Pool is a popular table game in most parts of the world and many amateur and professional competitions are held each year. Pool is played on a table that has six pockets and sixteen balls – a cue ball, seven balls with stripes, seven balls with solid colour, and the black eight ball. The player’s objective is to pot as many balls of the type they choose – either stripes or solid – in one attempt. The solid colour balls are numbered from one to seven while the stripes are numbered from nine to fifteen and the number eight ball is the “blackball”.
This eight-ball game has been modified from another game called B.B.C. Co. Pool. This game was introduced by a company called Burnswick-Blake-Collender in 1900. The first recorded evidence of this game was in the year 1908, and this early version of pool was usually played with seven yellow balls, seven red balls and the black ball. These days, solid and striped pool balls are preferred throughout the world but, even so, some forms of British pool still use the traditional colours of yellow, red, black and white. The early rules of playing this game were very simple compared to the more complex rules followed today. It was only in 1940 that the rules of pool were added to an official rule book.
Apart from the balls, each player needs a cue to play the game. Pool is played on tables that have pockets just a little wider than the ball. Pool has become very popular in Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand as well as other countries. The rules of British pool are considerably different in comparison to the eight-ball game, and these differences include the way in which fouls are handled, racking, the selection of the ball group and the handling of frozen balls to name a few.
The English Pool Association is the recognized governing body for pool and the international variation, blackball, in England. Blackball evolved as a game similarly to eight-ball pool, but has developed to be somewhat similar to English billiards and snooker. Blackball has many variants these days. Because of the differences between the rules of blackball and eight-ball pool, players encounter a difference of opinion at times understanding the rules. The most significant rule, which gives rise to many arguments and clashes, is the “two-shot carry” rule.
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