Nobody really knows the origins of billiards. The common belief is that the game originated as a game that was played outdoors which was a bit different from croquet that was played early in the 14th century in France. Its said it became quite popular and when the cold weather did not allow the game to be enjoyed outside, it moved indoors and was played on a table that was covered with green felt.

Do you know that when Mary, Queen of Scots, died, she was wrapped in a billiard cloth? Did you also know that pool was the first sport to have a world championship game in 1873? Interesting huh

There are well know historical figures that loved the billiard game. These include King Louise X1V and wife Marie Antoinette, Mozart, Abe Lincoln, Napoleon and George Washington among others.

Back then, billiard balls were made from ivory and were usually carved out from the center of an elephant's tusk. The elephant tusks could only give you three to 4 billiard balls.

The pool game is said to have the highest average age among its players at about 35 yrs and also said to be one of the safest game in the world

"Billiard" was coined from the French word "billart" that means mace. The mace was a stick with a handle that started to be used with the game called croquet.

It was illegal

In its earliest history, the pool game was outlawed in certain. Its funny that the church in France considered pool as immoral. In the nineteenth century in America, the word "pool" room was used to mean a parlor room for horse race betting and was banned in a number of states in America.

Its said that Thomas Jefferson had a pool table that he hid in his home in Virginia. Nowadays, the terms pool room and billiard room mean the same thing.

Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/origins-of-the-pool-game-241276.html"

(ArticlesBase SC #241276)

Gerald Njuguna -
About the Author:

Visit http://www.pool-billiard-accessories.com to read more articles on the pool game. Also learn how to level a pool table

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72 Comments For This Post

desirosie Says:
June 29th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
Extremist muslims want us to live in the 14th century, and Bob Brown (Green senator) has the policies to achieve this
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July 14th, 2011 at 11:16 am
Just before the Easter holidays, author, Linda Strachan, visited my school to tell us about her Catalyst Longlist nominated book, Spider. She talked to us about her life, her career and her latest book, which is due for release in July this year. We also got to vote on the cover for her new book. She also explained to us how books are pubished, which got everyone in our class involved. She was very good at talking. I never got to read Spider but I'd really like to. It was a really good fun and I hope to get another author visit soon.

St Margarets High School Airdrie.
tgirsch Says:
July 15th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Article III, Section 3 of the constitution explicitly defines treason as levying war against the country; they copied this definition almost word-for-word from an English treason statute that dates from the middle of the 14th Century.

So either they knew full well that they were committing treason against the Crown, or they were in some serious denial.
GeoffGolden Says:
July 17th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
RT Pat Tillman was enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame today. His wife, Marie, was on hand in South Bend.
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July 22nd, 2011 at 1:10 am
Source says video shows missing IU student Lauren Spierer was 'in no condition' to help friend home after party.
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July 22nd, 2011 at 3:04 am

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August 2nd, 2011 at 12:13 am
Hi,
I'm a new subscriber and am a Tudor-phile. I'm also a writer and my first novel, The Queen's Whore, will be coming out next spring from St. Martin's Press. It's about my ancestor, Lady Margaret Shelton, one of three named mistresses of Henry VIII.
I love this piece about Mary Queen of Scots. She is quite a fascinating character, very different from Elizabeth yet, in her own way, just as brave. I look forward to more great artilcles now that I've found your site!
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August 2nd, 2011 at 4:06 am
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August 15th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
I loved Hitchens example of the elephant tusks-- first he used the creationist straw man, and then he explained evolution in a way that it would take effort NOT to understand. (And he did it so quickly and slyly.)

I thought it was brilliant, and it cuts through the obfuscation of the kid's indoctrinators. No doubt, it will eventually clue some of the audience into which side really has the truth (and their best interests in mind).

I'm glad the religious folks are confident (arrogant) enough to give the "debate" a wide audience. I think it's a big win for the side of reason and will have lasting ripples into the future.
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August 21st, 2011 at 5:38 pm
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August 26th, 2011 at 10:16 am
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Says:
August 29th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
wpba's spec link. so i guess wpba uses bca's specs, like a lot of tournaments out there.

apa doesn't seem to have equipment specs in their rulebook. u can download their rulebook here, but i didn't see anything on equipments. i think many apa matches are played on bar tables, so i'd imagine the pocket widths can vary greatly from venue to venue.

as far as an uniformed world standard on pool, i think you're right that there isn't one. however, a lot of tournaments seem to adopt the bca/world pool-billiard association (wpa) specs, so i suppose the bca spec is the unofficial global standard for pool. i found an article written by mike shamos that talks about the different pool rules by different associations, but he didn't seem to talk about equipment specs (at least from my quick scan of the article). you can read it yourself if you like.

i think it'd be hard to establish a global standard for pool, since this means all the players from americas/asia/europe/africa/middle east will all have to agree. gonna be a while.

