Pool is a series of

cue sports Cue sports are a wide variety of Game of skill, games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a Baize, cloth-covered billiards table, table bounded by elastic bumpers known a ...

played on a

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, Pool (cue sports), pool, Russian pyramid, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface us ...

. The table has six pockets along the , into which balls are shot. "Pool billiards" is sometimes hyphenated and/or spelled with a singular "billiard". The WPA itself uses "pool-billiard" in its logo but "pool-billiards" in its legal notices. The organization compounds the words to result in an acronym of "WPA", "WPBA" having already been taken by the Women's Professional Billiards Association. Normal English grammar would not hyphenate here, and the term is actually a Germanism. A general rules booklet on pool games in general, including eight-ball, nine-ball and several others. Of the many different pool games, the most popular include:

eight-ball Eight-ball (also spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes, bigs and smalls, big ones and little ones, or rarely highs and lows) is a discipline of Pool (cue sports), pool played on a billiard tabl ...

, blackball,

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle o ...

ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "". Although the game has existed since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s as a ...

seven-ball Seven-ball is a pool game with rules similar to nine-ball, though it differs in two key ways: the game uses only seven as implied by its name, and play is restricted to particular pockets of the table. William D. Clayton is credited with the g ...

straight pool Straight pool, which is also called 14.1 continuous and 14.1 rack, is a Cue sports, cue sport in which two competing players attempt to as many s as possible without playing a . The game was the primary version of Pool (cue sports), pool play ...

one-pocket One-pocket is a pool game. Only one pocket for each player is used in this game, unlike other games played on a pool table where any can be used to score . The object of the game is to score points. A point is made when a player pockets any obj ...

, and

bank pool Bank pool is a pool game that has as its most fundamental requirement that all scoring shots in the game must be made by a called ball off a and into a called pocket. While the game has multiple variations, the predominant version through much ...

. Eight-ball is the most frequently played discipline of pool, and it is often thought of as synonymous with "pool". The generic term pocket billiards is sometimes also used, and favored by some pool-industry bodies, but is technically a broader classification, including games such as

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

Russian pyramid Russian pyramid, also known as Russian billiards (, ), is a form of billiards played on a large billiard table with narrow pockets. It is played across Russia and several former Soviet/Eastern Bloc countries. In the West, the game is known as p ...

, and kaisa, which are not referred to as pool games. There are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and

carom billiards Carom billiards, also called French billiards and sometimes carambole billiards, is the overarching title of a family of cue sports generally played on cloth-covered, billiard tables. In its simplest form, the object of the game is to score ...

, such as

American four-ball billiards Four-ball billiards or four-ball carom (often abbreviated to simply four-ball, and sometimes spelled 4-ball or fourball) is a carom billiards game, played on a pocketless table with four billiard balls, usually two red and two white, one of the ...

bottle pool Bottle pool (also known as bottle billiards) is a billiards game. It combines aspects of both carom and pocket billiards. Played on a standard pool table, the game utilizes three balls and a narrow-necked bottle called a . The bottle is trad ...

cowboy pool Cowboy pool (or simply cowboy) is a hybrid pool game combining elements of English billiards through an intermediary game, with more standard pocket billiards characteristics. The game employs four balls, the cue ball and three others, numbered ...

, and

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the UK and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team uses a diffe ...

Etymology

The etymology of "pool" is uncertain. The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' speculates that "pool" and other games with collective stakes is derived from the French ''poule'' (literally translated "hen"), in which the ''poule'' is the collected prize, originating from ''jeu de la poule,'' a game that is thought to have been played during the Middle Ages. Supposedly, participants would put an equal amount of money into a pot and throw stones at a live chicken, and the person who successfully hit the chicken first would win the pooled money. Alternatively the term could derive from the verb ''to pool'' in the sense of combining objects or stakes. The oldest use of the word "pool" to describe a billiards-like game was made in 1797 in a Virginia newspaper. The OED defines it as generally "any of various types 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

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

for most of the nineteenth through early twentieth century, ''pool'' referred specifically to the game of

life pool Life pool (also known as 3 lives Snooker) is a form of pocket billiards (pool) that was mainly played in the 19th century. Its rules were first recorded in 1819 simply as ''pool'', which remained its most common name among the British for about a ce ...

