Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards or simply carambole (and sometimes used as another word for a game called "straight rail") are a family of billiards games played on cloth-covered tables. In these games, the players strike heavy balls with sticks called cues. Carom billiards tables have no pockets or opening where balls are sunk, that snooker and pool tables do have. In its simplest form, the object of carom billiards games is to score points or "counts" by bouncing one's own ball, called a cue ball, off of the other two balls on the table. The date the first carom game was invented is not exactly known. Also, how exactly the games developed and which game was first is not clear. However, carom billiards games are believed to have started sometime in the 18th-century (the 1700s) in France in Europe.