btw, i wouldn't be putting yourself down as a beginner. your body, especially your arm, eyes, and visual-spatial part of your brain, know a lot more than you think. but the corner pocket is easy to measure; just try squeezing two balls side-by-side into the pocket. if it won't fit then it's pretty tight. but you know this, i'm sure. i'm kinda weird with tight pockets; if it's tight then i fire my shots harder. crazy, i know. also, i think it's very hard to learn to trust your body to make the shot for you. when you make up your mind on which shot to take you can try to let your body take over. max eberle has an interesting technique to hone this trust: after you get down & line up your shot, close your eyes and fire away. you'll be surprised on what your arm can do when it's free of your eyes. keep in mind though that this technique is what i'd call the "feel" technique, basically things you do to increase your feel of the shot. if you're a more mechanical type of player (emphasis on routine & repeatable techniques, like a machine) this may not work well for you.

as a side note, the wpba tournaments seem to have tightened the pockets over the years. in the earlier years (mid 80's to around '08, or at least the matches i've seen on tv during this time period), the pockets were gaping maws. (at least 5" pockets, maybe bigger.) recently (late 2008 and on) the pockets seem tighter, probably around the 4.5" range. i guess the powers that be are finally starting to trust the lady pros' abilities to play good on tv. ]]>
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September 30th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
And Mary Queen of Scots invented skateboarding
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November 7th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Marg, I hope that you will be reviewing this book. I don't know if you have read more about Mary, Queen of Scots, but I'm assuming that you have. I would be interested to know how my views are colored by it being my first novel about her.]]>
Says:
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Marie Antoinette: The Journey. The book provides a sympathetic view of the France' famous queen as well as insights into life in the 18th Century Court of Versailles. Antonia Fraser offers a colorful, fluently narrated treatise in the context of a touching, psychologically believable portrait]]>
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November 15th, 2011 at 7:35 am
Marg, I hope that you will be reviewing this book. I don't know if you have read more about Mary, Queen of Scots, but I'm assuming that you have. I would be interested to know how my views are colored by it being my first novel about her.]]>
Says:
November 24th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
Timeline this week.

Whilst it was slow to begin, I did enjoy the story when they were finally 'faxed' into the 14th Century. There were some very predictable things about the story (i.e. love interests and who was going to stay back there). I agree with you about Crichton's knowledge of jousting, armor and 14th Century architecture. I was most impressed.

I shouldn't have been surprised though: Crichton had a knack of making boring science (like DNA or complexity) sound ohh-so-sexy!]]>
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Timeline this week.

Whilst it was slow to begin, I did enjoy the story when they were finally 'faxed' into the 14th Century. There were some very predictable things about the story (i.e. love interests and who was going to stay back there). I agree with you about Crichton's knowledge of jousting, armor and 14th Century architecture. I was most impressed.

I shouldn't have been surprised though: Crichton had a knack of making boring science (like DNA or complexity) sound ohh-so-sexy!]]>
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]]>
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January 19th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
'yobbos at the cricket' that throw billiard balls and scalding hot food are just a few larrikins letting off steam, and does not rate a mention on their news bulletins.]]>
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January 25th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
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"And what the models predict (which is French for guess) is not what the models in the 1970s predicted either (The New Ice Age).
.
Wrong.
.

.
"The fact is that around 1970 there were 6 times as many scientists predicting a warming rather than a cooling planet."]]>
Says:
February 12th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
"And what the models predict (which is French for guess) is not what the models in the 1970s predicted either (The New Ice Age).
.
Wrong.
.

.
"The fact is that around 1970 there were 6 times as many scientists predicting a warming rather than a cooling planet."]]>
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February 14th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Dennis says: that duz sownd like fun i hav been in the water a kuple of times now and its not as bad as tucker sed it wuz so its a date ok bye

]]>
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February 25th, 2012 at 1:19 am
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March 6th, 2012 at 10:52 pm
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March 8th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
February 23, 2012. (Romereports.com) These hallways tell the stories of English travelers to Rome over the past 650 years. It's the Venerable English College which celebrated the anniversary of its foundation on January 27th. Since the beginning in 1362, pilgrims have signed this guest book. Signatures include English poets such as John Milton and this one that reads simply “Arthurus Stratfordus Wigomniensis,” that's believed to be by William Shakespeare. The College is a treasure chest of memories, from 14th century documents to the tomb of the 15th century Cardinal Bainbridge that's located in the chapel.
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Says:
March 27th, 2012 at 5:04 am
mechanical or necessary determinism; the kind we think of when billiard balls collide with each other. In essence, the determinism I don't believe in is the kind that says that events as they happen follow inevitably from their preceding material conditions.

In the end, you may be right that the determinism/free will debate is not easily resolved---in fact, I suspect impossible to resolve---as the terms are traditionally defined. I'll address the subject in a future post.]]>
Says:
April 7th, 2012 at 12:18 am
Blogspot, jesus christ.

Anyway. There are two things that I think about this:

1) Does Ophelia really talk that much about marrying Hamlet? I know Laertes tells her that it's never going to happen, but isn't Ophelia's response all, "yeah, yeah, whatever, I don't even WANT to marry him"?

2) I think it'd be a mistake to get bogged down in the history or technical accuracy of it; is it implausible for the 14th century Danes to have a lesbian Queen instead of a king? Yes. Is Hamlet a unit on 14th century Danish history? I don't think so.

