HISTORY

The history of billiard origin is rather complicated and vague. It is very difficult to determine now who invented the game. English and French people, and less frequently Germans, are often mentioned here. There are also legends claiming that billiard is originated in China and appeared in Europe later. It is also impossible to define the time when it came into being. The majority of information, though, refers to the 15th and 16th century but the first clues about the game resembling billiard were found in the 5th century BC.

Among many celebrities who loved the game Louis XI, Louis XIV, Immanuel Kant and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are to be mentioned.

The game rules have not been uniform and they have often changed, but the general rules have survived up till now. The similarity is the most evident in case of carom and its varieties. It was about hitting the marked ball with a wooden cue so that is should hit another (usually two) balls on the table. When succeeding, the player scored a point.

Billiard had never been accessible for everybody. Just at the end of the 19th century it become a common game. It was when the first tables with (six and rarely eight) holes to pot the balls into, which were nominated pockets, appeared. It was the origin of pool, the descendant of historical carom.

Billiard flourished considerably in the 20th century in conjunction with the technological advance. The 21st century is not going to be a reverse. The game has appeared at the Olympic Games as a sports discipline.