. Although skittle pool is played on a pocketless

table, the term ''pool'' later stuck to all new games of pocket billiards as the sport gained in popularity in the United States, and so outside the cue sports industry, which has long favored the more formal term ''pocket billiards'', the common name for the sport has remained ''pool''. The ''OxfordDictionaries.com'' definition no longer even provides the obsolete meaning found in the print edition, and refers only to the typical game "using two sets achof seven coloured and numbered balls ... with one black ball and a white cue ball" on a table with pockets.

History

With the exception of

, games typically called "pool" today are descended from two English games imported to the United States during the 19th century. The first was

which became

, essentially the same game but with an extra red to increase scoring opportunities. It was the most popular billiards game in the mid-19th century until dethroned by the carom game straight rail. American four-ball tournaments tried switching to carom tables in the 1870s but this did not save it from being doomed to obscurity; the last professional tournament was held in 1876.

Cowboy pool Cowboy pool (or simply cowboy) is a hybrid pool game combining elements of English billiards through an intermediary game, with more standard pocket billiards characteristics. The game employs four balls, the cue ball and three others, numbered ...

is a surviving member of this group of games. The second and more influential game was

pyramid pool Pyramid pool, or simply pyramids, is a form of Pool (cue sports), pool that was played mainly in the 19th century. It was one of several pool games that were popular at this time, and was forerunner to modern games such as eight-ball, Blackball ( ...

. By 1850 a variant called fifteen-ball pool became popular. Both games were supplanted by continuous pool in 1888, the immediate forerunner of

(1910). New games introduced at the turn of the 20th century include Kelly pool and

. The distinctive appearance of pool balls with their many colors and division between solid and striped balls came about by 1889. Prior to this, object balls were uniformly deep-red and differentiated only by numbers. English pyramid pool and

players were the first to adopt balls with different colors. The stripes were the last addition.

Equipment

Pool is played on a six pocket table. Modern pool tables generally range in size from , to . Under

World Pool-Billiard Association The World Pool Association (WPA) is the international Sport governing body, governing body for Pool (cue sports), pool (pocket billiards). It was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of represent ...

(WPA) official equipment specifications, pool balls weigh from and have a diameter of , plus or minus ."WPA Tournament Table & Equipment Specifications"
,

, November 2001. Modern coin-operated pool tables generally use one of three methods to distinguish and return the cue ball to the front of the table while the numbered balls return to an inaccessible receptacle until paid for again: the cue ball is larger and heavier than the other balls, or denser and heavier, or has a magnetic core. Modern

cue stick A cue stick (or simply cue, more specifically billiards cue, pool cue, or snooker cue) is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the . Cues are tapered stic ...

s are generally long for pool while cues prior to 1980 were designed for straight pool and had an average length of . By comparison, carom billiards cues are generally shorter with larger tips, and snooker cues longer with smaller tips.

Game types

Racked games

These are games descended from the early 19th century games of

and fifteen-ball pool which required balls to be racked due to the large number of them on the table. Of the other pyramid traditions of Continental Europe, only

survives.

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

, originally known as snooker's pool, can be considered a member of this family.

Rotation games

Rotation games require players to make legal contact with the lowest numbered ball on the table or a foul is called. The earliest rotation game, originally known as 61, started off as a variant of fifteen-ball pool during the mid-nineteenth century. The name "rotation" came from how the balls were placed around the table in its unracked offshoot

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. 61 has spawned many variations of its own such as American rotation,

, and Kelly pool. Of these, nine-ball is the most popular and the predominant professional game with ten-ball as the second-most prominent. There are many local and regional tours and tournaments that are contested with nine-ball. The

(WPA) publishes the world standardized rules. The European professional circuit has instituted rules changes to make it more difficult to achieve a legal break shot. The largest nine-ball tournaments are the US Open Nine-ball Championship and the WPA World Nine-ball Championship for men and women. A hotly contested event is the annual Mosconi Cup, which pits invitational European and U.S. teams against each other in one-on-one and nine-ball matches over a period of several days. The Mosconi Cup games are played under the more stringent European rules, as of 2007.

