A Little History About Billiards And Snooker
Regardless if you are a novice or an avid fan of billiards and snooker, wouldn't you love to know a little about their origins? It is a well known fact that the snooker game is derived from the billiard game. This may prompt you to ask, "How is it different from billiards?" There are basically two major differences between snooker and billiards. The first is the number of balls used, and the second is the number of players. While snooker needs as many as 22 balls and multiple players, billiards is played with three balls and only two players.
The origin of snooker as a game can be traced to India, during the 19th Century when the British were occupying the territory. At that time, the army officers wanted a game where more people could play, so there would be more fun and less time waiting for a turn. Originally, there were two derivative games from billiards. One was called the "life pool" and the second was called the "black pool." Combined together these two games gave birth to a new game called snooker, played on a snooker table.
A time came when billiards and snooker established their own separate identities. Snooker was no longer considered another type of billiards game, but a game in its own right. The popularity of snooker peaked during the period between 1927 and 1946, when Joe Davis was the unbeatable world snooker champion. After 1946, when Joe retired, this game gradually faded away. Yet it made a major come back in 1978 when the BBC televised the World Snooker Championship. From then on, snooker has been a hot favorite all over the world.
When people speak about billiards and snooker, remember the latter is an offshoot of the former. The deviation from the original game was basically made to accommodate more players into the game. The result was a new game that followed the same rules, yet had an entity of its own. Today, this game is a great favorite throughout the world.