The game of billiards is so old that no one can say when it began. There are some authorities who claim that it was played in ancient Egypt. The Greeks knew the game as long ago as 400 B.C.
The earliest recorded mention of billiards goes back to 1429 A.D in France. Louis XI, the King of France from 1461 to 1483 A.D, is reported to have had a billiards table. The first recorded public billiards room in England was the Piazza Covent Garden, London, in the early part of the 19th century. The first description of billiards in English is to be found in a book called Compleat Gamester by Charles Cotton, published in 1674.
About the year 1800, the game had largely assumed the modern form. In 1807, the first English book written on this subject was published in England. The billiards it describes is very much like the billiards we know today. The world professional championship for this game was instituted in 1870, and organized on challenge basis. This was restored as an annual tournament since 1980.
How is this game played? The game of billiards is played with three balls (two white and one red) on a table. The player’s object is to score caroms by driving one of the white balls through the other two balls. One carom gets him one point.
The standard table used for this game is 10 ft (305 cm) long, 5 ft (152 cm) wide and 2 ft 7 in (78.8 cm) high. The table is marked with three spots — one near its head, other at its centre and one near its foot.
To begin the play, each player chooses one of the white balls to use as a cue ball throughout the game. The red ball is spotted on the foot spot, the white on the head spot and the first player’s cue ball within six inches directly to either side of the white object ball. The cue ball must contact the red ball first on the break (first) shot. On subsequent shots either red or white may be the first ball hit. When a player fails to score, he yields to his opponent, who plays the balls as they have been left.
If the cue ball is knocked off the table, the striker loses a point. The ball is respotted and his opponent takes over the play. If an object ball leaves the table, it is respotted with no penalty other than loss of turn if no score was made. If a score was made before the ball left the table, the ball is respotted and the striker continues to play.
If all balls are knocked off the table, it is a foul and this result in loss of one point and turn at play. The balls are respotted as at the beginning of the game and the opponent makes the break shot.
A game is usually continued until one player scores an agreed number of points, which are often 50.