TABLES

The billiard tables are made of various types of wood, usually designed elaborately. The ratio of table length and width is stable and it is 2:1. The dimensions are traditionally quoted in feet (1 foot = 30,5 cm). Professional pool and carom tables are 9 ft (2,745m) long, and snooker tables are 12 ft (3,66m) long.

The beds of the tables were originally made of marble but the contemporary produced ones have special plastic or slate beds. They are mounted at the height of 80-84 cm and they mainly incorporate three coupled panels. The pool panels are 2-3 cm thick. The snooker and carom panels are twice as much thick. The latter ones may be electrically heated.

The game area is restricted by cushions made of variously flexible materials, depending on the manufacturer.

Snooker tables have narrow rounded pockets. Pool tables, on the contrary, have wide straight pockets. Carom tables do not have pockets at all.

The cloth that covers the table is diversified depending on the game the cloth is meant for. The fastest cloth covers carom tables and the slowest one is the snooker cloth.

One of the (except snooker) table elements are so-nominated diamonds. They are elaborated points at the rims, which divide cushions into two different parts. They facilitate accurate playing and measuring the distance and the angles.

BALLS

Originally the balls were made of wood and ivory. Nowadays they are made of plastic and phenol resin. All balls must be spherical with the geometrical point converging with the center of gravity. The structure should be uniform and the weight and the size within the set.

The set of 22 balls with the diameter of 52,4 mm is used for snooker. They are the smallest balls in pocket billiards. The bigger ones, usually 57 mm are the pool balls and the set consists of 16 balls. Much bigger (three) balls, 62 mm of diameter are used in carom.

The white balls are sometimes marked with a characteristic point or a small sign, which makes it possible to identify the set, i.e. the manufacturer.

It is also possible to diversify the auxiliary training ball. It is the equivalent of the white ball but it also has the line net to identify the place where it should be hit in order to rotate is correctly. No doubt about the fact that while playing regularly, no such ball can be used.

CUES

Billiard cues are usually made of maple or ash wood. More expensive cues are made of many various kinds of wood. A good cue should be straight and flexible. The best ones consist of two parts.

Cue built:

The cues are usually 145-150cm long. They weight fluctuates between 0,5 to 0,6kg. Their end is a leather cue tip with the diameter and hardness depending on which game it is meant for. The ferule is made of various types of plastic or metal. The tip is attached to it. In case of professional cues it is glued but in case of other cues it is screwed on.

The area a cue is held, the handle, is usually covered with the material that facilitates the contact with a hand (leather, linen thread), which lowers the risk of slipping.

Extra cues available while playing are so-nominated auxiliary cues (cross, spider and rod). Their ends are shaped in such a way that it is possible to place a cue on them and play from the table area that is difficult to access. Players play snooker using so-nominated extensions, too. They are adapters that are screwed on or pushed on the cue to extend it.