Talking about the origins of billiard game, it's
impossible to detect the time it appeared. It's only
known that, as well as chess, it is ancient and its
home is Asia, ones think it's India, the others - China.
Though in European countries the principles of modern
billiard game were used in other games long before that
time.
For example, in national
German game Balkespiel, existing in Germany in the Middle
Ages, were long tables with rough cushions and holes
where the player was trying to put the stone ball with
the bludgeon. In England at the same time there was
a popular game Pall-Mallspill, in which players played
on the well-rammed ground with several balls they were
trying to roll (following specific rules) through the
gates. In the middle of the ХV century many games move
from gardens into rooms that had dramatically affected
their further development.
First billiard tables
had many technical imperfections. Thus, cushions were
not elastic and when the balls hit them, they were not
reflected; rough cues- bludgeons couldn't give side
rotation to the ball; the board for balls rolling was
rigid and rough, that's why the billiard game looked
rather primitive.
Later, beginning from the end of the XVI century, the
billiard game starts evolving. Simple holes (pockets)
in the cushions are equipped with net pockets and the
number of pockets is gradually reduced to six. The cushions
of the table are lined with wool, later cushions are
covered with rubber that made them more elastic and
allowed to better reflect the balls. Billiard boards
were processed more carefully. Boards as well as cushions
are then covered with cloth. Gradually, a short stick
make way to long cue; the game changes, and the interest
to it grows rapidly.
Enhancement of the billiard
table also affected its shape. Square, then six-, eight-
and even round tables eventually make way to firmly
established square shape that retains proportions regardless
of the billiard size - the length is twice bigger than
the width.
It appeared that such
square shape, consisting of two squares, has a number
of significant advantages in comparison with other shapes:
it became possible to place on equal distance from each
other six packets, i.e. the most reasonable number,
as any other number either simplifies or complicates
the game; during the game it became possible to reach
the ball located in the center from long sides; the
balls reflected from the cushions reduced to four simplest
types.
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