Even Shakespeare mentioned the game of billiards in this drama "Antony and Cleopatra". But the game that we know today as pool game probably evolved in the early 19th century in France and spread quickly to England and other countries also. The word "billiard" belongs to the French word "billart" which refers to a type of stick or club, which resembled today’s golf club and is thought to have led, also, to the modern pool cue.

The meaning of the terms "pool" and "billiards" or "pocket billiards" are essentially the same thing depending on the area of United States. The word "billiard" refers games with specific rules in Britain and the Netherlands. It is usually called "English Billiards" in Britain and in the Netherlands it is Carambole Billiards. Any how the game "billiards" is to refer in general to any game in the U.S. where balls are hit into pockets on a table using a cue stick. In fact evolve of this game is early in the history of the United States. But the game came along with a man from Ireland Michael Phelan in the 1850’s. Then he began writing about this game in America and designs tables and organizes tournaments.

The game has a distinctive reputation in today. Some people think of it as a futile pastime for people who should put their time in better use, but not to mention the money lost on betting on the game. You can think about The Music Man, the Professor Harold Hill in his preaching in song against "Trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with P, and that stands for POOL!" in fact he was hired by a whole town to save their youngsters from the seduction of this tawdry occupation. Now international pool tournaments are followed enthusiastically by people in all walks of life and prizes run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then there is no waste of time for those who seek to the heights of this game.