What Is The Size Of A Regulation Pool Table

Bounded table on which cue sports are played

Larger tables may crave multiple lamps to properly low-cal the playing surface.

Billiard Table Manufactory, J. M. Brunswick & Bro., Proprietors, Cincinnati, Ohio 1865 ad

A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modernistic era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pool, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface normally fabricated of quarried slate, that is covered with textile (usually of a tightly woven worsted wool called baize), and surrounded by vulcanized prophylactic cushions, with the whole thing elevated to a higher place the floor.^[i] ^{: 115, 238} More specific terms are used for specific sports, such as snooker tabular array and puddle table, and different-sized billiard assurance are used on these table types. An obsolete term is billiard board, used in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[1] ^: 27 ^[2]

Parts and equipment [edit]

Cushions [edit]

Cushions (as well sometimes called "rail cushions", "cushion safety", or rarely "bumpers") are located on the inner sides of a table's wooden track . There are several unlike materials and pattern philosophies associated with cushion safety. The cushions are made from an elastic material such as vulcanized prophylactic (gum or synthetic). The purpose of the cushion rubber is to cause the billiard assurance to rebound off the safe while minimizing the loss of kinetic free energy.

The profile of the runway absorber, which is the cushion'south angle in relation to the bed of the tabular array, varies between table types. The standard on American pool tables is the Yard-66 contour, which as defined past the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) has a base of i+ 3⁄16 inches (30 mm) and a olfactory organ height of 1 inch (25 mm).^[3] When installed properly the distance from the olfactory organ of the absorber to the covered slate surface is one+ 7⁄16 inches (37 mm)^[4] while using a regulation 2+ i⁄4 -inch (57 mm) ball set up.

On a carom tabular array, the G-55 profile is used (with a somewhat sharper angle than pool cushions). Thou-55 cushions have cloth, commonly canvas, vulcanized into the top of the rubber to accommodate rebound accurateness and speed.^[3]

Snooker tables apply an 50-shaped profile, such equally the L77 profile.

Bed [edit]

The bed table – the cloth-covered, horizontal playing surface – is, on high-quality equipment, made of solid, smooth slabs of slate, well-nigh frequently from Italy, Brazil or China. Small puddle tables may apply merely 1 or two pieces of slate, while carom, English language billiards and tournament-size pool tables use three. Full-size snooker tables crave five. The gap between slates is filled with a hard-drying putty, epoxy or resin, so sanded to produce a seamless surface, before being covered with the cloth. When several pieces of slate are joined poorly it is possible for the resin to deform and cause an uneven playing surface; information technology can also be difficult to move once joined.

Tables for the home marketplace usually use slate beds too, but the slate is ofttimes thinner, down to nearly + 1⁄2 inch (13 mm). The early table beds were made of cloth-covered wooden boards. Today, cheap but not very rigid or durable materials used for the beds of depression-end tables (e.g. for children'south recreation rooms) still include forest, specially medium-density fibreboard and plywood, every bit well equally plastics and other synthetic materials under various trade names.

Cloth [edit]

Billiard cloth (sometimes erroneously called felt) is a specific blazon of fabric that covers the acme of the tabular array'southward "playing area". Both the runway and slate beds are covered with 21–24-ounce billiard cloth (although some less expensive xix-ounce cloths are bachelor) which is nigh ofttimes green in color (representing the grass of the original lawn games that billiards evolved from), and consists of either a woven wool or wool-nylon blend called baize.

Almost bar tables, which get much use, employ the slower, thicker blended felt because it is cheaper. This blazon of cloth is called a woollen cloth. By contrast, high-quality pool fabric is usually made of a napless weave such as worsted wool, which gives a much faster roll to the balls. This "speed" of the textile affects the amounts of swerve and deflection of the balls, among other aspects of game finesse. Snooker cloth traditionally has a directional nap, upon which the balls behave differently when rolling confronting vs. running with the direction of the nap.

Markings [edit]

Sights , also known as diamonds (for their traditional shape), are inlaid at precise, evenly spaced positions forth the rails of some tables (non normally on snooker tables) to aid in the aiming of bank or kick shots. At that place are seven forth each long rails (with the side pocket interfering with where the seventh one would go, on pocket billiard tables) and three along each short rail, with each of the four corners counting as another in the mathematical systems that the diamonds are used to calculate. These sights divide the playing surface into equal squares. Books, even unabridged series of books, accept been written on geometric and algebraic systems of aiming using the diamonds.

