I have seen a pool table with no pockets. What should you do with it? Find out some games played on a pocketless table.

At the moment, I have to admit my ignorance, but I don’t know that you can get a pool table without pockets. Snooker (or billiard) game is just one of many games, in what is called cue sport. A sub-category of cue sports is Carrom billiards, which are all referred to as Calambo or just Calambole. These types of games are played on a 5’x 10′ pocketless pool table. Most Carrom games have three waves: two cue waves (one pure white, another white spot) and the third wave, which is traditionally red. The basic object of most Carrom games is to score by rebounding (Caron) your own cue wave. Your opponent cue the wave and the object wave in a shot. This unusual form of table tennis originated in France.

There are a few games played on pocketless pool tables, and there are many other games from these games. Some popular games are:

  • Straight track.
  • Pad Carroms.
  • Art billiards.
  • Balklin.

Let’s look at each game in more detail.

Straight track.

Another name of this game is Carrom Pool, although it is sometimes called straight pool, three-ball game, and Calambo game. It is believed to have originated by the French in the 17th century, so it was originally called the French Carrom. The object of this game is quite simple: you score a point when your cue wave touches two object waves (our opponent cue wave and the third wave) in a single stroke. You play a predetermined number or “count”. As long as you score and count, it’s your turn until you miss it.

At first it sounded difficult, but it didn’t take long for the players to discover “cheating” and score a lot in the round. One tie will “hook” two waves in the corner. When you are trapped, you can tap it gently over and over again, but you won’t knock it out of the corner. By 1862, it was ruled that a player could only score three points with a cane, and then a wave had to be knocked down from the corner of the pool table.

Pad Carrom.

This game is called an indirect game, which originated in England in the 1820s. It is very similar to a straight track, but your cue ball must bounce off the side track (or “buffer”) of the pool table after hitting the first ball, but before it hits the second ball. The score is the same as above, except that if you cannot hit any target wave, you lose one point. The early version of this game was played on a pocket pool table, called a twin game. A wave must be opened by the goo before it is put in the pocket.

Three mat billiards.

If the bank closes one railway, it is better to hit the second wave before the bank closes three railways. In the nut shell, that is three pads. Among all the Carrom pool games played on non-pocket pool tables, it is the most popular pool game in the United States today.

Art billiards.

Both are called fantasy billiards. In this game, players must perform 76 preset shots. The score is based on the perfect execution of the shot. The shooting range is 4-11 points, and the total game value is 500 points. It is a relatively new game and the world championship game started in 1986. Even the simplest shot is difficult. 427 points are the highest points ever achieved in the competition. This game is mainly played between France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Balklin.

Blakline is also based on straight rails, originally designed to prevent care shots taken along the rails (very boring to watch, only hitting two balls a few centimeters at a time, and racking up points along the rails). In Balklin, the table is divided into areas called Balk spaces. The game is played like a straight track, but the player can only score a certain number in each ball space, and then must hit other areas with a large enough shot. There are many versions of this game based on the location of the line and the number of hits allowed in each blak space. Various games are numbered. The number of the first shot refers to how many inches is the drawn diagonal line to the railroad track before a wave must leave the area. The second number indicates how much each space allows. For example, 18.2 lines are medium tight, the lines are parallel to each rail 18 inches (and four lines), and each line space only allows 2 counts. This game is mainly enjoyed in Europe and the Far East.

So, if you come across a pool table that lacks holes, don’t panic! Just catch three waves and try one of the games above.