The game of Billiards has a long but rich history stretching from its early inception in the 15th century. The word billiard may have been coined from a French word billart meaning stick. Billiards is a general term used frequently by people referring to various skill games played on a table with a cue stick and the billiard balls. Each form of billiards has a distinct name depending on the region it’s being played, the type of table the game is played on, or the number of balls. Camron billiards refers to the games played on a table without pockets, pocket billiards refers to a table with six pockets. Some games such as snooker although similar to the other billiard games are not classified as billiards due to history and a separate culture where it originated. Different billiard games have various designs and sizes for their balls. Pool balls, an American style of billiards, are generally smaller than Camron balls; they also come in a set of two suits, seven stripes and solids, and a hit ball. Camron balls have a set of two hit balls and one object ball. Black ball, an English style of billiards has sets of blue and yellow balls instead of solids and stripes and they are smaller in size than those of pool. Billiard tables vary in size and sometimes in style. There are rectangle tables which are most common. They are usually referred to as nine, eight and seven footers according to the length of the table. Nine footers are common in pool halls, eight footers in homes, while seven footers are common in pool pubs. During a game of billiards chalk is constantly applied to the tip of the players cue stick. This is thought to increase friction between the cue and the ball; this reduces the chances of missing the target. Various bodies govern the game of billiards; these include world Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), Billiard Congress of America (BCA), Pool Players Association and the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF). When shopping for billiards you should be careful to look for ball endurance, consistency, regulation weight, regulation size, precision, balance and roundness. Billiard balls must perform, therefore, most billiard balls are typically made of resin. They are regulated by their color and weight. Professional billiard balls are made of cast from phenolic acid, low grade balls are usually made of polyester, which is a plastic. Ball sets should be kept together due to their different materials. Next time you go out shopping try to choose the ball color that suits your style of play or personality, a good example is the swirled balls rather than solid colors which can add some flamboyance to your style of play.