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 is thought to be traceable to 18th-century France. There is a large array of carom billiards disciplines. Some of the more prevalent today and historically are (chronologically by apparent date of development): "straight rail", "cushion caroms", "balkline", "three-cushion billiards" and "artistic billiards". There are many other carom billiards games, predominantly intermediary or offshoot games combining elements of those already listed, such as the "champion's game", an intermediary game between straight rail and balkline, as well as games which are hybrids of carom billiards and pocket billiards, such as "American four-ball billiards", and "cowboy pool". "English billiards" played on a snooker