Cue sports playing nine-ball. Snooker balls are smaller than American-style pool balls with a diameter of 52.5 mm ( in), and come in sets of 22 (15 reds, 6 "", and a cue ball). English billiard balls are the same size as snooker balls and come in sets of three balls (two cue balls and a red, an object ball). Other games, such as bumper pool, have custom ball sets. Billiard balls have been made from many different materials since the start of the game, including clay, bakelite, celluloid, crystallite, ivory, plastic, steel and wood. The dominant material from 1627 until the
Snooker who played. In 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game known as "snooker plus" (see the "Variations" section below) to try to improve the game's popularity by adding two extra colours, but it never caught on. A major advance occurred in 1969, when David Attenborough commissioned the snooker television series "Pot Black" to demonstrate the potential of colour television with the green table and multi-coloured balls being ideal for showing off the advantages of colour broadcasting. The series became a ratings success and was for a time the second-most popular show on BBC Two. Interest in the game increased