English billiards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
English billiards, called billiards[1] in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as the "English game", the "all-in game" and the "common game".[2]
The game is for two players or teams. Two cue balls (originally both white, but more recently one white, one yellow) and a red object ball are used. Each player or team uses a different cue ball; where both cue balls are white, one has a distinguishing mark (usually a black dot).
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[edit] History
English billiards was originally called the "winning and losing carambole game", after the three predecessor billiards games, "the winning game", "the losing game" and "the carambole game" (an early form of straight rail), that combined to form it.[2]
[edit] Origins
The winning game was played with two white balls, and was a 12-point contest. To start, the player who could strike a ball at one end of the table and get the ball to come to rest nearest the opposite cushion without lying against it earned the right to shoot for points first. This is the origin of the modern custom of "stringing" (or "lagging."). A player who pocketed the opponent's ball scored two points, as is still the case in modern billiards.Fouls (or faults): A player missing the opponent's ball added one point to his opponent's total; the shooter conceded two points if that player's own ball (then acting as the cue ball) went into a pocket after striking the opponent's ball; and the player conceded three points if the cue ball was pocketed without even hitting the opponent's ball. These rules continued to exist in English billiards until 1983, when a standard two points for all fouls was introduced.
By contrast, in the losing game a player could only score (2 points) by pocketing the cue ball through a carom off the opponent's ball. "Winning hazard" and "losing hazard" are terms still mentioned in the official rules for these two fundamental shot types, although "pot" and "in-off" have become the colloquial terms for them in British English.
The final element was the cannon (or carom) shot, which came from carom or carambole billiards, a three-ball variant popular in France at the time. The carambole game added a red object ball to the two white cue balls, with the object being to carom off both the red and the opponent's ball on a single shot, earning 2 points.
The three ancestral games had their heyday in 1770s England, but had combined into English billiards, with 16-point score total, by approximately 1800.[2] The skill required in playing these games helped retire the mace in favour of the cue. Gradually, the French (who also adopted the cue) made their tables without pockets, while the English retained the pockets, causing the final bifurcation of English and Continental billiards.
There are a number of pocket billiard games directly descended from English billiards, including bull dog, scratch pool, thirty-one pool and thirty-eight. The last of these gave rise to the more well-known game cowboy pool.[2][3] English Billiards was virtually unknown in the United States until 1913, when Melbourn Inman visited the U.S. and played the game against Willie Hoppe. By 1915 the game had become rather popular, prompting billiard hall proprietors to increase the number of snooker tables in their establishments.[4]
[edit] As a sport
The first governing body of the game, the English Billiards Association, was formed in the UK in 1885, a period that saw a number of sporting bodies founded across the British sporting world.[5] By the mid-20th century, the principal sanctioning body was the Billiards Association and Control Council (later the Billiards and Snooker Control Council).
In the 19th century and up through the mid-1950s, a common way for championship titles to change hands was by a challenge match. A challenge was issued to a championship title holder accompanied by stake money ("acclamation") held by a third party. Up until the first organised professional tournament in 1870, all English billiards champions were decided by challenge[2].
The first champion was Jonathan Kentfield, who held the title from 1820-1849, losing it to John Roberts Sr. after Kentfield refused his challenge. Roberts' reign began in 1849, but he lost to William Cook who beat him in 1870. That year also marks the time of first English Billiards challenge match held in the United States[2].
From 1870 to 1983 the champions were: John Roberts, Jr. (billiards), (1870, 1871, 1875-77, 1885); Joseph Bennett, (1870, 1880-81); Charles Dawson, (1899-1900, 1901, 1903); H.W. Stevenson, (1901, 1909-11); Melbourne Inman, (1908-09, 1912-19); Willie Smith, (1920, 1923); Tom Newman, (1921-22, 1924-27); Joe Davis, (1928-32); Walter Lindrum, (1933-34); Clark McConachy, (1951); Rex Williams, (1968-76, 1982-83); and Fred Davis, (1980)[2].
Over the course of the 20th century, English billiards has been increasingly superseded by snooker, which is played on the same table, as the favoured competitive spectator cue sport in the United Kingdom. However, because of the "in-off" scoring option, ball control (including for snooker) can be enhanced after much solo practice. A common exercise is to hit the object ball from the "D", go in-off into the centre pocket while the object ball hits the top cushion and returns to the same position halfway down the table. A highly skilled player can repeat the shot over and over, except in competition where the sequence run is limited, because it constitutes a nurse shot.
