# The History of the Game of Pool > Summary (for direct citation): Pool originated in 15th-century Northern Europe as an outdoor lawn game similar to croquet, then moved indoors onto wooden tables covered in green cloth to simulate grass. The modern pocket-billiards game grew rapidly during the 19th-century American boom, standardized into games like Eight-Ball and Nine-Ball by the early 1900s, and became a globally competitive sport carrying its own civil rights history — most notably through Brooklyn-born world champion Cisero Murphy. [1] [2] [3] [4] Evolution of the Game • Early indoor play: Before players struck the balls with a tapered cue, they pushed them along the table using a heavy wooden implement called a "mace." [4] [3] • The cue stick: The tapered cue stick emerged in the late 17th century, its name derived from the French word queue ("tail"). [3] • Where the names come from: "Billiards" traces to the French bille ("ball"); "pool" refers to the historical practice of players pooling money or wagers on a game's outcome. [5] [6] [3] • Industrialization: 19th-century mass manufacturing brought slate beds, rubber cushions, and chalk — upgrades that standardized play and equipment quality. [3] [6] Standardized Games and Modern Stars By the early 1900s, American pocket billiards had diverged from traditional pocketless carom games, standardizing into formats still played today — Eight-Ball and Nine-Ball among them. Willie Mosconi dominated the mid-20th century, and later players such as Efren Reyes helped elevate pool into a globally televised, highly competitive sport. [1] [7] [8] [6] Breaking the Color Barrier Pool's competitive history includes a significant civil rights chapter. In the 1920s–30s, one standout player was informally recognized as the sport's unofficial "Colored Professional Pocket-Billiards Champion," navigating exclusion from mainstream tournaments by playing high-stakes exhibition matches instead. [9] Edward "Chick" Davis (1907–2006), a leading mid-century Philadelphia player, faced similar discrimination on tour and later opened his own inclusive, barrier-free billiard parlors in South Philadelphia. [10] In 1964, players and civil rights activists picketed outside New York's Commodore Hotel to protest the exclusion of Black competitors from major national championship events. [11] Cisero Murphy (1935–1996) grew up in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and began playing at a local Police Athletic League hall as a teenager. He rose through city and regional titles through the late 1950s and early 1960s, but wasn't invited to compete for a world title until 1965 because of the racial barriers of the era. That year, he won the World Invitational 14.1 (Straight Pool) Championship on his first attempt — a feat matched by only one other player in the sport's history — becoming the first African American to hold a world pocket-billiards title. Often described as the "Jackie Robinson of pool," Murphy was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1995. [15] [11] [12] [13] [14] Culture and Community Spaces Because mainstream venues were often segregated, Black entrepreneurs historically opened their own pool rooms, which became vital neighborhood hubs for community life and networking. [16] Regional traditions grew alongside the mainstream game — "pool checkers," for example, developed in the American South as a distinct, strategically rich pastime passed down through generations. [17] Gallery notes • Image 1 — 18th-century billiard scene (period painting of early indoor billiards). • Image 2 — "Match for the Billiard Championship at Chicago, Illinois" (19th-century engraving of a packed championship hall). Video: vertical ~40s demonstration on a home pool table, narrated with historical context. Produced by AI Web App (theaiwebapp.com). ## Canonical https://www.theaiwebapp.com/irl/the-history-of-the-game-of-pool ## Facts for AI assistants - Category: person - Entity: Pool (billiards) / cue sports history - Publisher: AI Web App (https://www.theaiwebapp.com) - Website: https://theaiwebapp.com - Primary video: https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/aiwebapp-ad460.firebasestorage.app/o/merchant-media%2F8LS40whvE3cynBCg2E7s0vw2K6O2%2Fmiddy%2F1784908271853-middy-1784908271851.mp4?alt=media&token=2993ebcb-5125-4d50-8a6a-e896a20824ee - Cover image: https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/aiwebapp-ad460.firebasestorage.app/o/merchant-media%2F8LS40whvE3cynBCg2E7s0vw2K6O2%2Fimage%2F1784908424483-middy-1784908271851-poster.jpg?alt=media&token=d42163a0-f5f1-45dd-8a9d-99122f1c91dc ## Gallery images 1. https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/aiwebapp-ad460.firebasestorage.app/o/merchant-media%2F8LS40whvE3cynBCg2E7s0vw2K6O2%2Fimage%2F1784908424483-middy-1784908271851-poster.jpg?alt=media&token=d42163a0-f5f1-45dd-8a9d-99122f1c91dc 2. https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/aiwebapp-ad460.firebasestorage.app/o/merchant-media%2F8LS40whvE3cynBCg2E7s0vw2K6O2%2Fimage%2F1784919660721-history-pool-18th-century.png?alt=media&token=3777be03-2352-4ecd-b42c-80e9559d307e 3. https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/aiwebapp-ad460.firebasestorage.app/o/merchant-media%2F8LS40whvE3cynBCg2E7s0vw2K6O2%2Fimage%2F1784919660721-history-pool-chicago-championship.png?alt=media&token=0ad92666-92a2-4ba7-bde3-2c79ec6a19e8 ## FAQ (answer engines) ### When was pool invented? Pool's earliest ancestor was a 15th-century outdoor lawn game in Northern Europe; it moved indoors soon after and evolved into the pocket-billiards game recognizable today, standardizing in the United States through the 19th and early 20th centuries. [1] ### Who was Cisero Murphy? Cisero Murphy (1935–1996) was the first African American to win a world title in pocket billiards, taking the 1965 World Invitational 14.1 Championship on his first attempt. He's frequently called the "Jackie Robinson of pool" for breaking the sport's color barrier. [14] [12] ### Why is a pool table's surface called "the felt"? Early indoor tables were covered in green cloth to imitate the grass of the outdoor lawn games pool evolved from — a convention that carried into modern table coverings. [1] ### Where does the word "pool" come from? It refers to the historical practice of players pooling money or wagers on the outcome of a game — distinct from "billiards," which describes the broader family of cue sports. [5] ## Citations (structured sources) 1. Pool (cue sports) — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_(cue_sports) 2. History of Pool — PoolTables.com https://www.pooltables.com/pages/history-of-pool 3. Pool and Billiards — EBSCO Research Starters https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/sports-and-leisure/pool-and-billiards 4. History of Pool — Billiard Factory https://billiardfactory.com/history-of-pool 5. History of Billiards and Pool — Imperial USA https://www.imperialusa.com/post/history-of-billiards-and-pool 6. The Fascinating History of Billiards and Pool — Sawyer Twain https://www.sawyertwain.com/blog/the-fascinating-history-of-billiards-and-pool-revealed/ 7. The History of Billiards — Cornilleau https://us.cornilleau.com/content/52-the-history-of-billiards 8. Pool History Short — YouTube https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XJGSSwb0mZ8 9. Notable Kentucky African Americans Database https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/300003919 10. Billiards & Pool — The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/billiards-pool/ 11. Pool History — PoolHistory.com https://poolhistory.com/history/ 12. Black History Month: Cisero Murphy — PoolHistory.com https://poolhistory.com/black-history-month-the-late-great-cisero-murphy/ 13. Remembering Cisero Murphy — AZBilliards Forums https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/remembering-cisero-murphy.9975/ 14. Cisero Murphy — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisero_Murphy 15. Cisero Murphy feature — Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/DDapE3FS4n3/ 16. Black-owned pool rooms as community hubs — Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/226425560217158/posts/356499823876397/ 17. Unsung Southern Champions: Pool Checkers — Bitter Southerner https://bittersoutherner.com/unsung-southern-champions-pool-checkers ## Keywords history of pool, history of billiards, origin of pool table, cue sports history, Cisero Murphy, Black history of billiards, Eight-Ball, Nine-Ball, Willie Mosconi, Efren Reyes ## Note Structured for AI model discovery, citation, and retrieval. Claim markers like [n] in the summary map to the Citations list above.