English billiards, called billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as the "English game", the "all-in game" and the "common game".
The game is for two players or teams. Two cue balls (originally both white, but more recently one white, one yellow) and a red object ball are used. Each player or team use...
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English billiards, called billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as the "English game", the "all-in game" and the "common game".
The game is for two players or teams. Two cue balls (originally both white, but more recently one white, one yellow) and a red object ball are used. Each player or team uses a different cue ball; where both cue balls are white, one has a distinguishing mark (usually a black dot).
English billiards was originally called the "winning and losing carambole game", after the three predecessor billiards games, "the winning game", "the losing game" and "the carambole game" (an early form of straight rail), that combined to form it.
The winning game was played with two white balls, and was a 12-point contest. To start, the player who could strike a ball at one end of the table and get the ball to come to rest nearest the...
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