Billiard Games

Falling in the category of cue sports, billiard games were first invented in the 15th century. Billiard games are regarded as games of skill in which, players attempt to pocket balls by moving them on a table with the use of a cue. The billiard table is specially designed with a cloth layer on the surface. Depending on the version of billiard games, the table's edges will be with or without  pockets. Cue sports comprises of three distinct subdivisions; carom billiards, pool and snooker.

The first form of billiard games, carom billiard is played on a pocketless table. Here, the players try to obtain points, also known as “counts” by hitting one's own cue ball with the opponent's cue ball and any ball other than the cue ball on a single shot. This game is played in teams, doubles or single opponents. Equipment used in carom billiard include, carom billiards balls, cue stick and billiard table. The scoring rule of carom billiard games is that the player's cue ball must hit at least three cushions before striking the last ball. The slate is heated to a specific temperature so that the table cloth is kept free of moisture. It also helps the cue balls to bounce off the edges easily. Carom billiard games can also be subdivided into groups. These groups are namely, straight rail, cushion caroms, balkline, three cushion billiards and artistic billiards.

Pool is another form of billiard games, which is played on a six-pocket table. Pool is also known as pocket billiards. Equipment for pool differs from carom billiard; in that, the balls are smaller than carom billiard balls. Versions of pol include 8-ball pool and 9-ball pool. Object balls are either solid or striped and there is one cue ball. One player plays solid balls while other player is responsible for pocketing the striped balls. The objective of the game is to pocket all of one's own balls and finish with pocketing the black ball. The first player to finish pocketing all his balls, including the black ball at the end wins.

Snooker category of billiard games is similar to pool, played on a six-pocket table. The snooker balls are different from pool balls. Snooker balls consists of one white cue ball, fifteen red balls worth one point each and six balls of different colors. The colored balls are worth different points. The objective of the game is to score more points than the opponent by pocketing the red balls and the colored balls. The player to win a certain number of frames in a game is declared the winner.

Of the three flavors of billiard games, only pool is recognized as an Olympic sport since 2010. However, there are many ranking tournaments for snooker, like the World Championships, Welsh Open and Shanghai Masters.