Game room furniture FAQs

Where was the sport of billiards invented?
Historians aren’t certain which country had the first lawn billiards game, but it is believed that the French were the first people to move billiards from outdoors to indoors on a table. Pool traces its roots to games such as croquet and golf, which were originally played outdoors by nobility in Europe. It spread from the nobility to the commoners, and they brought it west to America with them.
What were the first billiards games like?
The first billiards games played on a table were pocket-less games, called carom games. This is because the object of the game was to bounce (or carom) the cue ball off the walls to strike the other balls and score points. Games were played until a set number of points, with the first to reach that number winning.

Why were pockets added?
Pockets were added to the billiards table because the game was embroiled in something of an arms race. The carom games were scored by using your cue ball to strike both of the other balls on the table in a single shot. If you did this you were awarded a point and allowed to shoot again. People had started trapping both of the other balls against a wall or corner, and then lightly tapping them with the cue so that they did not move in an attempt to rack up a high score. There were a variety of methods attempted, one of which was to place hazards, or holes, along the edge of the table. If a ball fell into a hole, it was a foul shot, and you were penalized. Eventually the game shifted towards using the hazard holes as targets to sink balls, and that is how pool as we know it today was born.