Games - Billiard ball

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US Billiard balls

In the US, Billiard balls are balls used to play the game of US billiards. The balls are numbered and colored as follows:

# Yellow # Blue # Red # Purple # Orange # Green # Brown # Black # Yellow and White # Blue and White # Red and White # Purple and White # Orange and White # Green and White # Brown and White

Cue ball
White

Note that balls 1-7 are often referred to as "solids" and 9-15 as "stripes". In Australia balls are called bigs and small refering to how much white is on the ball.

European Billiard balls

In the UK and Europe, Billiard balls are the three balls used to play the games, known variously as English billiards or Carambole billiards (of which Three cushion billiards is a variant) but generally just "billiards" within respective countries. European billiard balls are not numbered. They are coloured as follows:

Red
White Cue ball
for player 1
White with a spot (now sometimes yellow) Cue ball
for player 2

Composition of billiard balls

In the past, many balls were made of ivory; since the animals that produced this have become endangered species, other materials, such as wood and various plastics have been used.

In 1865, John Wesley Hyatt patented a composition material resembling ivory (Celluloid) for a billiard ball (US50359), winning $10,000 prize from Phelan and Collender of New York City for the best substitute for ivory. This was the first U.S. patent for billiard balls. Unfortunately, the nature of celluloid gave these billiard balls a tendency to occasionally explode, adding additional spark to the game but ultimately making this first plastic impractical for such use.

Modern billiard balls are most often made from phenolic resin.

Dimensions of billiard balls

On average, the balls are 2.25" in diameter and all balls weigh 5.5 oz. except for the cue, which weighs 6 oz. According to official BCA equipment specifications, the weight may be from 5 1/2 to 6 oz. with a diameter of 2 1/4", plus or minus .005".

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Billiard ball ]

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