The sport of billiards originated in Europe back around the 1340s and was played outdoors on a grass surface, kind of like how croquet is played today. Players used golf- or club-like sticks called a “mace” to shove wooden or clay balls around a designated playing surface. Today’s pool tables have green cloth to simulate those golden ages of playing the sport.
By the mid-1400s the game was transferred indoors and was played on a box-shaped table without sides, known as rails. The mace stick was not only used to shove shots around, but was also used to stop the balls from rolling off the edge of the table. Eventually, someone invented wooden rails to keep the balls from rolling off the surface.
In time, the mace was turned around and the sharper end of the stick was used to make the shots. At this time it also evolved to be called the cue. The balls went through a transition from being made of clay, wood, and/or ivory to the now super-hard plastic phenolic composites. Rubber rails were introduced to the pool tables and went from having no pockets to including four pockets, then to our regulation size 6-pocket pool tables.
In the 1700s, Dutch and English settlers brought the game over to the United States. Cabinetmakers started making tables in multiple sizes. Michael Phelan wrote the first book of rules and regulations and played a major role of the making of Brunswick Billiards Company, still one of the oldest and most renowned pool table manufacturers in the world.
By 1878, pool tournaments and exhibitions surfaced here in the United States and other games like straight pool, 8-ball, and 9-ball games were invented. In 1961 and 1986, two box-office hits, The Hustler and The Color of Money respectively, skyrocketed the game of pool to fame.
The sport’s popularity is no big surprise—it is said that the game was played by kings and queens, was mentioned in Shakespeare’s classic Antony and Cleopatra, Sherlock Holmes wrote about pool and billiards in his novel The Adventure of the Dancing Men, and even Mark Twain portrayed playing the stubborn game in one of his diaries.
The game’s old stigma of hustling, gambling, drinking, and smoking doesn’t really exist anymore and on any given day, you can view championship matches on ESPN. The elegant sport can be played in upscale pool halls and is becoming more of a family-oriented activity that is clearly entertaining and fun to play.
About the Author: Melissa Little
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