Life pool was a form of pocket billiards

Pocket billiards

Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...

 (pool) mainly played in the 19th century. It was one of several pool games that were popular at this time (so called because gamblers pooled their bets

Parimutuel betting

Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...

 at the start of play). The object of the game was to be the last player left "alive" and therefore scoop the pool (take the winnings). Each player had three "lives" to begin with and would lose one when another player potted their which was designated to them at the start of the game. Once a player lost their three lives, they were declared "dead", i.e. out of the game. The game continued in this way until there was only one player left, who was declared the winner. Around 1875, life pool merged with black pool

Black pool

Black pool was a form of pocket billiards mainly played in the 19th century. It was one of several pool games that were popular during this time. It was called this because gamblers pooled their bets at the start of play. This game had fifteen that were in a triangle, as in snooker today but...

  to form the new game of snooker

Snooker

Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...

, today one of the most popular cue sports in the world.