English billiards English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the United Kingdom, where it originated, and in many former British colonies such as Australia, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pocket billiards. Two (originally both white, with one marked e.g. with a black dot, but more recently one white, one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team uses a different cue ball. It is played on a billiards table with the same dimensions as a snooker table and points are scored for and pocketing the balls. English billiards has also, but less
Carom billiards have a higher light sensitivity to green than to any other color, so green cloth permits play for longer periods of time without eye strain. Modern billiard balls are made from highly resilient plastics with a typical diameter of . They are significantly larger and heavier than their pocket billiards counterparts, ranging between with a typical weight of . While UMB, the International Olympic Committee-recognized world carom billiards authority, technically permits balls as small as , no major manufacturer produces such balls any longer, and the "de facto" standard is . The three standard balls in most carom billiards games