Why are pool tables usually green or blue?

Why are billiards table tops green?

Pool, snooker, carom. all have their roots in grass-court games more than 600 years ago.

What does green make you think of? It's the lawn! Indeed, today's pool, snooker, carom or cue games in general all have their roots in lawn games more than 600 years ago. The name billiards is believed to be derived from the French word billart or billette - meaning stick or bille - meaning ball. The game that is considered billiards today dates back to the 1340s and was originally played outdoors, on grass, a bit like croquet - a game of hammering a ball through a gate. Later, King Louis XI (1461 - 1483) of France brought billiards into the house and he was also the first person to have a pool table. He continued to improve and popularize the game and it quickly spread among the French nobility.

 17th century aristocrats played billiards on a green table.

By the 1600s, the lawn version of billiards had disappeared, and indoor pool tables were very popular in England and France. Because of its origin as a game on grass, people have made a pool table with a green tablecloth to resemble the first version. In the picture above you can see 17th century aristocrats playing pool on a green table but with a club that looks like a golf club instead of a straight cue like today. Straight, pointed and smooth billiards muscles were invented around 1800.

 The color of the snooker table is specified as green to create a strong contrast with the red color of the marbles.

As for snooker, the color of the pool table is always green. This color has been regulated since 1871, before that snooker tables were made in many colors, usually orange. In low light conditions, this color makes it difficult for players to observe the correct movement of the marbles on the table, which leads to arguments among players. And then it happened when a sailor named Arthur Terry went up and down with his billiards opponent Riland Metcalfe after arguing about the path of the marbles. Terry was later found guilty but was allowed to leave court without penalty because in the judge's opinion "Terry was not entirely at fault, the color of the pool table was partially at fault". The color of the snooker table is specified as green to create a strong contrast with the red color of the marbles.

So why is there still a blue pool table?

 The blue pool table is still used in the US Open Pool Championship to this day.

This blue is also known as "tournament green" or "TV blue" and it dates back to the 1970s. At that time when the US Open Pocket Billiards Championship was first televised, the green of the pool table was green. making the marbles on the table harder to see on the TV screen. As a result, the green is converted to blue, allowing television viewers to watch the game more easily and reducing eye strain caused by bright green. The blue pool table is still used in the US Open Pool Championship to this day, although modern television technology is no longer limited to the color green. So 2 colors green and blue are still 2 popular colors of pool tables today.

Exception

Red pool table.

Besides green and blue, you can still see pool tables with other colors typically red. Hainsworth, a British pool table fabric company dating back to 1783, offers a variety of different colors of billiard table fabric. The pool table is also a decorative item, and users can choose the color of the table top to suit the space, not necessarily green or blue.