Spots are often used to marker the head and foot spots on the cloth. Other markings may be a line drawn beyond the head cord (or beyond the balk line with the "D" , in British-way pool). Some other case is the outline of the triangle rack behind the pes spot where the balls are racked in direct pool, since the outline of this area is strategically important throughout the game. In artistic pool, lines may be drawn betwixt opposite sights putting a grid on the playing surface. Other grid patterns are used in various forms of balkline billiards. A contempo table marking convention, in European nine-brawl, is the intermission box .

Carom billiards tables [edit]

Pocketless carom billiards tables are used for such games every bit straight track, balkline, one-absorber billiards, three-cushion caroms, and artistic billiards.

Dimensions [edit]

Regulation 10 × 5-foot carom billiards tables have a playing surface (measured betwixt the noses of the cushions) of 2.84 metres by 1.42 metres (nine.32 × 4.65 anxiety) with a v-millimetre allowance.^[v] The standard pinnacle range of the table, measured from the playing surface to the ground is between 75 and fourscore centimetres.

Bed [edit]

The slate bed of a carom billiard table must accept a minimum thickness of 45 millimetres and in tournaments recommended heating temperatures is 33–37°C (91–99°F), which helps to continue wet out of the cloth to help the balls rolling and rebounding in a consistent manner, and by and large makes a table play faster. A heated tabular array is required under international carom rules and is an especially important requirement for the games of three-absorber billiards and artistic billiards.^[i] ^{: 115, 238}

Heating tabular array beds is an quondam do. Queen Victoria had a billiard tabular array that was heated using zinc tubes, although the aim at that time was chiefly to keep the then-used ivory balls from warping. The first use of electrical heating was for an xviii.2 balkline tournament held in Dec 1927 between Welker Cochran and Jacob Schaefer Jr. The New York Times announced information technology with fanfare: "For the commencement time in the history of world's championship balkline billiards a heated table will be used..."^[1] ^{: 115, 238} ^[vi]

Pool tables [edit]

A cue ball and the 1 ball close to a WPA-manner pocket. (The assurance are the same size; the cue brawl looks large due to foreshortening.)

A pool tabular array, or pocket billiards table, has 6 pockets – one at each corner of the table ( corner pockets ) and 1 at the midpoint of each of the longer sides ( side pockets or middle pockets ).

Dimensions [edit]

A WEPF-manner puddle tabular array, showing a cue ball and red and xanthous balls close to the small, rounded, nearly parallel-sided pocket.

Pool tables come in different sizes, typically referred to every bit 9-human foot (2.7 m), eight.five ft (2.6 1000), viii ft (two.4 yard), or 7 ft (ii.1 one thousand) tables. In all cases, the table is rectangular with a 2:1 ratio (e.thousand. nine × 4.5 ft).

There are merely two sizes approved for tournament play by the International Olympic Committee–recognized sport governing body of pool, the World Puddle-Billiard Association (WPA), and its various regional and national affiliates; under the world standardized rules of pool, these are the 9 × 4.v ft and viii × four ft models.^[vii] ^[3] For a 9-ft table, the playing surface (the dimensions between the noses of the cushions) measures 100 inches (254 cm) by 50 inches (127 cm) with a + 1⁄8 -inch (three.ii mm) margin of fault for either dimension. For an 8-ft table, the playing surface measures 92 inches (234 cm) by 46 inches (117 cm), with the same + 1⁄8 inch variance immune.

In the Great britain as well as a number of other British Republic and European countries, the typical pool table is a 7 × 3.5 ft (two.thirteen × 1.07 yard), although vi-foot (one.83 thou) tables for the pub and dwelling market are also common. These are the sizes used by internationally standardized blackball and the amateur Globe Eightball Puddle Federation, besides equally informal pub pool.^[8] The 7-foot size is likewise frequently used in North American amateur leagues, and are common money-operated fixtures in bars and other venues. The playing surface for a seven-human foot table is 76 inches (193 cm) by 38 inches (96.5 cm).

Pockets [edit]

Pockets, typically rimmed at the dorsum with leather or plastic traditionally take drop pockets, which are small receptacles below each pocket to incorporate the assurance. More than modern tables may instead utilize brawl return pockets, a series of gutters inside the table, which deliver the balls into a drove compartment on ane side of the table, in a similar mode to the brawl return on a bowling aisle. On a coin-operated table, the object assurance are deposited within an inaccessible window until the tabular array is paid again, allowing the balls to be released into the compartment, while the cue ball is usually separated into its own ball return, often utilizing a unlike sized ball. A possible result of drop pockets is that if too many balls go into the same pocket, it volition fill the receptacle and prevent any more than assurance from going in that pocket, requiring that some exist moved out of the pocket manually before shooting again.

