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Cue sports

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Pool table with cue ball, object balls, cue stick, and rack

Introduction and brief history

The term billiards refers to a group of games where balls are struck with a cue to score points, or knock balls into a pocket. The term is also commonly used to refer to a table with no pockets, where points are usually scored by making contact with certain balls. The term caroms, or carrom billiards is another term for a billiard game with no pockets.

The game is generally regarded to have evolved from outdoor stick and balls games some of which evolved into indoor games (Stein & Rubino). Billiard cloth is typically green which reflects its origin (Shamos.)

The word pool generally refers to a pocket billiards game such as 8-ball, ,9-ball, or straight pool. The word pool comes from poolrooms, where people gambled off track on horse races. They were called poolrooms as money was "pooled" to determine the odds. These rooms commonly provided billiard tables, so by association, pool became synomous with billiards. The terms pool, and pocket billiards are synonymous.

Brief Glossary

Bank - Short for bank shot where the cue ball contacts a ball, the ball hits into a rail, and then that ball is pocketed

Cue - Short for either cue ball, or pool cue.

Cue Ball - A usually white ball. In most games the players start each shot by hitting their pool cue into the cue ball in an attempt to score points, or pocket balls

Cue Stick - A cue stick is usually around 5 ft. long which can be easily gripped, and has a tip which is not only cushions the impact, but allows for spin to be transfered to the cue ball.

Pocket - An opening in a table balls are shot into. Also used as a verb to describe the act of a ball being sent into a pocket

Pot - See sink

Sink - Same as the word pocket used as a verb

Kick Shot - Like a bank shot, except the cue is made to contact the rail first, and then strike the object ball. Some people use the term bank shot for this shot as well.

Styles of Games

As mentioned above there are two main styles of billiard games, carom and pocket. The most popular pocket games are 8-ball, 9-ball, and snooker. In 8-ball and 9-ball the object is to sink a designated ball to win. In 8-ball you must pocket, a group of balls, either the solids or the stripes before you can pocket the eight for the win. In 9-ball, you must shoot the balls in order from one through nine. In snooker, you score points by alternating shooting red balls, and numbered balls.

The most popular billiard games are probably straight billiards and three cushion. Both require you to shoot your cue ball such that it makes contact with your opponent's cue ball, and the red ball. The best players developed the skill to drive both balls into a corner and were able to score large numbers of consecutive points once the balls were in the corner. Changes were made to the rules to create balklines and the player had to drive a ball past these lines after so many shots. A more elegant solution was three cushion which requires that besides making contact with the two balls, you cause your cue ball to contact three rails. This is difficult enough that even the best players can only manage to average a few points per turn.

Pool in America

In America, the most commonly played game is 8-ball. There are 15 balls, 8 of which are solid colored, and 8 of which have a colored stripe. The players use a single (usually white) cue ball to pocket balls. One player has solids, the other stripes. A player must make the 8-ball last to win the game. See the rules for 8-ball below. The table is usually 7 ft., 8 ft., or 9 ft. long, and has 3 pockets on each side. This games is most often played on coin operated tables that are 7 ft long. The second most common game is 9-ball. In both these no points are scored. The winner is the player who legally pockets the game winning ball. 9-ball is the current game which is played to determine the US champion in the yearly US Open event. There are also a number of prestegious professional events held yearly.

Championship Pool

9-ball is the championship game in the US, and is played on 9 ft. tables. The US Open run by the Billiard Congress of America, or BCA plays 9-ball to determine a champion. A number of prestigious professional pool tournaments are played annually, and these are usually 9-ball tournaments.

The World Pool Association, or WPA holds an annual 9-ball tournament to determine a world 9-ball champion.

In many European countries snooker and carom billiards events are held to determine champions in those events.


Billiard games

Carom Billiards

Pocket Billiards

Other variants


More information

  • BCA Hall of Fame
  • History of Billiards
  • Pool Hustling
  • Byrne, Robert. 1998. Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards. ISBN 0156005549.
  • Stein, Victor & Rubino, Paul. The Billiard Encylopedia - An Illustrated History of the Sport (2nd ed.) Blue Book Publications. ISBN 1-886768-06-4
  • Shamos, Mike. 1991. Pool. Mallard Press. ISBN 0-7924-5310-7.
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