From niche to popular, why billiards is growing in audience

Do you know what are the most popular sports in China? What are the ones you can think of? Table tennis, badminton, basketball, soccer? Some data show that billiards is one of the non-Olympic sports with the highest public participation and attention, and there are even some reports that billiards is the sport with the highest number of regular participants. Indeed, in every city in China, there are billiard halls in the streets and alleys. From the “wild cases” in the 80s and 90s to the high-end billiard clubs nowadays, billiards, as a sport suitable for both young and old, has brought a very important significance to our lives.
1. The origin of billiards
Billiards originated in the Western European royal family, has always been a kind of elegant sports. Due to its aristocratic background, billiard games have strict requirements on participants’ dress and behavior. During the game, players need to keep quiet to avoid affecting the thinking and sight of others. This tradition of “silent competition” is still practiced today.
Over time, billiards has evolved into a separate sport with a variety of playing styles and rules. Today, billiards is a global sport that attracts people of all ages to play and watch. Whether it is a 2-year-old child or an 80-year-old man, all can find fun on the billiard table.
2、Billiards program classification
The most common game events in billiard courts around the world include English Snooker (22 balls), American Poole (16 balls), Chinese Billiards (16 balls), English Proportional (3 balls), and French Cailen (4 balls). In China, the sport of billiards mainly covers the three disciplines of Chinese Eight Ball, Fancy Nine Ball and Snooker. Each game has its own unique rules and playing style.
1. Chinese Eight Ball Chinese eight ball, also known as “black eight”, is a unique billiard sport in China. It is played on a snooker table, or green table, which is relatively small in size. The game consists of one white ball and 15 colored balls, of which 1-7 are full-color, 9-15 are half-color, and an all-black 8-ball. Both players can hit the balls out of order after selecting their respective colors, and win by scoring the 8-ball after all the balls of their own color have been hit.