History Of Billiards (or Pool) Condensed version of "A Brief
History of the Noble Game of Billiards" By Mike Shamos. Curator
of The Billiard Archive, a nonprofit organization set up to
preserve the game’s history. With permission of the Billiard
Congress of America. The History of billiards is long and very
rich. The game has been played by kings and commoners,
presidents, mental patients, ladies, gentlemen, and hustlers
alike. It evolved from a lawn game similar to the croquet played
some-time during the 15th century in Northern Europe and
probably in France. Play moved indoors to a wooden table with
green cloth to simulate grass, and a simple border was placed
around the edges. The balls were shoved, rather than struck,
with wooden sticks called "maces." The term "billiard" is
derived from French, either from the word "billart", one of the
wooden sticks, or "bille", a ball. Most of our information about
early billiards comes from accounts of playing by royalty and
other nobles. It has been know as the "Nobl