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Billiard Balls

There are 15 colored billiard balls and one white cue ball in a modern game of 8-ball. Each ball, except the cue ball, has a number on it as well. Numbers 1-8 are solid colors, and numbers 9-15 are striped colors. The colors of the balls make a color wheel, with primary, secondary and tertiary colors if arranged right.

Typically the cue ball will be lighter than the rest of the colored billiard balls, but as the balls are used more and more, they gradually lose weight. At a bar, with auto-loading pool tables the cue ball is always heavier. That differentiates it from the colored balls when the cue is sunk into a pocket and allows it to return.

The score of a game of billiards is kept by keeping track of what billiard balls go into the pockets, and who hit them into them. In eight ball, a player is required to hit all of their balls, either solid or striped, into the pockets before the eight ball. Only then can the eight ball be sunk into a pocket. In nine ball, the balls must be hit into the pockets in order, starting with number one.

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