Interesting facts about billiards. Billiards facts

In the modern world, the game of billiards has lost its exclusive character. You don't have to go to bars or clubs to practice your skills. Focusing on a specific budget, it is quite possible to buy a billiard table yourself - https://duplet.by/bilyardnye_stoly and organize a space for playing in your own home! The wide distribution had a beneficial effect on the development of the history of this entertainment. At various times, billiards was considered a whim of the rich, an excuse to study the exact sciences, illegal activities, sports, hobbies, and a profession. Interesting facts on this topic are a kind of milestones, covering each period of the existence of billiards in a special position.

Interesting historical facts
1. The exact area of ​​origin, as well as the time period, is not specifically determined by scientists. Fact: this kind of leisure originated in the East. Among the proposed options are India, Egypt, China. In the second half of the 15th century, billiards was already played in France. Fun was brought to Russia by Emperor Peter I; later, entertainment was elevated to the rank of science.
2. In Soviet times, the ability to roll balls on a green cloth was the prerogative of the elite. There was no ban; Stalin himself did not deny himself the pleasure of playing a game. However, this was not perceived as a serious occupation. An article for parasitism and a real term of imprisonment - this is what the personal hobby, elevated to the status of a profession, threatened.
3. In Soviet Moscow, up to the 80s, there was a specific secret society. Those interested gathered in Gorky Park. In the unofficial club, a lot of players from the capital and regions were celebrated, large bets were made, the competitive spirit and excitement were in full swing. The shooting of the popular Russian tape took place here, where the main characters were Sharapov and Zheglov.
Health risk and a field for deception.
4. In the US state of Virginia, there was previously a law that made the game illegal. Violation could be followed by a sentence of imprisonment for a couple of years.
5. The enthusiastic citizens of the Czech Republic also paid with the deprivation of their actual freedom. There is a known case when the hands of the players were caught in the pockets. The rivals took out the balls when a special mechanism worked. To free the victims, they had to call the rescue service. The employees were forced to saw the table, which was another painful blow for the victims: the equipment cost several thousand dollars!
6. The fact of the possibility of dishonest manipulations is noteworthy. A certain person of blue blood, Pane Kohanku, invented a system that affects the trajectory of the movement of the balls. After the blows of the opponents, the surface began to roll imperceptibly (a servant was involved). The accomplices were permanently in the hall, and at the moment of the opponent's blow they tilted the table by means of a specially set own location.
Entertainment for the elite or affordable recreation?
7. During the historical period of its existence, table billiards - https://duplet.by/minibilliards has changed its status many times. At the end of the 19th century, a separate sports look emerged. Championships began to be held, the winners became world medalists.
8. Currently, the availability of entertainment is limited only by the need for quality equipment. In some cases, the cost of a billiard table and a handmade cue can reach several hundred thousand dollars. The record amount received for such a work of art exceeds $ 600,000.
Is there a place for superstition?
9. Billiards, in view of the large-scale history of centuries, presupposes the presence of a number of signs and superstitious omens, which even professional players rarely dare to neglect. Here is some of them:
if the game does not go well, it is necessary to knock on the table with a cue, but the action should not be obvious;
you cannot transfer your cue to an opponent or change it in the process;
attention should be paid to the placement of balls according to numbers;
if it happened to drive the cue ball into a pocket, this should be regarded as a favorable sign;
if a particular ball turned out to be decisive in a winning game, you need to try to pick it up by exchanging it for another.
Despite such a string of prejudices, billiards remains a game of skill based on personal skills in controlling the force of the blow, knowledge of basic physics and the experience of the player. The latter is acquired over the years of regular training, and it is not for nothing that even eminent professionals admit that they devote about eight hours daily to their favorite pastime!

Historians are still breaking spears when the first game similar to modern billiards appeared. But most date it to 3300 BC. The grave of this “age” was excavated by archaeologists, and inside they found several sticks, balls and something like chips.

It is not fully known why the cloth on the billiard table is mostly green. It can be assumed that at first only aristocrats - lovers of croquet and golf - were fond of this game. Therefore, they were more accustomed to seeing the cloth of the table green.

Billiards has been repeatedly persecuted. He was not favored by the medieval church, considering it an immoral and sinful occupation. In the 15th century, the game was completely banned in France. True, after 100 years, the French monarchs willingly rested at the billiard table. And the American statesman and President Thomas Jefferson, who lived in Virginia, was so reluctant to put up with the ban on billiards in the state that he opened a secret room with a billiard table in his mansion.

The first sports tournament of the "world championship" format was held not in football, as many think, but in billiards. And this happened when football had not even been invented yet - in 1873. The first leather ball, as you know, appeared a decade later.

