The origin of the game of billiards is unclear and much mythologized. There are dozens of fables that claim different times, different places and different reasons for the invention of the game, and there simply aren’t enough reliable records to determine which comes closest to the truth.

But, most likely, billiards grew out of the fifteenth century tradition of lawn bowling games, in which players rolled balls across lawns towards a target. Obstacles and hoops were added to create a game comparable to croquet.

When this game was translated to the indoors, it developed sticks with which to drive the balls, a raised table surface covered in green cloth to emulate the color of the lawn, and edges around the table to prevent the balls from dropping to the floor. The hoops disappeared, the targets became a series of pockets lined along the edges online prescription propecia of the table, and the object became to use one ball to knock the other, or others, into the pockets.

This was the game of billiards as it was popularized in the years of the fifteenth century and beyond, primarily in France and England, and all of the innovations that followed after were technological improvements on the accessories and techniques involved.

For example, the cue, which derives from the word queue, meaning “tail”, was originally an unwieldy, mace-like instrument sharply pointed on one end and needlessly bulky at the other. Refining it into a slender tool like we know today was due in no small part to a Frenchman named Minguad, a former solider of Napoleon imprisoned in the Bastille.

Somehow he Levitra managed to have a billiards table put into his cell, and spent most of his time practicing and studying the game. It was his idea to round the formerly sharp tip of the cue, making a wide variety of shots newly possible. Once he was released from prison, he created a stir in Paris with his new skills and tricks.

The enthusiasm for billiards also spread to England, where John Carr advanced the history of the game by innovating one of its most important modern aspects: the commercial one. Carr developed dozens of trick shots and built an impressive reputation on his skill.

He claimed that the secret of his success came from a very special kind of chalk he used to tip his cue. In his heartfelt desire to help improve the game of others, he began to sell his precious chalk, with lucrative results.

His business took a turn for the worse when a client ran out of “magic” chalk and discovered that ordinary chalk worked just as well – which sent Carr back to relying on his performance value. His tour through Europe displaying his skill in saloons and gambling halls, and collecting wagers from those who foolishly tried to beat him, led him to claim the dubious distinction of becoming one of the first true hustlers.

Billiards became well-known in America only well into the nineteenth century. Its popularity was largely due to Michael Phelan, who wrote books, devised rules, and formed one of the first companies to manufacture equipment for the game, now on its way to being called pool.

The new name referred to a collective bet, or ante, that was commonly placed on the games. Annual tournaments were established, and their participants won incredible fame, including cigarette cards with their names and pictures, and newspaper reports. At some times during the Civil War, pool results garnered more interest than war news.

What was once nothing more than a method for fifteenth century Europeans to entertain themselves at parties has developed into a far-reaching enterprise that prompted sociological and technological changes that would possibly not have developed otherwise.

Balls: The first billiard balls were made of ivory. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the game of billiards had become so popular that thousands of elephants were killed to obtain the much valued ivory from their tusks.

In 1866 John Wesley Hyatt accidentally discovered celluloid when he spilled a bottle of collodon in his workshop and found that the material congealed into a tough flexible film. Due to the highly brittle nature of the substance, balls would shatter when they hit each other. The solution to this challenge was the addition of camphor — a derivative of the laurel tree.

This addition made celluloid the first thermoplastic: a substance molded under heat and pressure into a shape it retains even after the heat and pressure have been removed. Celluloid went on to be used in the first flexible photographic film for still and motion pictures.

In 1906, Brunswick was still using ivory in the production of billiard balls. Ivory from elephant tusk grows in an annual ring, much like a tree. A blood vessel that goes through the center of the tusk can be seen as a black dot.

This dot becomes the center mark of the ball, and is the point where the ball is pinned when being turned. A ball must be turned perfectly in order to roll properly.

Sticks: On the average, a cue for American Pool weighs 19-20 ounces, but there are also cues in weight less than 18 ounces and more than 22 ounces. The qualitative cue consist of two parts fastened by a connecting unit – a joint which one part is screwed in another.

The shaft – the top part of the cue, and the thicker and decorated horizontal bar – bottom. There are also special variations of the cue as three parts when the horizontal bar has an additional joint approximately in the middle that enables the player to shorten cue for performance of special impacts. These are shots at which cue is held almost vertically (jump/break/masse).

Tables: Billiard table tops are slate covered with a sheet of felt. They must be as flat and smooth as possible for the most convenient play.

Author Bio: Jack R. Landry has played professional billiards for the last 19 years and written hundreds of articles about billiards and pool tables.

Contact Info:
Jack R. Landry
JackRLandry@gmail.com
http://www.PoolTables.com

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