Billiards :: essays research papers

Billiards     The history of billiards begins in the fourteenth century. The plot of ground wasinvented in Europe, but there was a conflict as to what country. The Frenchbelieved that the English invented the patch, but at the uniform time, the Englishthought the French did. In the pole, a French billiards specialist foundevidence that the game originated in France about the fourteenth century. Theword "billiard" is derived from two French words, "billiart" and "bille". Thesetwo words mean "stick" and "ball". Put them together, and you get stick-ball orpool as its called these days. At first the game was played outside, butduring the winter it got too cold so the game was moved inside onto whacking tables.After a couple of years, green cloth was installed on the bed of the table tomake an illusion of the grass outside. The sticks apply at the time were large,and men used slightlycurved sticks while the women used str aight, narrow ones.The sticks werent used as they are today to hit the ball but rather to push theballs around the table, kindred to the game of shuffle board. As the game gotmore popular, as it is today, the sticks got narrower and easier to use(Billiards, http).     A few games today are similar to billiards, such as shuffleboard, andthe same equipment - stick and balls. One of the most important tools toplaying any game of this type is the table. In the fourteenth century, thelength of the tables was much longer than today becuase they were used insteadof playing outside. Today the sized of the tables varies all over the worl.The dimensions range anywhere from nine by four and a half feet to ten by fivefeet (Billiards, Colliers).     Another tool used to play the game is the cue stick. The cue srickweighs in a range of twelve to twenty-two ounces, and the straighter the cue,the bump. At the end of the cue is a leather tip, which is used t o hit theball with great accuracy. If the stick were to hit the ball with the leathertip applesauceed, then a better shot would be made rather than one without thechalked end. As most people now know, the chalk is used to give a better shot.The chalk is a blue color and comes in a little square inch type cube.     Another item needed to play a game of billiards is the balls, fifteenobject balls and one cue ball. The cue ball is the only ball that is to be hit