However, because high runs once again increased as skill compensated for the new conditions, in 1883 the balklines were accepted, replacing the champion's game in tournament play. The use of such balklines was first proposed in 1875 but was rejected. Īs a response, rather than drawing balklines diagonally in just the corners, the entire table was divided into rectangular balk spaces, by drawing balklines lengthwise and widthwise across the length of the table a set distance parallel out from each rail. That the rules binding it have effected a great improvement on the ordinary game of French caroms there can be no doubt." Ultimately, despite its divergence from straight rail, the champion's game simply expanded the dimensions of the balk space defined under the existing crotch prohibition which was not sufficient to stop nursing. Reporting on the first tournament at which the rules were featured in 1879, The New York Times wrote: "taken as a test, the games thus far played indicate that the new game has taken well with the public, for whose amusement it was chiefly designed. A diagram showing the diagonal balklines used in the forerunner "champion's game". Shortly after, with the specific intent of frustrating nurse shots along the rail, officials employed diagonal lines at the table's corners to regions where counts were restricted, an expansion of the crotching rule that came to be known as the "champion's game". With the balls barely moving and repetitively hit, there was little for the fans to watch. scored 690 points in a single inning at the table. straight rail professional tournament held in 1879, Jacob Schaefer Sr. The most important of these is the rail nurse which involves the progressive nudging of the object balls down a rail, keeping them close together and positioned at the end of each stroke in the same or near the same configuration such that the nurse can be replicated again and again. A nurse shot involves careful manipulation of object balls once gathered, which results in both balls being touched by the cue ball, but with all three balls barely moving, or that result in a position that can be duplicated over and over. A gather shot is one that brings the cue ball and object balls together, ideally near a rail. Skill in the professional game increased mostly through the refinement of gather shots and the development of a variety of "nurse" techniques. Crotching was quickly banned in 1862, and players are required to move the ball out of the corner after three points. By moving the two object balls into the crotch, a player could endlessly score off of them, all the while keeping them immobilized in that corner. Ī technique soon developed, known as "crotching", referring to the space near the corner of a table where the rails meet. In straight rail, there was originally no restriction on the manner of scoring. ![]() Straight rail, from which balkline derives, is thought to date to the 18th century, although no exact time of origin is known. Billiard Archive, "the skill of dedicated players was so great that they could essentially score at will." The development of balkline is characterized by a series of back and forth developments, where new rules would be implemented to make the game more difficult and to decrease high runs to keep spectators interested, countered by skill development to account for each new rule. According to Mike Shamos, curator of the U.S. ![]() Straight rail, unlike the balkline games, had no balk space restrictions, although one was later added. The top players of straight rail became so skillful that they would score a seemingly endless series of points, with the balls barely moving in a confined area of the table. The balkline games were developed to be more difficult to play and less tedious for spectators than the precursor game, straight rail. Balk spaces define areas of the table surface in which a player may only score up to a threshold number of points while the opponent's cue ball and the object ball are within that region. The table is divided by lines drawn on the surface, called balklines, into marked regions called balk spaces. A player wins the game by reaching a predetermined number of points. The object of the game is to score points, also called counts, by a player striking their cue ball so it makes contact with both the opponent's cue ball and the object ball on a single stroke. ![]() īalkline is the overarching title of a group of carom billiards games generally played with two cue balls and a red object ball on a cloth-covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, pocketless billiard table. The center box is an artifact of balkline placement, and is never subject to balk space restrictions. Cigarette card, c. 1911, showing George Sutton playing balkline A typical modern balkline table configuration showing lines and anchor spaces. For other uses, see Glossary of cue sports terms § Balkline.
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