Regardless of table size, the WPA standard (sometimes informally called "American-style") tabular array has wide, athwart pockets that funnel notably inward, generally 1.75 to ii.25 times every bit wide at the opening as the diameter of the ii+ 1⁄4 -inch (57 mm) balls, wider at the side (heart) pockets than the corners. WEPF puddle (sometimes informally called "British-style" or "Democracy-style") is played with 2 to 2+ 1⁄8 -in (51–54 mm) balls, and this type of table has smaller, narrow pockets (the width is calculated equally the ball diameter multiplied by 1.six, and is consistent at all six pockets), with rounded entrances and nearly parallel sides, similar those on a snooker table. One tactical consequence of this blueprint departure is that the jaws of the WPA-type pocket are often used exactly like a horizontal version of the backboard of a basketball goal, to rebound the brawl into the pocket; this technique does not work on blackball tables, and fifty-fifty shots downward the cushion into a corner pocket are more difficult.

Bed [edit]

For tournament competition under WPA earth-standardized rules (and league play under derived rulesets), the bed of the pocket billiard table must exist made of slate no less than 1 inch (2.54 cm) thick. The flatness of the table must be divergent past no greater than 0.02 inches (0.51 mm) lengthwise and 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) across the width.^[7]

Snooker and English billiards tables [edit]

Snooker table, fatigued to calibration

A table designed for the games snooker and English language billiards is unremarkably called a snooker tabular array or a aeroplane.^{[ citation needed ]}

Dimensions [edit]

The playing area of a tournament snooker tabular array, every bit standardized by the Globe Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) and the amateur International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF),^[nine] ^[10] measures 11 feet 8.5 inches by 5 ft 10 in (3569 mm by 1778 mm) with a tolerance of ± 0.v in (13 mm),^[11] though commonly referred to as 12 ft by vi ft, the nominal outer dimensions including the track. Smaller tables, approximately ten ft by 5 ft down to half size, are besides sometimes used in pubs, homes and smaller snooker halls. The height from the floor to the top of the cushion is between 2 ft 9.v in and ii ft 10.5 in (851 mm and 876 mm).^[11]

Pockets [edit]

A snooker table has six pockets, ane at each corner and one at the centre of each of the longest side cushions. The pockets are around 86 mm (iii.5 in),^{[ clarification needed ]} though high-grade tournaments may use slightly smaller pockets to increment difficulty. The corporeality of undercut (trimmed underside of the rubber absorber's protruding nose at the pocket opening),^[12] ^: 8 if any, has a strong effect on how hands a ball is accepted by the pocket (the " pocket speed "). On snooker and English billiards tables, the pocket entries are rounded, while pool tables accept sharp " knuckles ". This affects how authentic shots need to be to go into a pocket, and how fast they can be when not expressionless-on, including shots that run along and against a cushion, making snooker more difficult to play than puddle. According to the WPBSA official rule volume, "the pocket openings shall accommodate to the templates owned and authorised by The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Clan (WPBSA)".^[eleven] The WPBSA and IBSF rule books' equipment sections do not actually specify the measurements and shapes of these proprietary templates^[10] ^[11] which change from time to fourth dimension, requiring that the templates exist dated.^[13] The organizations exercise not recognize tournament play or records (maximum breaks, etc.) if non performed on tables that accommodate to and then-current templates.^[13] ^[14]

Cushions [edit]

The cushions (sometimes known as runway, though that term properly applies to the forest sections to which the cushions are attached) are usually made of vulcanized safety.

Markings [edit]

The baulk area is marked by a baulk line drawn on the cloth beyond the width of the tabular array at 29 inches (737 mm) from and parallel to the face of the bottom cushion .^[11] A semicircle with a radius of 11.5 inches (292 mm) centred on this line inside baulk forms the "D" ^[11] in which the cue ball must be placed when breaking or after the cue ball has been potted or shot off the table. The position of iv of the colours are marked along the long string (lengthwise middle) of the table, perpendicular to the baulk line: the blackness spot , 12.75 inches (324 mm) from the height cushion ; the centre spot or blue spot , located at the midpoint between the bottom and top cushions ; the pyramid spot or pink spot , located midway between the centre spot and the elevation cushion; and the baulk spot or brown spot , located at the midpoint of the baulk line^[11] (and, thus of the "D"). Due to its obviousness, the brown spot is not always marked (neither are the unmistakable greenish and xanthous spots ,^[11] at the left and right intersections, respectively, of the baulk line and the "D"'southward bend.^[one] ^{: 116, 278} ^[xi] The exact placing of these markings are different on smaller tables, but proportional to the total-size model.

Bed [edit]

The playing surface of a good quality snooker table has a bed of slate^[xv] and is covered with baize cloth, traditionally greenish, though many other colours are now bachelor. The thickness of this cloth determines the table's speed (lack of friction) and responsiveness to spin , thicker cloths being longer lasting merely slower and less responsive. The nap of the cloth can affect the run of the balls, especially on slower shots and shots played with sidespin practical to the cue ball . A snooker table traditionally has the nap running from the baulk to the top end and is brushed and ironed in this management.

