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Three-cushion billiards, also called three-cushion carom, is a form of
carom billiards Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards, is the overarching title of a family of cue sports generally played on cloth-covered, billiard tables. In its simplest form, the object of the game is to score or "counts" by ' one's o ...
. The object of the game is to the off both while contacting the at least three times before contacting the second object ball. A point is scored for each successful carom. In most shots the cue ball hits the object balls one time each, although hitting them any number of times is allowed as long as both are hit. The cue ball may contact the cushions before or after hitting the first object ball. It does not have to contact three different cushions as long as it has been in contact with any cushion at least three times in total.


History

Three-cushion dates to the 1870s, and while the origin of the game is not entirely known, it evolved from one-cushion billiards, which in turn developed from
straight rail billiards Straight rail, also called straight billiards, three-ball billiards, or the free game, is a discipline of carom billiards that is the most basic form of the game. The game is played on a unmarked billiard table, usually in size, and three billia ...
for the same reason that
balkline Balkline is the overarching title of a group of carom billiards games generally played with two and a red on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, billiard table. The object of the game is to score points, also called ''counts'', by a play ...
also arose from straight rail. Such new developments made the game more challenging, less repetitive, and more interesting for spectators as well as players, by thwarting the ability of highly skilled players to rack up point after point at will by relying on . It is undisputed that Wayman Crow McCreery, the Internal Revenue Collector of the Port of
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, born June 14, 1851 in St. Louis, popularized the game. At least one publication categorically states he invented the game as well. The first three-cushion billiards tournament took place January 14–31, 1878 in C. E. Mussey's
billiard room A billiard room (also billiards room, or more specifically pool room, snooker room) is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table. (The term "billiard room" or "pool room" may also be us ...
in St. Louis, with McCreery a participant. The tournament was won by
New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...
Leon Magnus. The high run for the tournament was just 6 points, and the high average a .75. The game was infrequently played prior to 1907, with many top carom players of the era voicing their dislike of it. However, after the introduction of the Lambert Trophy in 1907, the game became increasingly popular both in the United States and internationally. By 1924, three-cushion had become so popular that two giants in other billiard disciplines agreed to take up the game especially for a challenge match. On September 22, 1924
Willie Hoppe William Frederick Hoppe (October 11, 1887 – February 1, 1959) (surname rhymes with "poppy"), was an internationally renowned American professional carom billiards champion, who was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America ...
, the world's
balkline Balkline is the overarching title of a group of carom billiards games generally played with two and a red on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, billiard table. The object of the game is to score points, also called ''counts'', by a play ...
champion (who later took up three-cushion with a passion), and Ralph Greenleaf, the world's straight pool title holder, played a well advertised, multi-day to 600 . Hoppe was the eventual winner with a final score of 600–527. The game's decline in the United States began in 1952 when Hoppe, then 51-time billiards champion, announced his retirement. Over time, three-cushion completely supplanted balkline billiards, once the world championship carom game. Three-cushion retains great popularity in parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and is the most popular carom billiards game played in the United States today, where
pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...
is far more widespread. The game's slow resurgence in United States popularity is due in part to the introduction of the Sang Lee International Open tournament in
Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...
in 2005, with first-place prize money up to US$25,000. The game has also seen increased coverage in cue sports publications based in the United States, such as ''Billiards Digest'' and ''Pool & Billiard Magazine''.