[edit] Rules
[edit] Beginning the game
First the players 'string'; this is done by both players simultaneously hitting a cue ball up the table hitting the top cushion and coming back into baulk (the first quarter length of the table). The player who gets their ball closest to the baulk cushion can now choose which cue ball he wants to use during the game and to break or let the opponent break.
The red ball is placed on the 'spot' (the black spot in snooker) and the first player begins by playing in-hand from the "D" behind the baulk line. The other cue ball remains off the table until the opponent's first turn, when he plays in hand from the "D".
The idea is to leave the balls safe by creating either a double baulk (both object balls in baulk), or the red in baulk with the cue-ball tight on the top side cushion.
[edit] Scoring
Points are awarded as follows:
- Cannon – striking the cue ball so that it hits, in any order, the other cue ball and the red ball on the same shot): 2 points.
- Winning hazard on (potting, in snooker terms) the red – striking the red ball with one's cue ball so that the red enters a pocket): 3 points; or
a winning hazard on the white – striking the other cue ball with one's cue ball so that the other cue ball enters a pocket): 2 points.
- Losing hazard (in-off in snooker terms) – striking one's cue ball so that it hits another ball and then enters a pocket): 3 points if the red ball was hit first; 2 points if the other cue ball was hit first; 2 points if the red and the other cue ball are hit simultaneously.
Combinations of the above may all be scored on the same shot. The most that can be scored in a single shot is therefore 10 – the red and the other cue ball are both potted via a cannon, and the cue ball is also potted, making a losing hazard off the red.
Winning is achieved by a player reaching a fixed number of points, determined at the start of the game, e.g. first to 300 points or by a timed game.
[edit] Other rules
If the red is potted it is respotted on the 'spot'. After the red has been potted twice off the spot without a cannon or in-off, it is respotted on the middle spot. If the middle spot is occupied, it goes on the pyramid spot (the pink spot in snooker). If both the middle and pyramid spots are occupied, it goes back on the spot. When potted from the middle or pyramid spot it returns to the spot at the top of the table.
After an in-off, play continues from in-hand from the "D". When playing from in-hand, a striker must touch a ball or cushion out of baulk before striking a ball in baulk.
If playing from in-hand and all balls on the table are in baulk, and contact is not made with any ball, this is a miss; 2 points are awarded to the opponent, who must play from where the balls have come to rest.
Only 15 hazards in a row may be played, after which a cannon is needed to continue the break. If only the red ball is on the table at the start of the break (meaning a cannon cannot be made), then after 15 hazards the opponent's ball must be replaced on the "brown spot". It becomes a "line ball" and may not be played directly from baulk.
If the cue ball is touching an object ball, then the balls must be respotted: red on its spot and opponent's ball in the centre spot, with the striker to play from in-hand.
[edit] Fouls
If a foul occurs, two points are awarded to the opposing player who has the choice of playing from where the balls lie or they can be respotted.
There are a few different ways a foul can occur:
- By playing the opponent's ball
- Making a ball jump off the table
- Missing an object ball
- Double hits or push shots
- By jumping over an object ball
- Playing a sixteenth consecutive hazard or seventy-sixth consecutive cannon
- When in-hand, not striking a ball or cushion out-of-baulk before hitting a ball in baulk.
[edit] References
- ^ Everton, Clive (1986). The History of Snooker and Billiards (rev. ver. of The Story of Billiards and Snooker, 1979 ed.). Haywards Heath, UK: Partridge Pr. ISBN 1-8522-5013-5. Serves as a good example; the book refers to English billiards simply as "billiards", from cover to cover
- ^ a b c d e f g Shamos, Mike (1999). The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. New York: Lyons Press. pp. 46, 61–62, 89, 244. ISBN 1-55821-797-5.
- ^ New York Times Company (January 21, 1885) The Thirty-eight Game retrieved December 13, 2006.
- ^ Staff writers. (November 21, 1915). "English Billiards Grows. Recently Imported Game Now Quite Popular Here". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0DE6DB153BE233A25752C2A9679D946496D6CF. Retrieved on June 6, 2009.
- ^ Midwinter, Eric (2007). "The Football Association". Parish to Planet: How Football Came to Rule the World. Studley, UK: Know the Score Books. p. 59. ISBN 9781905449309.
[edit] External links
- http://www.ibsf.info/ IBSF official site
- http://www.eaba.co.uk/ English Amateur Billiards Association
- http://www.englishbilliards.org/ Learning the skills of the game
[edit] See also
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