Variants of billiard and snooker games
Cue sports are divided in two main categories: Carombile and Pocket; these two main billiard's varieties are the most common pool games in the world. The two categories have some similarities but the main difference resides on the table: Pocket games are played on tables with 6 or more holes or pockets, while Carambole games' tables have no pockets.
Carombile or Carom billiard games are usually played on larger tables (10 to 14 feet long) where players shoot their cue balls to hit both, the object ball and the opponent's. Carombile billiard games have a long history among cue sports, such as Balkline, Straight Rail, Cushion Caroms, Three Cushion billiards, Artistic Billiards, Four balls or Five Pins.
Pocket games are normaly played on tables with six pockets, not as long as carombile billiard tables (6 to 12 feet long); these are probably the most popular billiard games without doubt as they can be easily found everywhere in our planet, from bars, taverns, saloons and recreational areas for amateurs, to billiards rooms, snooker halls and pool rooms for the most skilled players.
Pocket games encloses a great number of billiards games; the main category is without doubt Pool, which includes the world's most popular cue sports, Eight Balls Pool game. Pool games are always played on tables between 7 and 9 foot length but the number of balls can be different; the different types of Pool variants include among others Nine Balls, Ten Balls, Straight Pool, One Pocket or Bank Pool. There is also one of these Pocket games that differs from the others: Snooker. Snooker has a whole different story as it has been developed with a concept apart from Pool games, as a result, they do share some similarities but they really are completely different.
Snooker main feature resides on the billiard table, most commonly known as snooker table; this pocket game is usually played on large tables (from 12 to 14 feet long); other Snooker games, like English Billiard or Russian Pyramid, combine features of Snooker and Carombile Billiard games and are very popular in the British and Eastern European countries.