What is Pool?
Pool is a classic game enjoyed by many for centuries. Many use the term
‘billiards’ in place of pool and vice versa. Generally ‘billiards’ is the original game and it is still played in
parts of Europe and Asia today. This game is played on a six-pocket table with two white balls and one red; players
could score either by making a billiard upon the two object balls, by pocketing the red, or by pocketing one’s own
ball after contact with an object ball. It’s mostly agreed that little was known of billiards until the 12th century,
and in its earliest times, it was played on a lawn, like croquet. Pockets were most likely added to the table in the
late 1700’s. Pool is the modernized version of this classic game; it retains its original six-pocket table but has
fifteen different colored balls and one white ball (the cue ball). The fifteen balls are also distinguished by stripes
or solids. On this website, we are chiefly concerned about the physics and the mechanical interactions involved in
playing a strategic game of pool.