My feeling would just be, "Make Hamlet a lesbian woman, keep the relationships basically all the same, but with a kind of added ironic undercurrent, now, and if anyone says, anything about it, just tell them it's Expressionism."

EXPRESSIONISM! The style in which anything is possible!]]>
Says:
April 11th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Marg, I hope that you will be reviewing this book. I don't know if you have read more about Mary, Queen of Scots, but I'm assuming that you have. I would be interested to know how my views are colored by it being my first novel about her.]]>
Says:
April 13th, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Marie Antoinette: The Journey. The book provides a sympathetic view of the France' famous queen as well as insights into life in the 18th Century Court of Versailles. Antonia Fraser offers a colorful, fluently narrated treatise in the context of a touching, psychologically believable portrait]]>
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mifoxiba Says:
May 13th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
homophobic writings didn’t appear in Western Europe until the late 14th century. 1/2
Says:
May 14th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
wpba's spec link. so i guess wpba uses bca's specs, like a lot of tournaments out there.

apa doesn't seem to have equipment specs in their rulebook. u can download their rulebook here, but i didn't see anything on equipments. i think many apa matches are played on bar tables, so i'd imagine the pocket widths can vary greatly from venue to venue.

as far as an uniformed world standard on pool, i think you're right that there isn't one. however, a lot of tournaments seem to adopt the bca/world pool-billiard association (wpa) specs, so i suppose the bca spec is the unofficial global standard for pool. i found an article written by mike shamos that talks about the different pool rules by different associations, but he didn't seem to talk about equipment specs (at least from my quick scan of the article). you can read it yourself if you like.

i think it'd be hard to establish a global standard for pool, since this means all the players from americas/asia/europe/africa/middle east will all have to agree. gonna be a while.

btw, i wouldn't be putting yourself down as a beginner. your body, especially your arm, eyes, and visual-spatial part of your brain, know a lot more than you think. but the corner pocket is easy to measure; just try squeezing two balls side-by-side into the pocket. if it won't fit then it's pretty tight. but you know this, i'm sure. i'm kinda weird with tight pockets; if it's tight then i fire my shots harder. crazy, i know. also, i think it's very hard to learn to trust your body to make the shot for you. when you make up your mind on which shot to take you can try to let your body take over. max eberle has an interesting technique to hone this trust: after you get down & line up your shot, close your eyes and fire away. you'll be surprised on what your arm can do when it's free of your eyes. keep in mind though that this technique is what i'd call the "feel" technique, basically things you do to increase your feel of the shot. if you're a more mechanical type of player (emphasis on routine & repeatable techniques, like a machine) this may not work well for you.

as a side note, the wpba tournaments seem to have tightened the pockets over the years. in the earlier years (mid 80's to around '08, or at least the matches i've seen on tv during this time period), the pockets were gaping maws. (at least 5" pockets, maybe bigger.) recently (late 2008 and on) the pockets seem tighter, probably around the 4.5" range. i guess the powers that be are finally starting to trust the lady pros' abilities to play good on tv. ]]>
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May 19th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
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Says:
May 21st, 2012 at 2:09 am
wpba's spec link. so i guess wpba uses bca's specs, like a lot of tournaments out there.

apa doesn't seem to have equipment specs in their rulebook. u can download their rulebook here, but i didn't see anything on equipments. i think many apa matches are played on bar tables, so i'd imagine the pocket widths can vary greatly from venue to venue.

as far as an uniformed world standard on pool, i think you're right that there isn't one. however, a lot of tournaments seem to adopt the bca/world pool-billiard association (wpa) specs, so i suppose the bca spec is the unofficial global standard for pool. i found an article written by mike shamos that talks about the different pool rules by different associations, but he didn't seem to talk about equipment specs (at least from my quick scan of the article). you can read it yourself if you like.

i think it'd be hard to establish a global standard for pool, since this means all the players from americas/asia/europe/africa/middle east will all have to agree. gonna be a while.

btw, i wouldn't be putting yourself down as a beginner. your body, especially your arm, eyes, and visual-spatial part of your brain, know a lot more than you think. but the corner pocket is easy to measure; just try squeezing two balls side-by-side into the pocket. if it won't fit then it's pretty tight. but you know this, i'm sure. i'm kinda weird with tight pockets; if it's tight then i fire my shots harder. crazy, i know. also, i think it's very hard to learn to trust your body to make the shot for you. when you make up your mind on which shot to take you can try to let your body take over. max eberle has an interesting technique to hone this trust: after you get down & line up your shot, close your eyes and fire away. you'll be surprised on what your arm can do when it's free of your eyes. keep in mind though that this technique is what i'd call the "feel" technique, basically things you do to increase your feel of the shot. if you're a more mechanical type of player (emphasis on routine & repeatable techniques, like a machine) this may not work well for you.

as a side note, the wpba tournaments seem to have tightened the pockets over the years. in the earlier years (mid 80's to around '08, or at least the matches i've seen on tv during this time period), the pockets were gaping maws. (at least 5" pockets, maybe bigger.) recently (late 2008 and on) the pockets seem tighter, probably around the 4.5" range. i guess the powers that be are finally starting to trust the lady pros' abilities to play good on tv. ]]>