Artistic billiards, sometimes called
fantasy billiards or
fantaisie classique, is a carom billiards discipline in which players compete at performing 76 preset shots of varying difficulty. Each set shot has a maximum point value assigned for perfect execution, ranging from a 4-point maximum for lowest level difficulty shots, and climbing to an 11-point maximum for shots deemed highest in difficulty level. There is a total of 500 points available to a player, representing the combined value of a perfect score on all 76 shots, although not all games are played with the full shot catalogue. The governing body of the sport is the Confédération International de Billard Artistique (CIBA).
Each shot in an artistic billiards match is played from a well-defined position (in some venues within an exacting two millimeter tolerance), and each shot must unfold in an established manner. Players are allowed three attempts at each shot. In general, the shots making up the game – even 4-point shots – require a high degree of skill, devoted practice and specialized knowledge to perform. Such shots often require extremes in
shotmaking techniquesCue sports techniques are an immensely important aspect of game play in the various cue sports such as carom billiards, pool, snooker and other games...
that are not often employed in other games, such as , , precision multiple-rail , and combined with outlandish use of .
Players may use up to twenty separate
cuesA cue stick , is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the . Cues are tapered sticks, typically about 58 inches long and 18–21 ounces...
providing different performance functions. For example, performing massés may require a cue with a very large diameter terminus and a specialized , while jumping may require a short, with a flat (rather than rounded), very hard and also wider cue tip than a playing cue. Some shots may require the use of props such as a small pin laid precisely on the and around which the player is required to make the pass on a designated side. For the most part, top artistic billiard players
specializeSpecialisation, also spelt specialization, is an important way to generate propositional knowledge, by applying general knowledge, such as the theory of gravity, to specific instances, such as "when I release this apple, it will fall to the floor"...
in the game to the exclusion of all others.
World title competition first started in 1986 and required the use of
ivoryIvory is formed from dentine and constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth and narwhal....
balls. However, this requirement was dropped in 1990. The highest score ever achieved in world competition was 374, by the
FrenchmanFrench people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law.* People whose ancestors lived in France or the area that later became France....
Jean Reverchon in 1992, while the highest score in competition overall is 427 set by the Belgian Walter Bax in 2006
http://home.scarlet.be/~ev908555/Tornooien/Uitslagen/Tornooi%204%20f-b%20lugo.htm. The game is played predominantly in
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
, especially in France, Belgium and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
. The game employs a specialized vocabulary, chiefly derived from
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
words, encompassing many terms that have no analogues in other cue sports disciplines. Some examples are
coup fouetté ("whip shot"; a type of force follow);
massé coulé (a massé shot with follow) and
piqué (describes either a massé shot with no English, or a shot in which the cue stick is steeply angled, but not held quite as vertical as it is in full massé).
Artistic pool
Artistic pool trick shot competitions on
pocket billiardsPool, also known as pocket billiards, is the general term for a family of games played on a pool table, with 6 receptacles called pockets along the rails, in which balls are deposited as the main goal of play...
tables, inspired by artistic billiards, began in 1993 in the US at an amateur level and in 2000 professionally and internationally, featuring fifty-six pre-set shots to attempt..
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