Cue sports facts for kids
Cue sports are fun games played on a special table covered with cloth. This table has rubber edges called "cushions" to keep the balls from rolling off. Players use long sticks called "cues" to hit a special ball, the "cue ball." The goal is to make the cue ball hit other balls in different ways, depending on the game. In the past, all these games were often just called billiards. But today, "billiards" can mean different things in different places.
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Cue Sports
Cue sports are games where you use a stick, called a cue, to hit balls on a special table. The table is usually covered in green cloth and has bouncy rubber edges called cushions. The main idea is to use one ball, the "cue ball," to hit other balls. There are many different types of cue sports, each with its own rules and challenges.
Types of Cue Sports
There are a few main types of cue sports that people play around the world. Each type has different rules, tables, and numbers of balls.
Pool (Pocket Billiards)
Pool, also known as pocket billiards, is a very popular cue sport. In pool, the table has "pockets," which are holes cut into the cushions. The main goal is to use the cue ball to knock other balls into these pockets.
There are many different games you can play in pool. Some common ones include "eight-ball," "nine-ball," "cutthroat," and "killer." Pool games usually use either nine or fifteen colored balls, plus the white cue ball.
Carom Billiards
Carom billiards is different from pool because it uses a table without any pockets. This game is usually played with only three balls. The goal is to use your cue ball to hit one of the other two balls. Then, the cue ball must hit one or more of the table's cushions. Finally, it needs to hit the second of the other two balls.
Just like pool, there are several kinds of carom games. They mostly differ in how many cushions the cue ball must hit to score a point.
Snooker
Snooker is another cue sport that is similar to pool, but it has some big differences. Snooker is played on a very large table, usually about 6 feet wide and 12 feet long. The balls used in snooker are smaller than pool balls, and the pockets are also smaller. This makes snooker a very challenging game that requires a lot of skill.
Snooker also uses more balls than pool. It typically involves 22 balls: one white cue ball, 15 red balls, and 6 colored balls (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black). Players try to pot the red balls first, then the colored balls, to score points.
Images for kids
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Interior view of billiard hall, Toledo, Ohio
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Billiards in the 1620s was played with a port, a king pin, pockets, and maces.
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The sons of Louis, Grand Dauphin, playing the 'royal game of fortifications', an early form of obstacle billiards with similarities to modern miniature golf
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Illustration of a three-ball pocket billiards game in early 19th century Tübingen, Germany, using a table much longer than the modern type
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Pool table with equipment.
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Women playing on an elaborately decorated green-covered table in an early 1880s advertising poster.
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Aluminium billiard rack that is used for 8-ball, 9-ball, and straight pool.
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Man playing billiards with a cue and a woman with mace, from an illustration appearing in Michael Phelan's 1859 book, The Game of Billiards.
See also
In Spanish: Billar para niños