One of the most unusual ways of billiard cheating was invented by the Belarusian prince Karol Radziwill, who went down in history under the nickname Pane Kohanku. The table in his billiard room swayed from side to side. It was completely invisible to the eyes, but enough to knock down the enemy with an aimed strike. In order for the opponent to miss, Radziwill's servants had only to move from one part of the room to another. Of course, when Pane Kohanku himself took aim, they stood rooted to the spot.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the "sun of Soviet poetry" Vladimir Mayakovsky were among the most avid billiard players. The great composer could play down the sum he earned in one concert at the billiard table. Mayakovsky was a rather skillful billiard player, but one day he lost to his rival - the venerable player and writer Vasily Borakhvostov. The poet had no money to pay off, but he was just expecting a fee for a literary article "How to Make Poems." The poet did not think of anything else how to hand Borakhvostov a receipt for a future fee. True, the rival never made use of this document, apparently having forgiven Mayakovsky the debt. And for the receipt, which, according to legend, still exists somewhere, today historians, writers, and billiard players are hunting.

In Soviet times, billiard players were not favored - along with dudes, "free artists" and other brethren, they could easily fall under the article on parasitism. This is why it was important for a professional player to be listed somewhere. For example, the famous billiard player Ashot Potekyan was “sheltered” under his wing by the poet Alexander Mezhirov. Potekian allegedly worked as his literary secretary.

Billiards is a game from which everyone can get what they want. This is sport, and mental rest, and a way to relax, and for some, a way of life and the whole world. It is not surprising that billiard battles and interesting facts about games are shrouded in legends and stories that are passed from one to another over a glass of beer.

Let's try to remember some stories told in the language of numbers. Here are just a few facts about billiards in numbers:

1. How many attempts do you think you can make in order to get a trick? 181 times! This was the largest number of trick attempts by the master. Performed a trick by Steve Mizerak for Miller Light beer advertising campaign.

2. The highest cue ball speed, as they say facts about games billiards - 31 miles per hour. In a language we understand, this is 13.8 meters per second. This was recorded during the game of nine. For comparison: the normal speed in the game does not exceed 20 km / h.

3. The contact time of the sticker with the cue ball with a simple blow with the klapstom is one thousandth of a second. It's almost impossible to measure that, isn't it?

4. The fastest billiard player on the planet - Dave Pearson. Gaming facts this master does not lie: he was able to make 15 rolling balls in 26.3 seconds. And he only needs 9 minutes and 25.7 seconds to make 15 balls on each of the 10 tables.

5. What is the biggest lost bet in the history of billiards? The state treasury is nothing more and nothing less. This is exactly how much the Bavarian king Maximilian II lost to his treasurer, for which he lost the throne.

6. Stanley Sotnik made a virtuoso series of 46 balls with one hand, and it was made on a standard size billiard sheet.

7. Leon Yonders, a resident of Baltimore, had a 180-point streak in a straight bullet and all the shots he delivered from behind.

8. The real planet record belongs to Ronia O'Sullivan, who scored 147 points in snooker the fastest - in 5 minutes 20 seconds.

9. Tony Drago on February 1, 1995 made the most "expensive" streak in snooker - 149 points. The result could not be surpassed for 8 years.

10. The oldest world champion is Fred Davis. He managed to achieve the title at the age of 67 in 1980.

11. A certain Stevie Star succeeded in the impossible: in 1998, he swallowed and regurgitated a billiard ball. This is recorded in the Guinness Book.

12. Of all the books ever published on the "billiard theme", the best-selling was and remains the book-dedication to the pool by Robert Byrne - "Billiards for All".

13. The longest game recorded in an official competition lasted 6 hours and 25 minutes. It was 1983, Thorburn vs. Griffiths, game ended at 4 a.m. - so they say facts. O games which lasted longer is unknown.

Kicks is not only a bad shot in billiards. In music kiks - a breakdown of sound, voices on a high note.

Billiards is the first sport in which a world championship was held. It happened in 1873. The tournament was held in the USA, and a certain Garnier, a billiard player from France, became its winner

Karol Stanislav Onufriy Jan Nepomuten Radziwill (Pane Kokhanku) - the first Belarusian billiard cheater. He had a billiard room with a "surprise": the prince built a kind of floating floor. He swayed at the moment of the opponent's aimed strike, and when he beat Pane Kohanka, he became “normal”. Servants, trained to “rock” the floor with their movements around the hall, helped Radziwill.

