The new Aramith tournament balls

ibuycues

ibuycues

I Love Box Cues
Silver Member
BALL COLORS

I know that most know this, but here is how the original colors of pool balls were determined:

1. The first three balls (1,2,3) are PRIMARY colors....yellow, blue and red.
They occur with maximum separation on the color wheel so as to provide maximum contrast.

2. The next three balls are all SECONDARY colors, comprised strictly of combined primary colors.
Four is purple = red + blue
Five is orange = red + yellow
Six is green = blue + yellow
These secondary colors also provide maximum separation and contrast on the color wheel.

3. The next ball (seven) is a TERTIARY color, comprised of a primary and secondary color.
Seven is maroon = red (primary) + purple (secondary).

4. The cue ball (white) and eight ball (black) are the presence of all colors and no colors.

5. The Nine through Fifteen balls repeat the colors of the 1 through 7 except as striped balls.

The colors may have been originally established by leveraging colors of croquet balls.

Whew, sorry!
I was an engineer for 40+ years, and it resurfaces once in a while.
.....And now you know.......
By the way, I am a big fan of the traditional colors.

Will Prout
 
Last edited:
MattPoland

MattPoland

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
77f927168ffdaffdeab082f3b18a0ab9.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
ibuycues said:
BALL COLORS

I know that most know this, but here is how the original colors of pool balls were determined:

1. The first three balls (1,2,3) are PRIMARY colors....yellow, blue and red.
They occur with maximum separation on the color wheel so as to provide maximum contrast.

2. The next three balls are all SECONDARY colors, comprised strictly of combined primary colors.
Four is purple = red + blue
Five is orange = red + yellow
Six is green = blue + yellow
These secondary colors also provide maximum separation and contrast on the color wheel.

3. The next ball (seven) is a TERTIARY color, comprised of a primary and secondary color.
Seven is maroon = red (primary) + purple (secondary).

4. The cue ball (white) and eight ball (black) are the presence of all colors and no colors.

5. The Nine through Fifteen balls repeat the colors of the 1 through 7 except as striped balls.

The colors may have been originally established by leveraging colors of croquet balls.

Whew, sorry!
I was an engineer for 40+ years, and it resurfaces once in a while.
.....And now you know.......
By the way, I am a big fan of the traditional colors.

Will Prout
Click to expand...

Thank you Will. I'd heard this once before and it made sense to me then and it still makes sense now. I have only one thing to add - If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
 
Last edited:
jeephawk

jeephawk

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ibuycues said:
BALL COLORS

I know that most know this, but here is how the original colors of pool balls were determined:

1. The first three balls (1,2,3) are PRIMARY colors....yellow, blue and red.
They occur with maximum separation on the color wheel so as to provide maximum contrast.

2. The next three balls are all SECONDARY colors, comprised strictly of combined primary colors.
Four is purple = red + blue
Five is orange = red + yellow
Six is green = blue + yellow
These secondary colors also provide maximum separation and contrast on the color wheel.

3. The next ball (seven) is a TERTIARY color, comprised of a primary and secondary color.
Seven is maroon = red (primary) + purple (secondary).

4. The cue ball (white) and eight ball (black) are the presence of all colors and no colors.

5. The Nine through Fifteen balls repeat the colors of the 1 through 7 except as striped balls.

The colors may have been originally established by leveraging colors of croquet balls.

Whew, sorry!
I was an engineer for 40+ years, and it resurfaces once in a while.
.....And now you know.......
By the way, I am a big fan of the traditional colors.

Will Prout
Click to expand...

Isn't that from Dr. Dave?

It explains what they are, but not "how" they came to be or why.

The last sentence is more to the "how". Some say snooker colors were taken from croquet colors, which may have originally had something to do with primary colors, but may have been taken from some other source for a different reason. Hard to find definitive answers.

Pool ball colors seem to be more derivative of colors of balls from other games, than specifically chosen for the purpose of playing pool for any reason related to primary colors or contrast.
 
Cornerman

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
couldnthinkof01 said:
Tyranny!
Ball changin' without representation!
Our English oppressors are at it again.
I say we throw those balls in the Bellagio Harbor.
Click to expand...


I’m having a hard time believing that Ivan Lee approved these colors (specifically the 5/13 balls) prior to them being designed and developed. I am more inclined to believe that it was done, and he had to spin it. I’m sure be has something to say on this.

Freddie <~~~ totally not for me
 
ibuycues

ibuycues

I Love Box Cues
Silver Member
I just found Dr Dave’s info, very similar.
This has been around for a hundred years, I made a presentation on billiard curiosities 20 years ago,
and included this in my talk....
along with history of first leather tip, why the height of table, why the color of felt, why the ball size, tip/shaft size,
history on markers on the rails, why cues are spliced, first billiard table in the USA, and a whole lot more.
I’ve known since the 1960s.
WP
 
Last edited:
Nostroke

Nostroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
No matter what colors/set they use, only Mark Wilson will make the effort to get them right and correct his co-commentator. With few exceptions, the others will just take a stab at it and hope they guessed right. The way it's been and likely to be.