Straight pool

Also known as 14.1 continuous, this game originated as a slight modification of continuous pool, another offshoot of fifteen-ball pool. The shooter may attempt to shoot at any object ball on the table. The goal is to reach a set number of points determined by agreement before the game. One point is scored for each object ball pocketed where no is made. A typical game might require a player to score 100 points to win. In professional competition, straight pool is usually played to 125 points. Straight pool is a ' game, meaning the player must indicate the intended object ball and pocket on every shot.

Eight-ball

The most commonly played pool game is eight-ball, which appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is often thought of as synonymous with "pool". The game has numerous variations, mostly regional. It is the second most played professional pool game, after

, and for the last several decades ahead of

. The goal of eight-ball, which is played with a full rack of fifteen balls and the cue ball, is to claim a suit (commonly stripes or solids in the US, and reds or yellows in the UK), pocket all of them, then legally pocket the 8 ball, while denying one's opponent opportunities to do the same with their suit, and without sinking the 8 ball early by accident. In the United Kingdom the game is commonly played in pubs, and it is competitively played in leagues on both sides of the Atlantic. The most prestigious tournaments including the World Open are sponsored and sanctioned by the International Pool Tour. Rules vary widely from place to place (and between continents to such an extent that British-style eight-ball pool/blackball is properly regarded as a separate game in its own right). Pool halls in North America are increasingly settling upon the

International Standardized Rules. But tavern eight-ball (also known as ""), typically played on smaller, coin-operated tables and in a "winner keeps the table" manner, can differ significantly even between two venues in the same city. The growth of local, regional and national amateur leagues may alleviate this confusion eventually.

One-pocket

One-pocket owes its origins to 18th century ''cramp'' (handicapped) games. It is a strategic game for two players in which each player is assigned one of the corner pockets on the table. This is the only pocket into which that player can legally pocket balls. The first player to pocket the majority of the balls (8) into their pocket wins the game. The game requires far more defensive strategy than offensive strategy, much unlike eight-ball, nine-ball, or straight pool. Most times, accomplished players choose to position balls near their pocket instead of trying to actually pocket them. This allows them to control the game by forcing their opponent to be on defense instead of taking a low percentage shot that could result in a loss of game. These low percentage shots are known as "flyers" by one-pocket aficionados.

Bank pool

Bank pool can be played with a full rack (can be a ''long'' game), but is more typically played with nine balls (frequently called "nine-ball bank"). The balls are racked in nine-ball formation, but in no particular order. The object of the game is simple: to be the first player to bank five balls in any order (eight balls when played with a full rack). Penalties and fouls are similar to one pocket in that the player committing the foul must spot a ball for each foul. This must be done before the incoming player shoots.

Artistic pool

Artistic pool is the competitive discipline of trick shots inspired by its carom equivalent. Played on pool or snooker tables, players must complete a set number of shots of varying difficulty.

Hybrid carom or obstacle games

and

are games involving only a few balls which are placed at specific spots on the table. Elements of their games go back to the eighteenth century before balls needed to be racked. Bottle pool shares traits with pin billiards games such as

Danish pin billiards Danish billiards or ''keglebillard'', sometimes called Danish five-pin billiards, is the traditional cue sport of Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent ...

. Cowboy pool is a descendant of

. Kaisa is a similar game played with different equipment.

Governing bodies

As a competitive sport, pool is governed internationally by the

(WPA), which has multi-national, regional affiliates comprising the All Africa Pool Association (AAPA), Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU, including the Middle East),

Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is ...

(BCA, Canada and the US), Confederación Panamericana de Billar (CPB, Latin America and Caribbean), European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF, including Russia and the Near East), and Oceania Pocket Billiard Association (OPBA, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands). The WPA represents pool in the

World Confederation of Billiards Sports The World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS) is the international umbrella organization encompassing the major cue sports (billiards-type games), including carom billiards, pool games of several varieties, and snooker.cue sports Cue sports are a wide variety of Game of skill, games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a Baize, cloth-covered billiards table, table bounded by elastic bumpers known a ...

(including

and

) in the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

Notes

References

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