Rack Em’ Up! The history of the billiard ball
What are billiard balls made of? What do the numbers on them mean? Why do some have a solid color and some have a stripe? Why are some bigger than others? How does a cue ball know where to go on a coin-operated pool table? Amazing how many questions you can come up with regarding a simple billiard ball?
History
So, let’s start with the billiard ball story. The billiard ball dates back to the early 15th century, however it is not known exactly when the billiard table and billiard balls were invented. There are reports from the mid to late 1400s of King Louis XI owning the first pool table. The Duke of Norfolk is also said to have owned a snooker table along with the first documentation of possession of snooker balls.
The first balls were made of wood. Over the years different materials were used to manufacture them. Clay was popular, but a highly sought after material in the 19th century was ivory. Elephants were being slaughtered at an alarming rate due to the high demand for their ivory. One tusk could produce 8. However, the billiards industry realized that elephants were endangered, so they challenged inventors to find a new material for them instead of ivory. John Wesley Hyatt invented a compounding material in 1869 called nitrocellulose (US Patent 50359). However, this was not the first artificial substance invented. In 1867, Sorel cement was marketed as “artificial ivory”.
In 1870, celluloid was called the first industrial plastic. Unfortunately, the nature of celluloid made it volatile during production. From time to time it is said that these balls would explode. A Colorado salon owner is rumored to have written a letter to John Hyatt saying he didn’t care about the occasional explosion, but rather the fact that all the patrons drew their guns when they exploded.
Later, since the exploding ball seemed to be a slight problem, the industry came up with different materials. Today they are mainly made of phenolic resin. Clear acrylic is also used.
Sizes
Billiard balls come in many different sizes.
- American Style Pool-57.15 mm (2 1/4″)
- American Style Pool (Coin Operated Table) (2 3/8″)
- British Style Pool-56 mm (2 3/16″)
- 52.5 mm (2 1/15″) billiards
- Carom-61.5 mm (2 7/16″)
- Russian Pool /Kaisa-68mm (2 11/16″)
- Children’s Pool-51mm (2″)
Colors:
They also come in different colors. Some sets are numbered where others are not. They were originally numbered so that “point” games could be played. Games like 9-ball and 8-ball use the numbering system. The numbers on them date back to the early 1900s.
American style pool uses 15 numbered balls and they are colored as follows:
- Yellow
- Blue
- Red
- Purple
- orange
- Green
- brown or burgundy
- Black
- yellow stripe
- blue stripe
- red stripe
- purple stripe
- orange stripe
- green stripe
- Brown or burgundy stripe
They are sometimes referred to “high or low” depending on their designated number. They are also known as “stripes or solids”.
Snooker uses 22 balls in total. 15 are solid unmarked and colored red, there are also six colored and one white ball. They are numbered and colored as indicated below.
- There is no ball with the #1 designation.
- Yellow
- Green
- Brown
- Blue
- Pink
- Black
Billiards:
- Red
- White cue (used for player 1)
- White or yellow cue with a dot (used for player 2)
Novelty
A wide variety of novelty balls have appeared on the market in recent years. Now you can buy billiard balls with the logo of your favorite sports team, cartoon characters, movie stars, etc. There are also glow-in-the-dark balls, marble balls, gag balls (never roll in a straight line), weighted balls, and even playing card balls.
Oversized, Magnetic Cue Balls
Ever wonder how a cue ball returns to the player at a coin operated table? How come it just doesn’t go with the rest of the balls? Well, there are two different reasons; It’s either a large cue ball or it’s a magnetic cue ball. An oversized ball is just that, slightly oversized. When the ball lands in the pocket, there are two tracks that the ball can go down, the big ball cannot go down the track for the smaller balls. A magnetic cue ball works by activating a magnetic detector.
