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What is a pool table?
Home » Game Rooms » Pool Tables » What is a pool table?A pool table or billiards table is a table on which carom billiards games are played such as three cushion billiards, straight rail (carambole) and balkline.
On the sides of all varieties of billiard table are "rails" (or "cushions"), which are made from elastic materials such as synthetic or vulcanized rubber. The cushion's purpose is to rebound balls without letting them lose too much kinetic energy. The playing surface (the "Bed") on all quality tables is made of 3/4"-2" thick slate, typically imported from Italy, Brazil or China. Cheaper table surfaces are usually made of "Slatron" or some composite wood variant like Medium-density_fibreboard. These surfaces are usually more susceptible to warping and are not as flat.
Both the rails and slate beds are covered with 21-24 ounce billiard felt which is most often green in color, because it is easiest on the eyes, and consists of either a woven wool or wool/nylon blend called Baize. Most bar tables, which get lots of play, use this slower, thicker cloth because it can stand up to heavy usage. By contrast, high quality pool cloth is usually made of a napless weave such as worsted wool, which gives a much faster roll to the balls. The faster or slower a cloth is, affects the amounts of swerve and deflection of the balls. Snooker table cloth traditionally has a directional nap, upon which the balls behave differently when rolling against the direction of the nap.
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