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A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played. Various particular ball properties such as hardness, friction coefficient, and resilience are important to accuracy.
Although not the first artificial substance to be used for the balls (e.g. Sorel cement, invented in 1867, was marketed as an artificial ivory), John Wesley Hyatt patented an "ivory imitation" composite made of nitrocellulose, camphor, and ground cattle bone on May 4, 1869 (US patent 89582, the first US billiard ball patent). The material was a success, and was sold as Bonzoline, Crystalate, Ivorylene until the 1960s, and was used by prominent professional players such as John Roberts Jr (1847–1919), Charles Dawson (1866–1921), and Walter Lindrum (1898–1960). The ivory substitute was one of the most significant early reinforced plastics; induced the global growth of billiards, pool, and snooker; and helped create a modern idea that the artificial can surpass the natural. It is unclear if the cash prize was ever awarded, and there is no evidence suggesting he did in fact win it.
However, Hyatt's composite had problems. One of the most relevant is cellulose nitrate flammability, not because of making the billiard balls explode, as is often claimed, but because of the dangers of handling it in its pure form during manufacturing. Another problem was related to camphor mass exploitation, leading to the devastation of Taiwan's forests and displacement of indigenous communities. Subsequently, the industry experimented with various other synthetic materials for billiard balls such as Bakelite, acrylic, and other plastic compounds.
The exacting requirements of the billiard ball are met today with balls cast from plastic materials that are strongly resistant to cracking and chipping. Currently Saluc, under the brand name Aramith and other , manufactures phenolic resin balls. Other plastics and resins such as polyester (similar to those used for ) and clear acrylic are also used.
Ivory balls remained in use in artistic billiards competition until the late 20th century.
Four-ball billiards uses an extra object ball, usually blue.
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| Solid blue |
| Solid red |
| Solid purple |
| Solid orange |
| Solid green |
| Solid maroon |
| Solid black |
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The balls are numbered and colored as in the table show here. Balls 1 through 7 are the of and 9 through 15 are the . The 8 ball is not considered part of either suit. Striped balls were introduced around 1889.
Rotation games do not distinguish between solids and stripes, but rather use the numbering on the balls to determine which must be pocketed. In other games such as straight pool neither type of marking is of any consequence.
Some balls used in televised pool games are colored differently in order to make them more distinguishable on television monitors. Most commonly, the dark purple used on the 4 and 12 balls is replaced by pink to make it easier to distinguish the 4 from the black 8 ball, and similarly the 7 and 15 balls use a lighter brown color instead of a deep maroon. Other, less common color substitutions are also found, dependent on manufacturer. These sets often have a cue ball with multiple spots on its surface so that placed on it is evident to viewers.
Baseball billiards uses 21 balls instead of 15, adding 6 extra striped balls, with the 16 ball being black and the 17 through 21 balls being the same colors as the 9 through 13 balls.
Coin-operated pool tables, such as those found at , Amusement arcade, or bars/, may use a slightly different-sized cue ball, so that the cue ball can be separated from object balls by the table's ball return mechanism and delivered into its own ball return. Such different sized cue balls are considered less than ideal because they change the dynamics of the equipment. Other tables use a system where a magnet pulls a cue ball with a thin layer of metal embedded inside away from the object ball collection chamber and into the cue ball return, allowing the cue ball to more closely match the object balls in size and weight. More recently, optical systems that recognize the cue ball, which is more translucent than the other balls due to its solid white color, and separate it mechanically have been developed.
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Snooker balls are standardized at in diameter within a tolerance of plus or minus . No standard weight is defined, but all balls in the set must be the same weight within a tolerance of . Snooker sets are also available with considerably smaller-than-regulation balls (and even with ten instead of fifteen reds) for play on smaller tables (down to half-size), and are sanctioned for use in some amateur leagues. Sets for American snooker are typically , with numbered colour balls.
The set of eight colours used for snooker balls (including white) are thought to be derived from croquet, which uses the same set of colors. Snooker was invented in 1884 by British Army officers stationed in India. Croquet reached its peak popularity at the same time, particularly among people in the same social context. There are many other similarities between croquet and snooker, which when taken together, suggest that the derivation of the latter owes much to the existence of the former.
Some snooker variations use extra balls:
Russian pyramid uses a set of fifteen numbered white balls and a maroon, red or yellow cue ball that are even larger than carom billiards balls at . Kaisa has the same pocket and ball dimensions but uses only five balls: one yellow, two red and two white cue balls, one for each player.
Bumper pool requires four white and four red object balls, and two special balls, one red with a white circle and the other white with a red circle; all are usually in diameter. Bar billiards uses six or seven white balls (depending on regional variations) and one red ball in diameter.
Entrepreneurial inventors also supply a variety of novelty billiard games with unique rules and balls, some with playing card markings, others with stars and stripes, and yet others in sets of more than thirty balls in several suits. Marbled-looking and glittery materials are also popular for home tables. There are even blacklight sets for playing in near-dark. There are also practical joke cue and 8 balls, with off-center weights in them that make their paths curve and wobble. Miniature sets in various sizes (typically or of normal size) are also commonly available, primarily intended for undersized toy tables. Even an egg-shaped ball has been patentedU.S. Patent No. 7,468,002 and marketed under such names as Bobble Ball and Tag Ball.
The term "8-ball" is also slang both for of cocaine or crystal meth, and for a bottle of Olde English 800 malt liquor. It has also been used to refer to African-Americans, particularly those of darker skin tones, as in the films Show Boat and Full Metal Jacket. The expression "behind the eight ball" is used to indicate a dilemma from which it is difficult to extricate oneself. The term derives from the game kelly pool.
Because the collisions between billiard balls are nearly elastic, and the balls roll on a surface that produces low rolling friction, their behavior is often used to illustrate Newton's laws of motion. Idealized, frictionless billiard balls are a staple of Mathematics theorems and physics models, and figure in dynamical billiards, scattering theory, Lissajous knots, billiard ball computing, and reversible cellular automata, Polchinski's paradox, contact dynamics, collision detection, the illumination problem, Ultracold atom, , and elsewhere in these fields.
"Billiard balls" or "pool balls" is the name given to balls used in stage magic tricks, especially the classic "multiplying billiard balls". Though derived from real billiard balls, today they are usually smaller, for easier manipulation and hiding, but not so small and light that they are difficult to juggle, as the magic and juggling disciplines have often overlapped since their successful combination by pioneers like Paul Vandy.
The phrase "as smooth as a billiard ball" is sometimes applied to describe a Baldness, and the term "cue ball" is also slang for someone who sports a shaved head.
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