Bar billiards is a form of
billiardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
which was possibly initially based on the traditional game of
bagatelleBagatelle is an indoor table game related to billiards, the object of which is to get a number of balls past pins into holes...
. The origins of the game are uncertain, yet it has been suggested that there is a link to a traditional
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n game.
Bar billiards in its current form started in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
in the 1930s and the tables were made by the Jelkes company of Holloway Road in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and sold to many pubs. It is a traditional game played in
West SussexWest Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
,
BerkshireBerkshire is a county in the South East of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1958, and Letters...
,
OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
,
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury and the largest town in ceremonial Buckinghamshire is Milton Keynes....
,
CambridgeshireCambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
and
NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census...
.
Bar billiards is played on a special bar billiards table without side and corner pockets, but with 9 holes in the playing surface which are assigned certain point values (from 10 to 200).
There are 8 balls for play - seven white and one red.
Bar billiards is a form of
billiardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
which was possibly initially based on the traditional game of
bagatelleBagatelle is an indoor table game related to billiards, the object of which is to get a number of balls past pins into holes...
. The origins of the game are uncertain, yet it has been suggested that there is a link to a traditional
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n game.
Bar billiards in its current form started in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
in the 1930s and the tables were made by the Jelkes company of Holloway Road in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and sold to many pubs. It is a traditional game played in
West SussexWest Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
,
BerkshireBerkshire is a county in the South East of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1958, and Letters...
,
OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
,
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury and the largest town in ceremonial Buckinghamshire is Milton Keynes....
,
CambridgeshireCambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
and
NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census...
.
The game
Bar billiards is played on a special bar billiards table without side and corner pockets, but with 9 holes in the playing surface which are assigned certain point values (from 10 to 200).
There are 8 balls for play - seven white and one red. Potting the red ball in any hole scores double points.
On the playfield are normally placed three pegs (sometimes called
mushroomA mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to those fungi that have...
s, as they have a thin stalk and sometimes a flattish rounded cap, sometimes a horizontal wire through the peg) - two white pegs, one either side of the 100 hole, and one black peg in front of the '200' hole. If a white peg is knocked over then the player's break is ended and all score acquired during that break is discarded. Knocking down the black peg ends the player's break and all points are lost. In the case that a white and a black peg are both knocked over, then only the first peg to be knocked over is used.
All shots are played from one end of the table so access to all sides of the table is not necessary (ideal for a smallish bar or pub). A white ball is placed on a starting spot, then another ball (the red ball, if available) will be placed on a spot a few inches in front of that. Players take alternate turns at the table, the 'turn' being known as a 'break. If the player fails to pot a ball then the break has ended and the second player takes his break by placing another ball on the first spot. If all balls are in play, then the closest ball to the 'D' (the semi-circle around the first spot) is removed and put on the spot. If a player fails to hit a ball, then the break ends and all points earned in that break are lost.
The play is time-limited (normally a coin will give 15-17 minutes of play). After this time a bar drops inside the table stopping any potted balls from returning, leading to a steady decrease in the number of balls in play.
The last ball can only be potted by getting it into the '100' or '200' point hole after bouncing off one side cushion.
The game is played mostly in southern
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the
Channel IslandsThe Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
. The county with most leagues is
SussexSussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
(currently 10).
Trivia
ITN television newsreader
Reginald BosanquetReginald Bosanquet was a British journalist, best known for presenting ITN news in the 1970s.- Early life :He was the son of the cricketer Bernard Bosanquet, inventor of the "googly" and a cousin of the public relations executive Christopher Bosanquet...
was well known for his love of the game and was at one time official Patron of the All-England Bar Billiards Association.
Bar Billiards World Championship
The Bar Billiards World Championship (previously called the British Isles Open up to 1999) is held every year in
JerseyThe Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes the nearly uninhabited islands of the Minquiers, Écréhous, the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs. Together with the bailiwick of Guernsey...
. This is a list of past winners and runners up:-
| Year |
Winner |
Runner-up |
| 1981 |
Harry Siddal (Jersey) |
Derek Payne (Oxon) |
| 1982 |
Graham Bisson (Jersey) |
Clarrie Querrie (Jersey) |
| 1983 |
Tim Ringsdore (Jersey) |
Micky Daw (Jersey) |
| 1984 |
Peter Noel (Jersey) |
Don Cadec (Jersey) |
| 1985 |
Bernie McCluskey (Berkshire) |
Paul Webb (Guernsey) |
| 1986 |
Dave Harris (Berkshire) |
Peter Noel (Jersey) |
| 1987 |
Wayne Poingdestre (Jersey) |
Kevin Tunstall (Oxon) |
| 1988 |
Alan Le Blond (Jersey) |
Micky Daw (Jersey) |
| 1989 |
Trevor Gallienne (Guernsey) |
Bob Taylor (Kent) |
| 1990 |
Steve Ahier (Jersey) |
Terry Race (Sussex) |
| 1991 |
Steve Ahier (Jersey) |
Simon Tinto (Surrey) |
| 1992 |
Dennis Helleur (Jersey) |
Harry Barbet (Jersey) |
| 1993 |
Kevin Tunstall (Oxon) |
Graham Bisson (Jersey) |
| 1994 |
Kevin Tunstall (Oxon) |
Tony Walsh (Berkshire) |
| 1995 |
Tony Walsh (Berkshire) |
Mark Brewster (Kent) |
| 1996 |
Terry Oakley (Surrey) |
Don Cadec (Jersey) |
| 1997 |
Jim Millward (Sussex) |
Steve Ahier (Jersey) |
| 1998 |
Keith Sheard (Oxon) |
Nick Barnett (Jersey) |
| 1999 |
Peter Noel (Jersey) |
Terry Race (Sussex) |
| 2000 |
Bernie McCluskey (Berkshire) |
Bob King (Jersey) |
| 2001 |
Jim Millward (Sussex) |
Kevin Tunstall (Oxon) |
| 2002 |
Terry Race (Sussex) |
Nigel Ryall (Jersey) |
| 2003 |
Jim Millward (Sussex) |
Terry Race (Sussex) |
| 2004 |
Terry Race (Sussex) |
Nigel Ryall (Jersey) |
| 2005 |
Graeme Le Monnier (Jersey) |
Harry Barbet (Jersey) |
| 2006 |
Kevin Tunstall (Oxon) |
Jim Millward (Sussex) |
| 2007 |
Trevor Gallienne (Guernsey) |
Jim Millward (Sussex) |
| 2008 |
Trevor Gallienne (Guernsey) |
Kevin Tunstall (Sussex) |
External links