Records

Three-cushion billiards is a very difficult game. Averaging one point per is usually national-level play, and averaging 1.5 or more is world-class play. An average of 1 means that for every turn at the table, a player point success rate is 50%. An average of 2 means a success rate of roughly 67%. The high run at three-cushion billiards for many years was 25, set over two games (fourteen and out and starting with eleven in the next game) by the American
Willie Hoppe William Frederick Hoppe (October 11, 1887 – February 1, 1959) (surname rhymes with "poppy"), was an internationally renowned American professional carom billiards champion, who was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America ...
in 1918 during an exhibition in San Francisco. In 1968
Raymond Ceulemans Raymond, Knight Ceulemans (born 12 July 1937) is a Belgian billiards player who won 21 UMB three-cushion World Championship titles, more than any other player. Along with 48 Europea ...
improved the record to 26 in a match in the Simonis Cup tournament. In 1993 Junichi Komori set the record to 28 in a Dutch league match, a feat repeated by Ceulemans in 1998 in the same league.Billiards Congress of America, R. A. Dyer
Billiards: the official rules & records book
p.189, Lyons Press, 2005
In 2012 Roland Forthomme tied the record in Zundert. In the 2013 European Championships in Brandenburg, Germany, Frederic Caudron became the fourth member of the "28" club. Ceulemans reputedly had a high run of 32 in a non-tournament, non-exhibition match. The highest run so far in a World Cup match is 24, set by Jérémy Bury on 7 September 2013 in
Guri Guri (, lit. Nine Villages Town(Town of Nine Villages) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is located immediately to the east of Seoul, in the heart of the Capital Metropolitan Area. The Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty are locat ...
,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
(see result sheet on the right). When allowing for interruptions by opponents starting new games, the current record high run is 34 by the Dutchman
Dick Jaspers Dingeman Jacobus Johannes "Dick" Jaspers (pronounced yas-pers) (born 23 July 1965) is a Dutch professional carom billiards player who specializes in the three-cushion event. Early life Jaspers started playing billiards when he was three years ...
: in his 2008 European Championship Final match against the Swede
Torbjörn Blomdahl Torbjörn Blomdahl (born 26 October 1962 in Gothenburg) is a Swedish professional carom billiards (and to a lesser extent pool) player from Helsingborg, Sweden who plays for FC Porto. He is a seven time World Champion in three-cushion billiards, ...
, played in three games of 15 points each, he ended Game One by going 13 and out, ran 15 and out in the only inning of Game Two (started by Blomdahl), and ran six in his first inning of Game Three. The best game at the standard 50 points in a league is six innings (8.333 average) by
Eddy Merckx Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (, ; born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victorie ...
(:4-9-26-7-0-4) in the German Bundesliga in 2011. The best such game in a tournament is nine innings (5.555 average) by
Torbjörn Blomdahl Torbjörn Blomdahl (born 26 October 1962 in Gothenburg) is a Swedish professional carom billiards (and to a lesser extent pool) player from Helsingborg, Sweden who plays for FC Porto. He is a seven time World Champion in three-cushion billiards, ...
in 2000, while South Korean and later U.S. national champion
Sang Lee Sang Chun Lee ( ko, 이상천; January 15, 1954 – October 19, 2004), most commonly known simply as Sang Lee, was a Korean-born American professional three-cushion billiards player and world champion. Professional career Born and raised in Sou ...
scored 50 points in four innings (: 19-11-9-11, a 12.5 average) in a game at Sang Lee Billiards in
Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. The best tournament match average is 5.625 (45 in eight innings over three games; i.e. only five misses), scored by Dick Jaspers in the above-mentioned European Cup finals in
Florange Florange (; Lorraine Franconian: ''Fléischengen''/''Fléschéngen''; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography Climate Climate in area is mild with few extremes of temperature and ample precipitat ...
, France, in 2008. His opponent Blomdahl averaged 3.0 in his losing effort. The highest average at an international tournament is 2.537 (345 caramboles in 136 innings) by Dick Jaspers in 2002 at a seven-match Crystal Kelly tournament in
Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
, while Jaspers reached a record average of 2.666 (200 caramboles in 75 innings) at a four-match national tournament in
Veldhoven Veldhoven () is a municipality and town on the Gender in the southern Netherlands, just southwest of Eindhoven. Topography Dutch topographic map of Veldhoven (town), Dec. 2013 Population centres The modern town of Veldhoven is an agglomerat ...
in 2005.
Alfredo de Oro Alfredo de Oro (April 28, 1863 – April 22 or 23, 1948) was a Cuban professional carom billiards and pool player who several times held the world title in both three-cushion billiards and straight pool simultaneously. He was posthumously induc ...
from Cuba was won 20 World Three-cushion Championships
Raymond Ceulemans Raymond, Knight Ceulemans (born 12 July 1937) is a Belgian billiards player who won 21 UMB three-cushion World Championship titles, more than any other player. Along with 48 Europea ...
from Belgium has won 21
UMB World Three-cushion Championship The UMB World Three-cushion Championship is a professional carom billiards tournament in the discipline of three-cushion billiards, organized mostly annually by the Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB). Until 1953 it was organized by the UIFAB (Union ...
s.Sports123.com (2000–2007)
Men: World 3 Cushion Championship
Retrieved February 5, 2007


Governing bodies

The principal governing body of the sport is the
Union Mondiale de Billard The Union Mondiale de Billard (French for World Union of Billiards) is the world governing body for carom (carambole) billiard games. History The organization was founded in Madrid, Spain on 1 June 1959, and is dedicated to promoting the mo ...
(UMB). It had been staging world three-cushion championships since the late 1920s. It is a member organization of the World Confederation of Billiard Sports. From 1985 to 1999, the
Billiards World Cup Association The Billiards World Cup Association (BWA) was a governing body for three-cushion carom billiards which organized and marketed the Three-Cushion World Cup from 1985 to 1999. It was subordinate to the World Association Union Mondiale de Billard (U ...
(BWA) organized the Three-Cushion World Cup with UMB, but later shut down due to financial problems, with UMB assuming full responsibility for the tournament.


In popular culture

The game was featured in the 1959 animated
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
short film ''
Donald in Mathmagic Land ''Donald in Mathmagic Land'' is a 1959 American animated-live-action featurette produced by Walt Disney Productions and featuring Donald Duck. The short was directed by Hamilton Luske (with Wolfgang Reitherman, Les Clark, and Joshua Meador as ...
'', in which Donald Duck attempts to learn the game by mastering the , which uses the diamond markings on the rails as a guide for calculating where the cue ball will strike based on player aim and cueing technique. The game also features prominently in the 2007
Goya Award The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sci ...
-winning Spanish film ''Seven Billiard Tables'' ('), about a woman who inherits a troubled billiard hall and is searching for her missing husband.


See also

*
UMB World Three-cushion Championship The UMB World Three-cushion Championship is a professional carom billiards tournament in the discipline of three-cushion billiards, organized mostly annually by the Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB). Until 1953 it was organized by the UIFAB (Union ...
*
CEB European Three-cushion Championship The CEB European Three-cushion Championship is three-cushion billiards tournament organized by the Confédération Européenne de Billard. Held since 1932, it is one of longest-running tournaments in the sport. The 2007 event offered a total purse ...
* Three-Cushion World Cup


References


External links


Official World Record List of the UMB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Three-Cushion Billiards Carom billiards Sports originating in the United States