Russian Billiards

In the Soviet Union twenty years ago people played only Russian billiards. Even very small towns had special “billiardnaya” where for symbolic price you could play this wonderful game. Billiard tables were almost everywhere: at office buildings, at ‘palaces of culture’, at all resorts and sometimes even at theatres and cinemas.

Today everything is different – everywhere Russians play pool. In a very short period of time pool almost killed the old noble Russian game. Old style Russian billiard tables one can find only at some elite clubs or at famous “billiardnaya” like the one at Olimpiyaskiy in Moscow where professionals play for money.

The reason behind this phenomenon is two-fold: greed and laziness. By greed I mean cupidity of clubs and bars owners. First, people pay for a game of pool but games themselves are very short in comparison with Russian billiards where a single game could last for ages. Second, pool tables are much smaller and cheaper than Russian billiards tables.

By laziness I mean the ease of playing pool. In Russian billiards balls barely fit in the pockets, so it’s almost always very, very difficult to pot a ball. But on the other hand the rules of Russian billiards are more simple and straightforward.

Related Tags: Russia, Moscow, billiards, Russian billiards, pool