Glossary of cue sports terms Glossary of cue sports terms The following is a glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: "carom (or carambole) billiards" referring to the various games played on a billiard table without ; "pool (pocket billiards)", which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; and "snooker", played on a large pocket table, and which has a sport culture unto itself distinct from pool. There are also hybrid pocket/carom games such as English billiards. The term "" is sometimes used to refer to all of the cue sports, to a specific
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