billiards

Indoor game played, normally by two players, with tapered poles (called cues) and composition balls (one red, one yellow, and one white) on a rectangular table covered with a green, felt-like cloth (baize) without pockets. The yellow and white balls are cue balls – one for each opponent – and the red is the object ball. To score a point players must strike their cue ball, hit both the other balls, and bounce off three or more cushions during the course of the shot. A variation popular in England is played on a table with six pockets, one at each corner and in each of the long sides at the middle. Scoring strokes are made by sinking the red ball, sinking the opponent's ball, or sinking another ball off one of these two. The cannon (when the cue ball hits the two other balls on the table) is another scoring stroke.

In 1998 billiards received recognition from the International Olympic Committee as an Olympic sport, along with snooker and pool.