At some point in the 1400s, people began to play a version of Ground Billiards indoors on a table as well. It's likely that the green cloth was supposed to represent the lawn from which the game had been stolen. [Adaptation of outdoor sports for the indoors has happened to other games in Northern Europe at one time or another including Quoits, Old English skittles and Western Skittles and Bowls - presumably players did not want to stop playing when the long nights and inclement weather of winter set in]. The earliest evidence found for the existence of Billiards played on a table was in 1470 in an inventory of items purchased by King Louis XI of France. Listed were "billiard balls and billiard table for pleasure and amusement.". Earliest mentions in England were in 1588 when Billiard tables were in the possession of The Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Leicester as well as Mary, Queen of Scots, who had a billiard table in her prison cell while she awaited execution.


The new table Billiards was apparently an extremely popular game across France by 1630 and in England it was described in various publications during the 1600s and 1700s including the first description of the rules by Charles Cotton in 'The Compleat Gamester' published 1674. Although variations probably existed and there were definitely variations in dimensions and type of equipment, the most popular was a two player game played on a table with six pockets. The pockets, called 'hazards', were simply there as obstacles to be avoided - like bunkers in golf. The table featured a croquet-like hoop at one end called the 'Port' and an upright skittle at the other called the 'King'. Each player was allocated a single ball which was pushed rather than struck with a mace (a stick with a special wooden end). The idea was to be the first through the Port in the correct direction (if your ball went in the 'wrong' direction, you were deemed a 'fornicator') and then back to touch the King without knocking either Port or King over. A point was scored for each time you did this and the winner was the first to a number of points - typically 5.


If this sounds simple, remember that the tables were rarely flat, the balls often not completely round and maces were hardly implements of great accuracy. Additionally, in common with Croquet, the game was as much about knocking the opponent's ball into penalties as about furthering one's own cause. Pushing the opponent's ball into a hazard, the wrong way through the Port or causing it to knock over the King was as beneficial as running the Port yourself....


It is also important for the modern player to bear in mind that the concept of a 'break', something we take completely for granted, was completely unknown at this time. Players simply took turns to strike their ball. So it can be imagined that this fundamental difference made all of the older games completely different to play compared with those that we are used to.


In common with many other pub games, Billiards was was banned from Taverns in England in 1757 due to its seedy reputation.