Pool tables are unique fixtures that are used to play billiard type games. There are many different varieties yet most tend to feature a hard flat surface that is bounded with thick cloth and surrounded by bumpered edges. The tables are usually elevated roughly four feet off the ground and feature six holes or pockets in the corners and sides.

Louis the eleventh of France is the earliest known owner of a billiard table. The primitive fixture consisted of patches of lawn grass atop an everyday table. This first design eventually evolved into felt covered tables with rails as its popularity spread across France and surrounding areas.

In the mid eighteen hundreds, billiards had become extremely popular all across Europe. English furniture manufacturers started specializing in high quality tables after the demands for them. Rather than normal kitchen tables, the fixtures were now made from hard slate and rubber cushions.

The name became synonymous with the game of billiards in the 1800s. The games were present in the gambling or “pool” halls of the time and so the word eventually became to mean both of them. Despite the game’s resonation with the high class nobles of the day, the term was a word used by the lower class. However the billiards industry’s attempt do distance itself from the word has repeatedly failed.

The colored cloth that sits atop a billiard table is generally a thick felt or wool blend. Green cloth is the most popular choice as it represents the lawn and grass that the game of billiards evolved from. It’s important that a thick fabric is used as the surface is susceptible to wear and tear with use. Though, even high usage pool tables in bars and arcades require regular upkeep and reupholstering to keep them in optimum shape.

The structure’s cushions are located on the inner sides of the table’s rails. They are constructed from elastic rubber and their purpose is to keep the balls on the table and to provide rebound with a minimum loss of kinetic energy.

There are a number of various games played atop these tables, from Snooker to carom billiards, but easily the most popular of these is cue ball sports. Pool, or billiards, is played on a standard table with fifteen billiard balls, one cue ball, and a long cue stick. In pocket billiards, the fifteen balls are racked up in a triangle shape and then, using the stick, the player strikes the cue ball at them. The balls are designated either solid colored or striped and each player is assigned a group based on the results of their first strike.

Billiards, like other cue based sports, evolved from the popular outdoor lawn games of the mid fifteen hundreds. Billiards itself began its life as a game that featured aspects from croquet and modern day billiards. Today, the World Pool Billiard Association or WPA governs over the sport as an international competitive entity and holds literally hundreds of events all across the world.

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Category: Entertainment
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