WELLNESS s. r. o., Patince 431, 946 39 Patince, Slovak RepublicBilliards
You can find the billiards table in the night bowling club. The fee is 60,- Sk/1,99 EUR / per an hour.
The history of billiards
The history of billiards is very long and very rich. This game was played by kings as well as ordinary citizens, presidents, ladies, and gentlemen. It was developed from the grass game cricket, which was played mostly in the 15th century in the North of Europe and probably in France. The game was transferred into the interior, and it was played on the wooden tables covered with green fabric so to remind the grass. The balls were hit by wooden sticks called "maces" which meant iron. The notion billiards comes form a French word "billiard", one of the wooden sticks, or it comes from the word "bille" which means ball. At the beginning the game was played with two balls on the table and with six holes and wickets, similarly as in the cricket. During the 18th century, the wickets gradually disappeared and there were only holes and balls left. In the year 1600, the game was popular enough to appear in the Shakespeare's play Antonio and Cleopatra. 75 years later, the first book stating the exact rules of this game was published. The billiard cue stick was developed at the end of 1600s. If the ball stopped very near to the margin, it was impossible to hit it, because the iron was too improper to use, because of its big ending. In this case the players used to turn “the iron rod” and hit the ball with its stick. This was called "queue" which meant tail, and from this word the word "cue" appeared, which means the billiard cue stick. For a very long time only men could hit the balls with the billiard cue stick. Women had to use “the iron rods” because the fabric used to be damaged very often. The tables used to be made with high margins and their only function was to stop the balls from falling down from the table. The players realised that the balls could be knocked off the marginal barriers of the table, so they started to aim at them purposefully. The billiard equipment started to be developed rapidly after the year 1800, especially because of the industrial revolution. The chalk was use to increase the friction between the billiard cue stick and the balls. The leather tip, which could be used to make a rotating hit was made in the year 1823. The visitors from England showed the Americans how to play the rotating hit, which explains the reason why is this rotating hit called "English". (What is a little bit strange, it is not called this way in England.) The billiards table developed up to its contemporary shape till the year 1850. One of the dominant billiard games in England about the year 1770 up to the year 1920 was so called English billiards played with three balls and six holes on a big rectangular table. The ratio of the sides of the table, 2:1 was introduced in the 18th century. There were no any other dimensions of the table stated before, or regulated in any way. English billiards is also known today as a Snooker, which is played 22 balls in stead of three.