I'm no different. From home I'm always clueless on a minimum of 2-5 balls (3,4,5,6,&8). Dont even mention straight pool and the 10 thru the 15.
 
Texdance

Texdance

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Roman Numerals:
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV

or, just write out the words in place of color or numerals:

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, ELEVEN,
TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, FIFTEEN

plus, of course, CUE BALL.
 
B

Banger

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Texdance said:
or, just write out the words in place of color or numerals:

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, ELEVEN,
TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, FIFTEEN.
Click to expand...
English on one side of the ball, and Spanish on the other. :rotflmao:
 
trob

trob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I agree.. it won’t stop me from watching a match or going to a pool hall that has them but at the end of the day they are trying to sell them to home table owners also and that where I think they’ve missed their mark. I could be wrong but I don’t see them flying out the door.
 
fastone371

fastone371

Certifiable
Silver Member
trob said:
It won’t stop me from watching an event..but I’m not rushing out to buy a set for my home either
Click to expand...

I am guessing its this statement that gets under most peoples skin rather than the actual color of the balls.

"Ms. Frazier said on the stream yesterday that this is the set going forward on all matchroom events and players will either have to adapt or be left in the past. Her comments were very final, frank, and forgive me, but somewhat elitist. With all her playing knowledge and all."

After all, we will decide if we like the new colors by how sets of these balls everybody buys, I have a hard time believing they are going to be a hot seller.
 
Fatboy

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ibuycues said:
BALL COLORS

I know that most know this, but here is how the original colors of pool balls were determined:

1. The first three balls (1,2,3) are PRIMARY colors....yellow, blue and red.
They occur with maximum separation on the color wheel so as to provide maximum contrast.

2. The next three balls are all SECONDARY colors, comprised strictly of combined primary colors.
Four is purple = red + blue
Five is orange = red + yellow
Six is green = blue + yellow
These secondary colors also provide maximum separation and contrast on the color wheel.

3. The next ball (seven) is a TERTIARY color, comprised of a primary and secondary color.
Seven is maroon = red (primary) + purple (secondary).

4. The cue ball (white) and eight ball (black) are the presence of all colors and no colors.

5. The Nine through Fifteen balls repeat the colors of the 1 through 7 except as striped balls.

The colors may have been originally established by leveraging colors of croquet balls.

Whew, sorry!
I was an engineer for 40+ years, and it resurfaces once in a while.
.....And now you know.......
By the way, I am a big fan of the traditional colors.

Will Prout
Click to expand...

Wow what a post!!!

I never knew that, great stuff Wil. I knew there was a reason I’ve liked you so much all these years. Super sharp!!

Very best regards,
Fatboy
 
BRussell

BRussell

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Aramith released a statement about the balls:

Anticipating the need to better discern the balls on small screen devices, we developed a light purple to replace orange and a lighter green to replace the darker one, only in the new Aramith Tournament BLACK set. The pink 4-ball having become the reference in official tournaments with the Aramith Tournament TV set, we could not use the light purple for the 4-ball which would have been closer to tradition.
Click to expand...

colours.png
 
spartan

spartan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ibuycues said:
BALL COLORS

I know that most know this, but here is how the original colors of pool balls were determined:

1. The first three balls (1,2,3) are PRIMARY colors....yellow, blue and red.
They occur with maximum separation on the color wheel so as to provide maximum contrast.

2. The next three balls are all SECONDARY colors, comprised strictly of combined primary colors.
Four is purple = red + blue
Five is orange = red + yellow
Six is green = blue + yellow
These secondary colors also provide maximum separation and contrast on the color wheel.

3. The next ball (seven) is a TERTIARY color, comprised of a primary and secondary color.
Seven is maroon = red (primary) + purple (secondary).

4. The cue ball (white) and eight ball (black) are the presence of all colors and no colors.

5. The Nine through Fifteen balls repeat the colors of the 1 through 7 except as striped balls.

The colors may have been originally established by leveraging colors of croquet balls.

Whew, sorry!
I was an engineer for 40+ years, and it resurfaces once in a while.
.....And now you know.......
By the way, I am a big fan of the traditional colors.

Will Prout
Click to expand...

Makes sense
Color wheel like this

pool_ball_colors.jpg


https://bookofthrees.com/pool-ball-colors/
 
Cornerman

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
jeephawk said:
Isn't that from Dr. Dave?

It explains what they are, but not "how" they came to be or why.

The last sentence is more to the "how". Some say snooker colors were taken from croquet colors, which may have originally had something to do with primary colors, but may have been taken from some other source for a different reason. Hard to find definitive answers.

Pool ball colors seem to be more derivative of colors of balls from other games, than specifically chosen for the purpose of playing pool for any reason related to primary colors or contrast.
Click to expand...

I’m sure the good doctor has this somewhere on his site, but it’s been on the internet forums since mid 90’s. And I’m sure it wasnt just us engineers and computer that suddenly figured it out. It’s probably in an obscure book from a hundred years ago.

We even have had internet “discussions” on why brown is the logical choice for the tertiary 7-ball.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top