After World War II, the games seemingly lost their appeal and billiard rooms were closed in rapid succession.īilliards were resurrected in the early 1960s, when the cult classic The Hustler, starring Paul Newman, was released, but interest declined again swiftly during the Vietnam War. According to some accounts, billiard results were featured more prominently in the news than war news during the US Civil War. In the 19th century, pool and billiard championships started to emerge and soon became immensely popular. Unsurprisingly, pool table production is quite limited to a small number of highly-specialized manufacturers. Later refinements were rather minimal compared to the developments of those times, and largely involved different construction techniques rather than significant changes to the tables or materials themselves. This weight helps keep the table stationary in addition to its great qualities when it comes to friction and density. A typical table weighs 450 pounds or more. It remains the preferred playing surface to this day, for manufacturers like DPT and A.E. At about the same time, chalk started to be used on the cues to increase friction, leather cue tips were invented, and slate was introduced as a superior table surface. On the contrary, friction was sought after in billiards technology. The roulette wheel is based on frictionless motion, enabling it to function in a way that provides equal chances of the ball landing in any of its 37 (European roulette) or 38 slots. For instance, mathematician Blaise Pascal accidentally invented the roulette wheel in 1965 in his attempts to come up with a perpetual motion machine. The inventiveness of those times led to the development of other games too. The two-to-one table ratio became the standard during the 18th century and inventions such as vulcanized rubber dramatically improved certain aspects of the game, in this case, a minimization of the loss of kinetic energy when the balls would rebound off the cushions. Since a perfect table requires a combination of perfect balance, friction and measurements, many different materials were experimented with. During that same time, the tables on which the game were played underwent significant improvements. Out of economic necessity, alternatives were sought and found in the late 19th century, spurred by the Industrial Revolution. The balls were predominantly made out of ivory for the lion’s share of the games’ history. The equipment used for playing these different variants has a rich history in its own right. The pockets were originally designed to form hazards rather than targets, but the obvious alternative purpose swiftly became the most commonly used objective, leading to variants such as 8-ball, snooker, English billiards, and many others. The development of carom - or carambole - billiards was the direct result of early croquet-like games, but would eventually lose popularity rapidly in favor of pocket billiards variants. It was not until around 1800 that the cue as we know it today became the most popular striking device of choice. Up until then, a mace was used to push the balls forward rather than actually striking them. Billiard was played virtually in every café in France by the early 18th century, while in England it was still mostly reserved for nobility. The game was further developed in France and rapidly gained popularity among the French aristocracy. However, the oldest known references to the game were made in 15th century England, while King Louis XI of France was reported to have owned the first indoor billiard table in history. Many different countries have been credited with the invention of billiards, but as is often the case with anything that happened a handful of centuries ago, nothing about its true origin can be said with complete certainty. Generally, all cue sports (often also collectivized under the name billiards sports) are thought to have developed from outdoor stick-and-lawn games such as golf and croquet. But how did our favorite sport emerge and develop? How did how the games become the ones they are today? In the US alone, about 35 million people play billiards every year, from pros to recreational players, according to Statista. Cue sports are to be found in many establishments nowadays and millions enjoy playing the different variants on a regular basis.
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