Tables for other games [edit]

Other types of billiard tables are used for specific games, such as Russian pyramid which uses a '12 ft by six ft' table (similar to a snooker tabular array merely with much smaller pockets), and Asian iv ball which uses a pocketless 8 ft by 4 ft table. Games such equally bagatelle oft had more than six holes, including straight through the bed in the middle of the table, a feature still found in bar billiards and bumper pool.

Novelty and dwelling tables [edit]

At that place are novelty billiard tables, frequently for puddle, that come in various shapes including zig-zag, circular, and (especially for bumper pool) hexagonal. A circular table featured prominently in the 1972 film Silent Running. For the domicile marketplace, many manufacturers have produced convertible billiard tables (in the broad sense) that double as dining tables or equally table lawn tennis, foosball, or air hockey, tables, with removable hard tops.^[15] Home pool tables, which often lack a brawl-return system, are commonly either iv × 8 ft or three.five × 7 ft models, a medium between 3 × six ft. bar/pub tables and four.five × nine ft tournament-size models. Depression-finish tables tend toward the smaller range, and may have MDF or forest beds every bit an alternative to slate; those with light-weight beds may exist foldable for storage, equally with tabular array tennis. Miniature tables range in size from tabletop 1 × ane.6 ft to free-standing ii.5 × five ft models, and use scaled-downwardly cues and balls.

Russian pyramid ball at a corner pocket. The relative size of the brawl and the pocket makes the game very challenging.
A bar billiards table, showing the holes only not the mushrooms that are placed in forepart of the holes. All players stand in front end of the table (no side admission is permitted).
A rectangular bumper pool table
A billiard table the bed of which can be flipped over for use every bit a regular table; produced past Heinrich Seifert & Söhne around 1910.
A kid plays a miniature billiard table ready on a coffee tabular array and using small assurance.
Soccer billiards table, also known as footpool or snookball. The balls are regular soccer assurance coloured and numbered to resemble pool balls.

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^{due east} Shamos, Mike (1999). The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. New York: Lyons Press. ISBN1-55821-797-v.
^ Everton, Clive (1986). The History of Snooker and Billiards (rev. ver. of The Story of Billiards and Snooker [1979] ed.). Haywards Heath, England: Partridge Press. pp. 8–11. ISBN1-85225-013-5.
^ ^a ^b ^c "BCA Equipment Specifications". Billiard Congress of America. Archived from the original on 4 Apr 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007 – via BestBilliard.com.
^ "Pool Table Cushion Replacement". PoolFelt.com. Archived from the original on fifteen October 2008.
^ "World Rules of Carom Billiard" (PDF). UMB.org. Union Mondiale de Billard. 1 Jan 1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2013. Retrieved xiii Dec 2015.
^ "To Rut Table for First Time in World Title Billiard Friction match". The New York Times. 16 December 1927. Retrieved 2 January 2007. (Subscription required.)
^ ^a ^b "WPA Tournament Table and Equipment Specifications". Globe Pool-Billiard Clan. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
^ "British vs. American Pool". Liberty Games. Retrieved xxx April 2010.
^ "Official Rules of the Games of Snooker and English Billiards" (PDF). The Globe Professional Billiards & Snooker Association Limited. November 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 July 2016. Retrieved i July 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Rules of the Game of Snooker". Reims, France: International Billiards and Snooker Federation. 2011. Archived from the original on one January 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^yard ^h ⁱ Official Rules of the Games of Snooker and English Billiards (PDF). Bristol, England, UK: Earth Professional Billiards & Snooker Association. 2011. pp. ix–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 Apr 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
^ Stooke, Michael P. (14 March 2010). "Definitions of Terms used in Snooker and English Billiards". SnookerGames.co.uk. Dorset, England: self-published. This tertiary source reuses information from other sources without citing them in detail. Stooke is a snooker instructor and writer whose work appears to be presumptively reliable, based on the sources he does cite throughout his materials.
^ ^a ^b "Standard Size of the Snooker Table". Delhi, New Delhi, India: Republic of india Cue Sports Society. 1995. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
^ "Maximum Breaks (Professional Competition But)". FCSnooker.co.uk. Preston, England: The Frank Callan Suite. 2009. "Unofficial 147s" section. Archived from the original on 8 Jan 2012. Retrieved 24 Dec 2011. FCS is a snooker equipment manufacturer that as well runs a snooker statistics site.
^ ^a ^b "Puddle Table Buyer'south Guide". TheMensCave.sg. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.