Do you have any clue what cue sports are? Let me give you a cue. They are played with cue sticks! Cue games is an umbrella term for games played with a cue stick used to strike a ball across a table. Popular all across the globe, cue sports enjoy great fandom and have many enthusiasts. Read on to find three basic types of cue sports played around the world.

Pool
Pool or pocket billiards is a game mostly payed on 6 pocket tables. The world’s most widely played amateur pool is with eight balls. If you play professionally then the most dominant style is to play the same sport with nine balls. Something called straight pool, was the most common style that the professionals formerly played with ten balls. Later they ditched it and began playing the same game with a total of nine balls.

Billiards
Carom Billiards or carambole is played on tables that are typically ten feet in length. The most distinguishing factor about Carom billiard is that it is played on pocket-less tables. At times, the game is played on heated slate. The slate bed is typically heated to about 5 degrees above normal temperature. Heating helps to drive out moisture from the table top and helps roll balls and the game faster. Carom Billiard too is divided according to the balls and the rules incorporated while playing it. Typically played with three ball, players score points by rebounding their cue ball off both the object ball and the opponent’s cue ball all in one single shot! Carom to the modern pool player may seem absolutely foreign, however, it has been the oldest cue sport around. Some common known games of carom billiard include Straight Rail,The champion’s game, Balkaline, Cushion Caroms, Three-cushion billiards and Artistic or fantasy billiards.

Snooker
Snooker is the third kind of cue sport that is played with a total of 22 balls. The snooker table has six pockets but is larger than a standard pool table. Snooker players use a strategy called snooker to make their opponent’s task difficult. When you snooker an opponent, they are unable to hit their ball in an easy straight line. A mean spirited game, snooker is a sport that is on the rise.

Cue sports strangely, most often than not, are played in bars as the overarching idea is to have serious fun! Be it pool, snooker or billiard whenever a game is on you are sure to find passionate players and enthusiastic onlookers hovering around the table.