Equipment
Ball sets typically range from 2 inches (51 mm) up to 2 3⁄16 inch (56 mm), often with a slightly smaller cue ball, e.g. 1 7⁄8 inches (4.76 cm) for a 2 inch set. The most common sized sets on the market are 2 inch and 21⁄8 inch (54 mm). Along with the single white cue ball, plain unnumbered red (or sometimes blue) and yellow colour balls, seven of each color, are used in lieu of the numbered solids and stripes common to international eight-ball and other pool games (which in the UK are usually called kelly pool balls). Many suppliers refer to the yellows-and-reds sets as "casino" balls, whether UK- or US-sized, because they were formerly used in US casino-hosted, televised, modified-rules eight-ball tournaments popular in the 1970s; the coloured rather than numbered sets were selected for their distinguishability on TV. The black ball, however, still typically bears a number "8" (a holdover from kelly pool), though numberless variants are not unknown.
British pool tables come in 6 x 3 foot (1.8 x 0.9 m) or 7 x 3.5 ft (2.12 x 1.06 m) varieties, with 7 ft being the regulation size for league play. The table has pockets just larger than the balls and rounded, as in the game of snooker, whereas the international-style (or "American-style") table has pockets significantly wider, with pointed knuckles.
Tournament rules may require the presence of more than one type of rest (mechanical bridge), as in snooker.
Read more about this topic: Blackball (pool)
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—Central Advisory Council for Education. Children and Their Primary Schools (Plowden Report)
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