Guide Note

Pool tables—or billiards, billiard or snooker tables—provide the rectangular, flat, smooth, elevated surface on which pool is played. The pool player uses a long cue stick to hit a cue ball that in turn hits other billiard balls into one of six pockets located on the corners and in the middle of the long side of the table.

Fast Facts

1. Typically seven to nine feet long, with nine being the most common length for pool halls
2. Pubs often purchase "seven-footers" since space for them is limited
3. Usually half as wide as they are long
4. Surface is usually made of slate and covered with a green felt-like material called baize
5. Pool table manufacturing took off in the United States by the end of the 19th century

Cincinnati, Ohio, carriage maker John Moses Brunswick built his first pool table in 1845 and had established the world's best-known pool table brand in five years' time. The company went on to manufacture many more items, from toilet seats to full-on yachts, and became especially known for marketing bowling-related items.