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Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards or simply carambole (and in some cases used as a synonym for the game of straight rail from which many carom games derive), is the overarching title of a family of billiards games generally played on cloth-covered, 5 by 10 feet (approximately 1.5 × 3 m) pocket-less tables, which often feature heated slate beds.
In its simplest form, the object of the game is to score points or "counts" by caroming one's own cue ball off both the opponent's cue ball and the object ball(s) on a single shot.
The invention as well as the exact date of origin of carom billiards is somewhat obscure but is thought to be traceable to 18th-century France.[1]
There is a large array of carom billiards disciplines. Some of the more prevalent today and historically are (chronologically by apparent date of development): straight rail, cushion caroms, balkline, three-cushion billiards and artistic billiards.
There are many other carom billiards games, predominantly intermediary or offshoot games combining elements of those already listed, such as the champion's game, an intermediary game between straight rail and balkline, as well as games which are hybrids of carom billiards and pocket billiards, such as English billiards played on a snooker table and its descendant games, American four-ball billiards, and cowboy pool.[1]
Etymology
The word "carom", which simply means any strike and rebound, was in use in reference to billiards by at least 1779, sometimes spelled "carrom".[1]:41Sources differ on the origin. It has been pegged variously as a shortening of the Spanish and Portuguese word carambola, or the French word carambole or caramboler, which were earlier used to describe the red object ball.
Some etymologists have suggested that carambola, in turn, was derived from a yellow-to-orange, tropical Asian fruit also known in Portuguese as a carambola (which was a corruption of the original name of the fruit, karambal in the Marathi language of India),[1][2][3] also known as star fruit.
But this may simply be folk etymology, as the fruit bears no resemblance to a billiard ball, and there is no direct evidence for such a derivation.[4]
In modern French, the word 'carambolage' means a multiple collision accident, similar to one ball hitting the other two.
Cloth
Cloth has been used to cover billiards tables since the 15th century.
In fact, the predecessor company of the most famous maker of billiard cloth, Iwan Simonis, was formed in 1453.
Most cloth made for carom billiards tables is a type of baize that is dyed green, and is made from 100% worsted wool, which provides a very fast surface allowing the balls to travel with little resistance across the table bed.
The green color of cloth was originally chosen to emulate the look of grass, and has been so colored since the 16th century.
However, as in green eyeshades, the color also serves a useful function: Humans have a higher light sensitivity to green than to any other color, so green cloth permits play for longer periods of time without eye strain.[1][5]
Balls
Modern billiard balls are made from highly resilient plastics, are normally 61.5 mm (27⁄16 in) in diameter, weigh between 205 and 220 grams (7.23 – 7.75 ounces; 7.5 is average),[6] and are significantly larger and heavier than their pocket billiards counterparts.While UMB, the International Olympic Committee-recognized world carom billiards authority, technically permits balls as small as 61.0 mm (approximately 23⁄8),[6] no major manufacturer produces such balls any longer, and the de facto standard is 61.5 mm.
The three standard balls in most carom billiards games consist of a completely white cue ball, a second cue ball with typically a red or black dot on it (to aid in differentiation between the two cue balls), and a third, red ball. In some sets of balls, however, the second cue ball is solid yellow.[1]
Both types of ball sets are permitted in tournament play.[7]
Billiard balls have been made from many different materials throughout the history of the game, including clay, wood, ivory, plastics (including celluloid, Bakelite, crystalate, and phenolic resin, polyester and acrylic) and even steel.
The dominant material from 1627 until the early- to mid-20th century was ivory.
The search for a substitute for ivory use was not for environmental concerns but based on economic motivation and fear of danger for elephant hunters.
It was in part spurred on by a New York billiard table manufacturer who announced a prize of $10,000 for a substitute material.
The first viable substitute was celluloid billiard balls, invented by John Wesley Hyatt in 1868, but the material was volatile and highly inflammable, sometimes exploding during manufacture.[1][8]
Cues
Carom billiard cues have specialized refinements making them different from the typical pool cue with which many people are more familiar.Such cues tend to be shorter and lighter overall, with a shorter ferrule, a thicker butt and joint, a wooden joint pin (in high-end examples) and collarless wood-to-wood joint (for a one-piece cue "feel"), a fast, conical taper, and a smaller tip diameter as compared with pool cues.
Typical dimensions are 54–56 inches (140–140 cm) in length, 16.5–18.5 ounces (0.47–0.52 kg) in weight (lighter for straight rail, heavier for three-cushion), with a 11–12 mm diameter tip.[9]
The specialization makes the cue significantly stiffer, which aids in handling the larger and heavier billiard balls as compared with pool cues. It also acts to reduce deflection (sometimes called "squirt"), which may be defined as displacement of the cue ball's path away from the parallel line formed by the cue stick's direction of travel.
It is a factor that occurs every time english (side) is employed, and its effects are magnified by speed. In some carom games, deflection plays a large role because many shots require extremes of English, coupled with great speed; this is a combination typically minimized as much as possible, by contrast, in pool.[10]:79, 240–1
The wood used in carom cues can vary widely, and most quality carom cues are handmade.[clarification needed]
Heated slate
The slate bed of a billiard table is often heated to about 5 °C/9 °F above room temperature, which helps to keep moisture out of the cloth to aid the balls rolling and rebounding in a consistent manner, and generally makes a table play faster.
A heated table is required under international carom rules and is an especially important requirement for the games of three-cushion billiards and artistic billiards.
Heating table beds is an old practice.
Queen Victoria of England (1819–1901) had a billiard table that was heated using zinc tubes, although the aim at that time was chiefly to keep the then-used ivory balls from warping.
The first use of electric heating was for an 18.2 balkline tournament held in December 1927 between Welker Cochran and Jacob Schaefer, Jr.[1]
The New York Times announced it with fanfare: "For the first time in the history of world's championship balkline billiards a heated table will be used ..."[1][11]
Three-cushion billiards
In three-cushion billiards, sometimes called three-cushion carom,[18] the object is to carom off both object balls with at least three rail cushions being contacted before the contact of the cue ball with the second object ball.Three-cushion is a very difficult game.
Averaging one point per inning is professional-level play, and averaging 1.5 to 2 is world-class play.
An average of one means that for every turn at the table, a player makes 1 point and misses once, thus making a point on 50% of his or her shots.
The origin of the game is not entirely known. It is undisputed that one Wayman Crow McCreery of St. Louis, Missouri popularized the game in the 1870s.[1][19][20]
The first three-cushion billiards tournament took place January 14–31, 1878 in St. Louis, with McCreery a participant and New Yorker Leon Magnus the winner.
The high run for the tournament was just 6 points, and the high average a 0.75.[21]
The game was infrequently played, with many top carom players of the era voicing their dislike of it, until after the 1907 introduction of the Lambert Trophy.[1][22]
By 1924, three-cushion had become so popular that two giants in other billiard disciplines agreed to take up the game especially for a challenge match.
On September 22, 1924, Willie Hoppe, the world's balkline champion (who later took up three-cushion with a passion), and Ralph Greenleaf, the world's straight pool title holder, played a well advertised, multi-day, match to 600 points.
Hoppe was the eventual winner with a final score in of 600–527.
Three-cushion billiards retains great popularity in parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America,[1] and is the most popular carom billiards game played in the US today, where pool is far more widespread.
The principal governing body of the sport is the Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB). It had been staging world three-cushion championships since the late 1920s.[23]
The International Olympic Committee-recognized World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) cooperates with the UMB to keep their rule sets synchronized.
Source: Wikipedia.org
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