There are many games that are played indoors. Billiards is one such game where the game is played by many in some of the clubs and definite places. It is a game played on a rectangular table with a set number of tiny balls and a long stick known as a cue. A feltlike tight-fitting material covers the table and the cushioned rail that surrounds it. Carom, often known as French billiards, is played with three balls on a table with no pockets. English billiards, played with three balls; snooker, played with 21 balls and a cue ball; and pocket billiards, or pool, played with 15 balls and a cue ball, are the other main games played on tables with six pockets, one at each corner and one in each of the long sides.
A table, cue sticks and balls are required for all billiards games. Although the original mahogany billiards table is still in use, tables are now typically built of different woods and synthetic materials. Large rectangular tables are often twice as long as they are wide. It has a polished slate bed that is covered by a woven woollen cloth, sometimes known as felt. Cushions are angled rails of hardened rubber or synthetic rubber that rim the inner edge of the table. The cue is a tapered rod of polished wood or synthetic material that measures 40 to 60 inches in length.
English billiards is played on a rather big table, usually 6 feet 1.5 inches by 12 feet, and with three balls, similar to carom—a plain white, a white with a spot, and a red. The winning hazard, or pot, is a stroke in which a ball other than the striker’s cue ball is pocketed after contact with another ball; and the cannon, or carom, is a scoring sequence in which the striker’s cue ball contacts the two other balls successively or simultaneously.