It is known that Peter I brought billiards to the Russian Empire. Following the Tsar-Emperor, all the courtiers learned to play billiards. And the Supreme Privy Council, drawing up a program for the passage of sciences by the young Emperor Peter II, included the game of billiards in it, finding that it "develops grace."

In Soviet times, any professional billiard player risked going to jail on charges of parasitism. Writers helped out. For example, Ashot Potekyan was listed as the literary secretary of the poet Alexander Mezhirov. Of course, the billiard player did not write poetry and did not answer phone calls.

Vladimir Mayakovsky and Mikhail Bulgakov played very often against each other. Bulgakov's second wife recalled: “Bulgakov and Mayakovsky often fought in the billiard room, and I watched their game and thought how different they were. Mikhail Afanasyevich preferred a thinner "pyramid", and Vladimir Vladimirovich gravitated towards the "American" and was a master in it. "

One day Mayakovsky, having no cash, decided to pay with a future fee. Having lost heavily to the writer Vasily Borakhvostov, he wrote out a power of attorney to receive a fee. The power of attorney to receive money for the article "How to make poetry" was never used.

A billiard table with proper care can last a very long time. It is not surprising that real rarities sometimes surface at antique auctions. Billiards 400 years ago have never been served. But the table on which Mark Twain was playing and a massive billiards table on gilded legs that belonged to the Italian princess, a close relative of Pope Innocent X, went under the hammer.

Academician Kurchatov and his brother Boris often liked to relax at billiards. A small table was in the library. Physicists usually relaxed after 16-18 hours of work in the laboratory.

In English, "poolroom" refers to a place where they play billiards, and in the 19th century, this word was used to refer to a room in which bets were made on horse racing. Billiard tables were installed in them so that customers could kill time between arrivals. So billiards and poolroom became inextricably linked in the minds of ordinary people.

Tom Cruise himself performed all of the complex stunt strikes on the set of The Color of Money in 1986, except for one. He had to jump over two balls at once and score the third. Director Martin Scorsese wished that the actor would perform this blow himself. But it would take Tom two extra hours of training a day to learn. There was no time, and instead of Cruise, the blow was performed by professional billiard player Mike Siegel.

On the top floor of the Monticello mansion, which belonged to Thomas Jefferson, there is a billiard room. In his time, billiards was banned in Virginia, so the great American statesman regularly broke the law.

The Church has repeatedly declared billiards a sinful, dangerous and morally corrupting entertainment. In the 15th century, the game was banned in France by the church and the king. Interestingly, the first mention of billiards is in the list of furnishings of one of the residences of Louis XI, dated 1470. However, if you look into the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, you can say: the French kings completely atoned for their guilt before billiards.

Every June, the Czech town of Pelhrimov hosts a festival of records and curiosities. The most-the-most falls into the local book of registration of human achievements. Not so long ago, Czech pool amateur Jiri Kornom managed to score 434 balls within an hour and get into the national collection of records. Another player - Englishman Paul Sullivan - chose a different record format. In 24 hours, he scored 16,511 balls, of course, playing pool. That is, an average of 687 per hour.

Russian billiards still got into the Guinness Book of Records. The billiard club from Samara was recognized as the largest in Europe and the largest among the clubs with the Russian zone. Recall that on an area of ​​2000 square meters, there are 56 Russian tables and 26 pool tables.

Once the pyramid could be included in the famous book as the mastermind of the record. In the summer of 2005, racer Ravil Faizukhanov played with a friend, lost to him and bet on a glass of beer that he could beat the achievement of the Americans, who eight years ago, hooked on a car, rode on roller skates at a speed of 103 kilometers per hour. Ravil was going to develop a speed of 180 km / h. He had every chance, because a year before that, he in a similar way, but only on a sled, accelerated to the same 180. Unfortunately, the road patrol officers prevented the emergence of the record.

Few people know that in Montenegro there is a castle "Billiard" (Biljarda). This fortress was built in 1838 according to the plan of the Russian envoy Yakov Ozerechkovsky with the money of the Russian government. It was intended for Petar Njegos, the first ruler of independent Montenegro. Petar Njegos was not only a statesman, but also a popular poet, as well as an avid hunter and billiard player. He brought and installed the first billiard table in Montenegro. Cannon was a curiosity for the inhabitants of the country, which is why they named the castle Biljarda. However, the fortifications really are somewhat reminiscent of a billiard table. Today the State Museum is located in the "Billiards".

Historians of billiards still do not come to a consensus when the first prototype of the game was invented. The oldest find, which some researchers tend to call the first predecessor of modern billiards, dates back to 3300 BC. This is a set of nine chips, four balls and three sticks. It was found during the excavation of a children's grave in Egypt.