Anyone who has ever played pool, snooker, or any other table sport that uses a cue ball may have wondered why the cue ball is white while the rest of the balls in the game are designated specific colors or patterns. Is the cue ball white for a specific reason?
The cue ball is white because billiard balls were originally made from ivory, the other balls were dyed various colors, but the cue ball was left white to cause it to stand out. The cue ball remains white because it is easy to see in contrast to the table and the other billiard balls.
The white cue ball is very practical, but how did this critical ball come to be white? Is there a specific reason why the cue ball is white? How did this practice come to be? Let’s explore some of the histories of cue sports to find out why the cue ball is white.
Why Is The Cue Ball White?
The cue ball in pool snooker and other cue sports is usually white, and everyone who plays these sports understands its function.
However, these sports have been around for such a long time that not everyone knows the history of how they came to be or why the balls are colored the way they are.
When cue sports player delves deeper into the history of these games, they find themselves wondering why cue balls are white.
The truth is that there are several speculatory reasons why the cue ball is white and why it remains white even today, but there is no definitive answer as to why these balls are kept white.
However, there are some good explanations for the color of this ball, and they are worth learning. Let’s explore the various reasons why the cue ball is white.
Cue Balls Used to Be Made From Ivory
The earliest versions of the cue ball, and the other balls used in cue sports, were made from wood, clay, and ivory.
The best of the available materials for these balls was ivory. No other material performed as well, nor was any other material as durable.
For this reason, billiard balls were made primarily from ivory, which is naturally white or off-white in color.
This means that the cue ball is not made while, but it is left white. The other balls were changed from white to colors or stripes by the use of dyes.
The white ivory balls were later replaced with various plastics, and the acrylics and resins used to make these balls today, and the cue ball is left white as it became the standard when ivory balls were used for these sports.
A White Cue Ball Stands Out On The Table
The most obvious reason why the cue ball is white is simply that it stands out on the table in comparison to the other balls, and it stands out against the felt o the table.
The white color of the cue ball forms a stark contrast between the ball and the other elements of the sport, making it far easier to identify the ball, plot its trajectory of the ball, and follow the ball as it moves on the table.
The white ball is also far easier for spectators of cue sports to follow, whether they are watching the sport live or through a screen.
The Cue Ball Color Was Influenced By Croquet
Another reason why the cue ball is white is due to the influence of croquet. The sports of croquet and snooker both rose to the peak of their popularity around the same time, and they bore many similarities to each other, including the colors of the balls that were used for the sports.
Both sports feature a white ball that is used to strike the other balls in the game, and snooker continued the tradition of using the white ball for this purpose due to the establishment of this practice in croquet.
This provided continuity between the games and everyone who saw either game immediately understood which ball was used for striking and how to differentiate it from the other balls in play, as this ball is always white.
Creating these standards across sports makes certain elements of the game far easier to understand and follow.
The Cue Ball Remains White As Tradition
We have learned some of the histories of white cue balls, but these balls remain the same color today, centuries after the invention of the billiard ball.
The reason why cue balls are still white today is to keep up with tradition and to maintain the standards that have been set in the game for so long.
If the cue ball was suddenly made a different color, it would bring much confusion to both players and spectators of cue sports.
The white cue ball will forever stand out as the ball that is used to strike the others in the game, and the color of the ball helps to fulfill this function far better than any other color would.
White will always stand out from the other balls, it is always easy to see, and the mechanisms in modern tables rely on the translucent color of the ball to distinguish it from the other in order to return it to the players when it is pocketed.
In short, no other color will do for a cue ball; now that the standards for the colors in cue sports have been established, even if the other colors change, the cue ball will forever remain white.
Conclusion
Cue balls were established as white when the other billiard balls were dyed colors and stripes to improve gameplay and make it easier to distinguish one from another. This system made sense and continues to make sense today, which is why the cue ball remains white.
Other sports influenced the color of billiard balls over the years, but this only cemented the cue ball’s color forever. The cue ball is unlikely to change color officially and will always remain white for tradition and functionality.