50 TYPES OF BILLIARDS? LET THE MOVIES TEACH YOU HOW TO PLAY By Jason Moss Billiards can largely be divided into three categories of cue sports: pool, snooker, and carom billiards. Readers will be familiar with the most common variations, such as eight-ball, nine-ball, straight pool, and standard snooker.
Movies and television episodes which prominently feature billiards can play a key role in that education, as a number of these offshoots have made it to the big screen. Below is a primer on where to start that knowledge journey.
But, within those subdivisions exists a world of lesser-known regional and artistic adaptations. Who has played kaisa (from Finland) or keglebilliard (from Denmark) or sinuca (from Brazil)? According to Wikipedia, there are more than 50 types of billiard games across those three categories. How does one start to become familiar with them?
Goriziana (or 9-pins) is a form of carom billiards especially popular in Italy. Nine pins sit in the center of a pocketless table. Two cue balls and a red ball are used. Each player attempts to hit the opponent’s ball and, from there, scores points by striking the red ball, or by making the opponent’s balls or the red ball knock over the pins. Play
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continues until someone reaches or surpasses a pre-set number of points. To visualize goriziana, watch the romantic comedy The Pool Hustlers (1983, Italy), also known as Io, Chiara e lo scuro. Francesco, a skilled goriziana player, never plays for money. He challenges Scuro, the reigning goriziana champion. When Francesco wins, his newfound confidence leads him to break his own no-betting rule, and he quickly falls into significant debt, losing his rematches to Scuro. This debt leads him to steal money, and ultimately, to compete in the International Single Set
