Three-cushion billiards
discipline of carom billiards
Three-cushion billiards, also called three-cushion carom, is a form of carom billiards. The object of the game is to carom the cue ball off both object balls while contacting the rail cushions 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 for the same reason that balkline 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 nurse shots.
Wayman Crow McCreery, the Internal Revenue Collector of the Port of St. Louis, Missouri, born June 14, 1851, in St.
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