What is a difference between pool game, snooker and billiards?

Answer 1

I found a definition of billiards from Encyclopaedia Britannica,
"any of various games played on a rectangular table with a designated number of small balls and a long stick called a cue. The table and the cushioned rail bordering the table are topped with a feltlike tight-fitting cloth. Carom, or French, billiards is played with three balls on a table that has no pockets. The other principal games are played on tables that have six pockets, …" [1]

English Billiards is played with only 3 balls. 2 whites and 1 red ball.
You can find some information at the following link, look down the page for the title 'English Billiards". It also provides some information on snooker.
http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Billiards-Snooker.htm

The rules of billiards can be found here
http://infohost.nmt.edu/~billiard/house_rules/english_billiards.html


Just in case you do not know what a 'cue' ball is. It is the ball you have to hit with your stick or cue.


Snooker has 1 white ball, 15 red balls, and 6 coloured balls. The 6 colours being Yellow, Green, Brown, Blue, Pink, and Black.
The white ball is the 'cue' ball.
The red balls are worth 1 point.
The coloured balls are worth Yellow - 2 points., Green - 3 points, Brown - 4 points, Blue - 5 points, Pink - 6 points, Black - 7 points. [2]

The page I gave with English Billiards also has snooker information, you need to go to the title of 'Snooker' on the page:
http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Billiards-Snooker.htm

More snooker rules can be found here:
http://www.billiardworld.com/snooker.html


Pool is usually played with 1 white ball and 15 coloured and numbered balls. There are a few varities to snooker, including 8-ball, 9-ball, etc.
You can find the rules to these different varieties from the following web page. You will have to click the link on the left that says 'GAME RULES' and selct on of the items in there.
http://www.bca-pool.com/play/

8-ball is probably the most known game, and its rules, objectives, etc can be found here:
http://www.epa.org.uk/wrules.php

Answer 2

Here is the easiest way to explain this. POOL: The game that you are most familiar with, 15 object balls, a cue ball, six pockets on the table. Most common games are 8-Ball, 9-Ball, and 14.1 or straight pool. Tables come in a variety of sizes from the standard bar table 6'X3' to the proffessional tournament size of 9'X4.5'. BILLIARDS: Three balls on the table, no pockets. Players earn points by contacting rails and the other two balls on the table. This is a fairly difficult game to master, as it requires players to have a fair understanding of the diamond system to be successful. SNOOKER: This is more popular in Europe than in the states. The game is played on a 12'X6' table. The tables have six pockets, but they are half the size of standard pool table pockets. The balls are also much smaller. Their are 15 red balls, a blue ball, a black ball, and a yellow ball; the balls are not numbered and can be pocketed in any order. Each colored ball has a different value in the scoring of the game. The balls are not pocketed in any particular order. NOTE: Billiards is a term commonly used to describe pool and the game of billiards described above. The person that provided the BCA website is correct, in that the BCA can provide you more detailed information about the games. If you have ever seen the classic movie "The Hustler", Fast Eddie Feldson (Paul Newman) plays pool throughout the movie, at one point he travels to Kentucky during the Derby and ends up playing Billiards with an upper class gambler. Anyway, enjoy the games.