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All billiards games are played on a rectangular, slate-topped table twice as long as it is wide and covered with a felt cloth. The playing area is surrounded by rubber cushions, or rails. Two basic types of billiards exist: pocket billiards, also called pool, on a table with six pockets, and carom billiards, usually on a table with no pockets.

Pocket billiards requires cue sticks, a white cue ball, and, in the United States, 15 object balls numbered 1-15 (1-8, solid; 9-15, striped).

The most popular U. S. pocket billiards game, called 14.1 continuous or straight pool, is for 2 players only. The game begins with the 15 object balls racked unordered in a triangle. The player who begins, or breaks, strokes the cue ball and must drive 2 or more object balls to a cushion or at least 1 object ball into a pocket. After that, each player attempts to make a continuous run of balls, in any order, until only 1 object ball remains on the table. The 14 balls are then racked again, with a space left at the head of the triangle. The player who pocketed the 14th ball now attempts to pocket the 15th and scatter the racked balls. Before each shot a player must call the shot, that is, identify ball and pocket. Each turn taken is called an inning. One point is scored for each successful shot, and a game is usually to 150 points.

Another pocket billiards game is rotation, in which the object balls are racked in order—the number 1 ball at the apex of the triangle and so on. Each ball must be pocketed in order and is worth its face value. The player or team to reach 61 points or more wins.

A variation of rotation is nine ball, which, from the early 1980s, rivaled straight pool in U. S. popularity. Only balls 1-9 are used, racked in a diamond with the number 9 ball in the center and the 1 ball at the apex. On all shots the cue ball must first strike the lowest-numbered ball on the table; the player who pockets the 9 ball wins.

Eight ball, the game most played on coin-operated tables, begins with the number 8 ball racked in the center of the triangle. After the break, 1 player (or team) shoots only at balls 1-7 (solids), the other player only at 9-15 (stripes). After a player pockets an entire group, the 8 ball must be pocketed to end the game.

In Great Britain snooker is the most popular billiards game. It uses 21 object balls: 15 red (worth 1 point each) and 1 each of yellow (2), green (3), brown (4), blue (5), pink (6), and black (7). A player must first pocket a red ball, then a "colored" one, then a red, and so on. Each colored ball is respotted on the table, however, until all the reds are off; then the colored balls must be pocketed in ascending order. The player with the most points wins.

The most popular form of carom billiards is three-rail billiards, played with two white balls and one red on a pocketless table. To score a point a player must stroke the cue ball (one of the white balls), and it must hit one of the other balls and at least three cushions before hitting the second ball. The cue ball may also strike the other two simultaneously as long as it has already hit at least three rails. Games are usually played to 50 points.

In straight-rail billiards the cue ball must strike the other two but not necessarily any rails. English billiards is played on a somewhat larger table, with pockets, and with some rule variations.

Billiards is of unknown origin, but the game was played in 16th-century England. The word billiards is derived from the Old French billart, "curved stick." The Billiard Congress of America, in Iowa City, Iowa, sanctions U.S. play. The greatest U.S. players were Willie HOPPE (three-rail) and Willie MOSCONI (straight pool).