranging between with a typical weight of . While UMB, the International Olympic Committee-recognized world carom billiards authority, technically permits balls as small as , no major manufacturer produces such balls any longer, and the ""de facto"" standard is . The three standard balls in most carom billiards games"
"Baseball pocket billiards Baseball pocket billiards or baseball pool (sometimes, in context, referred to simply as baseball) is a pocket billiards (pool) game suitable for multiple players that borrows phraseology and even some aspects of form from the game of baseball. For instance, although baseball pool is played on a standard pool table, the 9 ball is known as the ""pitcher"", the table's where balls are racked is known as ""home plate"", and each team or player is afforded ""nine innings"" to score as many ""runs"" as possible. Baseball pocket billiards has been in existence since at least 1912, when"
"the 19th century). Inventors were challenged to come up with an alternative material that could be manufactured, with a US$10,000 prize being offered by a New York supplier, Phelan and Collender. (This would be worth approximately $ in 2019.) Although not the first artificial substance to be used for the balls (e.g. Sorel cement, invented in 1867, was marketed as an artificial ivory), John Wesley Hyatt invented a composition material in 1869 called nitrocellulose for billiard balls (US patent 50359, the first American patent for billiard balls). It is unclear if the cash prize was ever awarded, and there is"
"are played on tables with pockets (often as s not targets). These are variations using small disks instead of balls, and light-weight cue sticks. Cue sports Cue sports (sometimes written cuesports), also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Historically, the umbrella term was billiards. While that familiar name is still employed by some as a generic label for all such games, the word's"
"in a diamond-shaped configuration, with the 1 ball positioned at the front (toward the position of the breaking player) on the , and the 9 ball placed in the center. The physical rack used to position the balls is typically triangle-shaped, usually wood or plastic, and capable of holding all fifteen object balls, although diamond-shaped racks that hold only nine balls are sometimes used. The placement of the remaining balls is generally considered to be random. However, in some tournaments, the ball being to the lesser player must be one of the two balls placed behind the 1 ball at"
"of billiards for two or more players"" but goes on to note that the first specific meaning of ""a game in which each player uses a cue ball of a distinctive colour to pocket the balls of the other player(s) in a certain order, the winner taking all the stakes submitted at the start of the contest"" is now obsolete, and its other specific definitions are all for games that originate in the United States. In the United States, although the original ""pool"" game was played on a pocketless carom billiards table, the term later stuck to all new games"
"low-end tables (e.g. for children's recreation rooms) still include wood, especially medium-density fibreboard and plywood, as well as plastics and other synthetic materials under various trade names. Billiard cloth (sometimes erroneously called felt) is a specific type of cloth that covers the top of the table's ""playing area"". Both the rails and slate beds are covered with 21–24-ounce billiard cloth (although some less expensive 19-ounce cloths are available) which is most often green in colour (representing the grass of the original lawn games that billiards evolved from), and consists of either a woven wool or wool-nylon blend called baize. Most"
"no evidence suggesting he did in fact win it. By 1870 it was commercially branded Celluloid, the first industrial plastic. However, the nature of celluloid made it volatile in production, occasionally exploding, which ultimately made this early plastic impractical. Subsequently, to avoid the problem of celluloid instability, the industry experimented with various other synthetic materials for billiard balls such as Bakelite, Crystallite and other plastic compounds. The exacting requirements of the billiard ball are met today with balls cast from plastic materials that are strongly resistant to cracking and chipping. Currently Saluc, under the brand names Aramith and Brunswick Centennial,"
"billiards, for an audience of approximately 20,000 spectators. Baseball pocket billiards is played with 21 numbered . Since a standard set of pool balls is numbered 1 through 15, sets of balls numbered 16 through 21, known as ""baseball sets"", have been marketed specifically for the game, along with the oversized triangle racks needed for proper . The balls are racked at the end of a pool table, with the of the triangle centered over the (""home plate""). Viewed from the racker's vantage point, the 1-ball is placed at the triangle's apex, the 2-ball at the right corner, and the"
"The tables had no side rails, pockets, or cushions, but only contained holes for the balls to be potted. Every time that a pot was achieved, the ball would fall to the ground. The balls, which were made of ivory, were another difference from modern billiards. In the 19th century, the sport became quite popular among the British Armed Forces stationed in India. Billiards was a two-man game in its original form, which was played with 3 balls, of which two were cue balls, one for each player. This led to the formation of multi-player versions. New versions included life"
"numbered, and the is usually red. In kaisa, five balls are used: the yellow (called the ""kaisa"" in Finnish), two red object balls, and the two white cue balls (usually differentiated by one cue ball having a dot or other marking on it and each of which serves as an object ball for the opponent). Carom billiards balls are larger than pool balls, having a diameter of 61.5 mm ( in), and come as a set of two cue balls (one colored or marked) and an object ball (or two object balls in the case of the game four-ball). American-style"
"There are two white pegs one either side of the 100 hole with one black peg in front of the 200 hole. Earliest versions of the game used wooden mushrooms instead of pegs which have a thin curved stalk and a flattish rounded cap. These were normally placed in front of the 50 and 200 holes often with a fourth mushroom in front of the 100 hole. This version was often referred to as Russian billiards, probably named after the very similar French and Belgian game billiard russe which has a longer history, neither are to be confused with the"