Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/89

* BILLIARDS. 71 iour balls are used in playing the game, the balls being propelled with cues, which are gen- •erally made of ash or maple, and in length vary from" 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet. A billiard-cue is about IV. inches thick at the butt end, while the tip runs to a point, in size from % to 14 incli. In weight most cues vary from 14 to 22 ounces. Ivor' balls are generally used, and in America and France the standard ball measures 2% inches in diameter, in England 2 1-16 inches. The original American four-ball game of car- oms and ])0ckets was played upon a 6 X 12 table, with six pockets. Two white and two red balls (light and dark in color) 2% inches in diameter were used, but it is so .seldom played now that it needs no further notice, its place having been taken by the four-ball carom game, which in turn is giving place to the more popular three- ball carom game. This is played in America and France with two white balls and one red. In professional contests a 5 X 10 carom table is used — i.e. a table without pockets, although it can be played on a talile with pockets, counting only the caroms. A semicircle is drawn at the head of the table, with a radius of 6 inches, the base of which is an imaginary line drawn through the centre of the white-ball spot. The billiard- table has three spots in a line, dividing the table lengthwise, running from the centre of the head cushion to the centre of the foot cushion; one of these spots, cutting the line in two equal parts, is called the centre spot, and the other two are situated half way between the centre spot and the head and foot cushions. The spot at the head of the table is called the white spot, and the one at the foot the red spot. The centre spot is used only when a ball, forced off the table, finds both white and red spots occu- pied. Should the white ba'.l forced otl" the table find its spot occupied, it would be placed on the red spot, and vice versa. In beginning the game, the red ball and one white are placed on their respective spots; the other white remains in hand and is placed near the white spot previous to the opening stroke in the game. The player can take any position within six inches of the white spot, but he must strike the red ball first before a count can be effected. The cushion- carom game, in which the cue-ball is required to .strike one cushion after having hit the first ob- ject-ball, is now very general, while the two- cushion and even three-cushion contests are not infrequently played by amateurs as well as pro- fessionals. W'h.it has come to be generally kno«Ti as the 'balk-line game' is a development made neces- sary by the wonderful skill acquired bj' the pro- fessional players of first rank in 'cushion nurs- ing"; that is, the making of an almost indefinite number of shots by getting the lialls against <jne of the cushions. Vith the balls in this posi- tion such skillful players as Frank Ives, .Jacob .'^cliaefer, George Slosson, and others are able to make runs of several hundred, such is their adept- ness and delicacy of touch. To guard against tliis, lines were drawn running parallel to and, at first, eight inches from the cushions and conii)h'te!y .rooming the table both ways. The rules of this game provide that the players shall be permit- ted to make only one or a given number of shots when one or both of the object-balls are be- tween the line and the cushion. The player •18 permitted to make as many carom shots as he BILLIABDS. can when the balls are entirely outside the balk- lines, and although this space is, of course, rela- tively small, the more expert players frequently make runs of from 20 to 30 by extremely deli- cate carom playing with occasional forcing of one of the object-balls to the cushion with such accuracy as to make it return to a position from which the carom playing may be contiiuied. But with the further develoi)ment of skill among pro- fessional players, this free space was decreased by increasing the distance of the balk-line from the cushions first fourteen and then eighteen inches, while games occasionally provide for a 22-inch balk-line. Again, the restrictions of play within these lines are made more exacting as the skill of the player increases; that is to say, in many of the tournaments between professional players no shot may be counted when the balls are within the balk-lines, unless one is forced over the line. The only play upon balls against the cushion in most tournaments between professionals is one which provides that both object-balls shall be within what is known as the 'anchor space.' These anchor spaces are rectangles about six inches long and three inches broad, drawn at the cushion line so that the balk-line will divide each into two squares. If the player is skillful enough or fortunate enough to get the two object-balls within this anchor space, he may make one shot, but he must at the same time drive one of the balls outside the space. If his skill is sufficient to make the ball or balls return to this anchor space he may continue his play; but this, as may be supposed, is an exceedingly difficult feat. Tournaments between professional players are generally arranged with the utmost exactness as to the smallest details of play. In many cases this uiceness extends even to a definite require- ment as to the temperature of the room in which the contest is to take place. This, because mois- ture or low temperatures affect the elasticity of the ivory of which the balls are made; there- fore the articles of agreement often require that the room shall be kept at a temperature of not less than 80°. The following are some of the remarkable scores made in recent times, under the modem highly scientific developments: Straight rail — highest run for match play (3 balls, on regula- tion 5 X 10 table) 1531 points, JIaurice Vignaux, Paris, 1880. Highest average for match play, 333 i-i, by Jacob Sehaefer, Chicago, 1879. Cush- ion caroms — highest run for tournament play, 85 points, Frank C. Ivcs, Boston, 1890. Highest average for tournament play, 10 (in 200 points), .Jacob Sehaefer, Chicago, 1887. Fourteeninch balk-line — highest run (with 'anchor luirse' bar- red), 359 points, Frank C. Ives, Chicago, 1894. Highest average (with 'anchor nurse' allowed), 100, Jacob Sehaefer, New York, 1893, and Frank C. Ives, Chicago, 1894. Highest average (with 'anchor nurse' barred), 63 2-10, Frank C. Ives, New York, 1894. 18-inch balk-line — highest run for t&urnament play, 290 points (with 5 shots allowed in 'anchor' spaces), Frank C. Ives, New Y'ork, 1896; 140 (with the 'anchor nurse' barred), Frank C. Ives, Xew Y'ork, 1897. Highest average for tournament play, 50 (with 5 shots allowed in 'anchor' spaces), Frank C. Ives, New Y'ork, 1896; 40 (with 'anchor nurse' barred), Jacob Sehaefer, Chicago, 1898.