Snooker Tables Garden Nursery Landscaping Guide
Snooker Tables In Your Pool Room
By Jon Kilts
Snooker is a game that has been played since the end of the 19th
century. Legend tells us that the game was named after British
Army cadets who carried the nickname of "snookers."
They started making changes to a familiar billiards game called
Black Pool and this developed into the game of snooker. The snooker
tables of today are likewise a variation of the common British
billiard tables and there is a variety of billiard games that
can be played on these slate slabs.
It All Started With The English Billiards Pool Tables
The games that are played on the snooker tables of today, were
derived from the billiard pool table games that originally were
played on the English billiards pool tables. So, in order to clearly
understand the development of the modern version of the snooker
table, looking at the history of billiards tables is a good place
to start.
The actual origination of billiards is rather vague and difficult
to pin down. Dating back to the fourth century B.C., there is
evidence of games that were played on the ground, which were similar
to billiards and croquet.
The Standard Size Was Developed
It seems that for convenience, such games were brought to a table-top
level which also required a raised edge to keep the balls from
falling to the ground. For centuries, as the tables evolved to
use the materials common to today’s tables, variations were also
incorporated to accommodate the size of a room. In the early 19th
century, the 12’x6’ became the standard size by a consensus of
manufacturers.
Over time, the billiard pool tables evolved and came to be covered
with cloth. The cloth helped to protect the playing surface and
to make the ball action more predictable. The addition of the
cushioned rails and the pockets also evolved and went through
a number of revisions before a standard was settled upon. Slate
was introduced as a new material for the playing beds in the 1830’s
and is the most common bed material used today in billiard tables
and snooker tables.
Steel Backing Of Cushion Rails
Burroghs and Watts was a well-known manufacturer of high quality
snooker tables, and in the early 1900’s they introduced the option
of steel backing of the cushion rails.
This innovation greatly improved the action and the speed of
rebounding balls, and more importantly, provided a level of consistency
in rebounding.
The inconsistency of rebounding had previously frustrated billiards
players of all types until this improvement was introduced. Any
standard snooker table built today will feature this innovation.
Metric Sized Snooker Tables Were A Flash In The Pan
While the difference is rather minor, in the late 1970’s there
was a movement to correct that minor difference by trying to introduce
a "metric-sized" snooker table which would correct this
anomaly.
This was done by building the snooker tables so that each half
measured exactly 1.75m x 1.75m. Even though some snooker table
manufacturers did produce tables to this metric specification,
the change never really caught on and the standard reverted to
the slightly imbalanced dimensions.
About the Author:
Jon Kilts has written a number of articles on gardening, furniture
and landscaping including Teak
Tables,
Wicker Furniture, Metal
Furniture, Outdoor
Playsets, Vertical
Window Blinds, Shades
Window Blinds, Bamboo
Blinds, Wood
Window Blinds.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.
Little Known Pool Tables Facts....
Pool tables can be quite expensive. Are they worth the price
plus the costs for the supplies and upkeep? Definitely but many
people lack the space to be able to put a full size pool table
in their home.
There are alternatives though. They do make smaller pool tables
and if those are not what you have in mind, you can check out
an online pool tournament to satisfy your gaming craving until
you can find the pool table that fits your needs and budget.
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