Blackball (pool) number "8" (a holdover from kelly pool), though numberless variants are not unknown. British pool tables come in 6 × 3 foot (1.8 × 0.9 m) or 7 × 3.5 ft (2.12 × 1.06 m) varieties, with 7 feet being the regulation size for league play. The table has pockets just larger than the balls and rounded, as in the game of snooker, whereas the international-style (or "American-style") table has pockets significantly wider, with pointed . Tournament rules may require the presence of more than one type of (mechanical bridge), as in snooker. There are two competing standards bodies that
Billiard table leather or plastic, may have drop pockets, which are small nets, bags or cups to catch the balls. Ball returns, instead have a series of troughs or gutters inside the table, which channel the balls into a collection chamber on one side of the table. On a coin-operated table, the balls are deposited inside an inaccessible compartment window until the table is paid again, allowing the balls to be released into the collection chamber. A disadvantage to drop pockets is that if too many balls go into the same pocket, it will fill up the receptacle and prevent any more