Let's find some action. Why don't we go knock the balls around? Want to go shoot the stick? These are all ways to invite a friend to indulge in a game of pool with you. Many enjoy billiard games as a casual social activity that is played just for fun. Playing pool is, by many, considered a serious sport. Then there are all the levels in between the two. I frequently find myself enjoying my evening, leisure time playing friends for fun. The game is easy to understand but hard to master, well at least for me. Billiard games are about precision and accuracy, and even though I lack both, I know I can never blame my equipment because of all the work that goes into the production of all the equipment needed to play pool. From the cue to the pool table, everything has changed through the years of billiards for the good. Better quality for a better game.
In this paper I will discuss all of the necessary equipment used in the game of pool. The pool table, all the balls, the racking triangle and the cue stick will be described, with a brief history of how they evolved. When choosing equipment to buy, the cue stick is the most personal. From the weight, to the grip to the quality, it can be a hard decision. This paper will explain all the components of a cue stick that make it hard to decide. I will also discuss some of the advertising involved in selling billiards equipment to the public.
The first pool table was made in the year 1470 for billiard games. Back in those days, they would put the hole right in the exact middle of the table. Then the players would shoot the balls into the hole. Eventually this was changed to the tables we now know today, most with 6 holes.(see attachment No. 1) There is one hole at each of the four corners of the rectangle table. Leaving two more holes which are each placed evenly in the middle of a rail, one on each long end of the table. Most tables have nets or a bag of some kind beneath the holes to catch the balls when they are hit into them. However, in the later part of the nineteenth century, a more convenient and profitable ball return was evolving. Tunnels attached to each of the holes were invented that the balls travel through to end up all in the same spot, in an area trapped in the right long side of the table. The tables with tunnels have a separate area for the cue ball to be retrieved from if it goes in a hole on the short end of the table. Profiting from this is easy for bars and other establishments. A catch mechanism stops the balls from falling until money is put into a slot on the side of the table. When you put your money in, the balls are released, and fall to a retrieval box located on the other short end of the table. Establishments don't have to watch when a machine takes care of it for them.
Most people prefer to play on well constructed tables. Flat beds are a must, so the balls will do what is intended by the player. However, until the middle of the Eighteenth century, pool tables were just thin boards which easily wore and warped. This made it easy for the ball to go off course. The game would have seemed highly unfair if compared to our standards of equipment today. The tables made later in the later eighteenth century were produced by talented cabinet makers. Crafted tables with sturdiness were being made with secure beds that would not warp as easily.
As things got better, improvements to the rails became more necessary. In the past, the rails were merely slabs of wood. At first people attempted lining the table rails with leather straps but they wore. They tried cushioning stuffed with cotton or compressed air, but nothing seemed to work that well. In 1835, crude rubber was being used to build the rails. The problem found with crude rubber in 1835 is it became hard as a rock as soon as it got cold, and in heat it got to soft and was hard to manage. “Vulcanization, the process of chemically treating rubber so it can retain its elasticity regardless of temperature, changed the billiard cushion for good around 1845.”(Mizerak and Panozzo, 1990, pages 26-27) Everything has, for the most part, stayed the same since it was perfected and it seems to me that the final result is a reliable table.
The white cue ball and 15 numbered balls are needed to play billiards. The cue ball is the ball you shoot at and try to hit your numbered balls in the holes before your opponent. The balls numbered 1 through 7 are a single color and are called solids. The balls numbered 9-15 are painted white with a single color striped around it and are called stripes. Each player is either stripes or solids and shoots at their own balls. The 8 ball is painted solid black. The 8 ball is the last ball you want to hit in a hole during the game of pool. Both players are attempting to hit in their own balls and then the eight ball to win the game. (see attachment No. 3)
