How is billiards connected to the invention of celluloid?

           Billiards was a fashionable sport in Britain during the Victorian era. Many of the rich people used fine billiard balls crafted out of ivory to flaunt their wealth. The game was a status symbol!

           A billiard ball has to have certain physical properties. It has to rebound properly and has to be of a certain density. Ivory was the best material for that. To make fine ivory balls, elephants across Asia and Africa were hunted down, which affected the species. The shortage of ivory increased as the number of elephants went down. This created a crisis; finely crafted billiard balls became a rarity.

           People soon began their search for a worthy substitute for ivory. In fact, a billiard-ball manufacturer from New York offered 10,000 dollars to the person who could create one. John Wesley Hyatt won the prize. He made celluloid, a semi-synthetic polymer by modifying cellulose. Alexander Parkes was the one who managed to produce the first material that resembled ivory. He made a substance called Parkesine, but it was not a commercial success.

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