carom billiards with larger balls?

P

PetToilet

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I swore many years ago I went to a pool hall and saw carom tables with balls that were huge. Was I dreaming?

I've played snooker, regular pool games, and cushion games and I know the sizes of those balls, but I swear I remember seeing carom billiards played with balls significantly bigger than the slightly larger 3C balls(and even the slightly larger 4-ball version). I believe asians were mostly playing it.

Can't find jack on wikipedia that mentions sizes. Pictures or videos would be even better.
 
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I have seen an online billiard game ( Korean) that uses more then 4 65mm balls. I think the balls come in many different colors and you score different amount of points based on the color balls you carom off of. Perhaps those balls are bigger then the standard fare.

Here is a Korean website featuring Korean fourball matches: http://tbc.co.kr/tbc_sports/billiard_03_2.htm

Warning: The following will stray off the topic a little:

I know that billiard balls shrink over time. I have made the mistake of buying the Aramith premier carom ball set, the dark red ball and the off white ball with the black dots. The ball set was advertised as 2 and 3/8 inches. I was naive and thought that 2 and 3/8 was the American measurement equivalent to 61.5 mm. To make a long story short my friend discovered that the balls were small when he compared them to his new Measel balls set. In fact we measured with Calipers on the balls were not even 2 and 3/8 of an inch. My friend being more knowledgeable then me concluded that the balls, although new, probably had been sitting on a shelf for quite a few years. What is my point with all of this? Be careful purchasing Carom Balls. If you buy the newest line of balls you probably are more likely to get non shrunken balls. I was being a cheapskate and tried buying really cheap balls of the Internet.
 
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I have seen those in person, but still swear I saw ones significantly larger than any other balls (more than the 5% larger fourball ones)

And yeah that shrinking makes sense, especially with the larger and heavier carom balls.
 
You may have seen some huge balls but, if they were being used, the cushions would have to be a bit higher too or they'd be jumping all over the damn place, if they were that big.
MULLY
 
I never played the Korean 4 ball game - but where I did play they had smaller tables for the Korean 4 ball game and the balls were bigger than those I played 3-c with.
 
4-ball

yep. 4x8 tables and 2-9/16 balls.
 

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Dean_H said:
... I know that billiard balls shrink over time.....
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While balls very clearly do wear down -- chalk is made of sand and cloth becomes sandpaper if not cleaned -- I believe that they do not shrink of their own accord over time unless they are made wrong. Were the balls you bought alleged to be new? Was the box labeled? Another problem is that non-Aramith balls sometimes find their way into Aramith boxes -- I have seen this happen with pool balls where cheap Chinese balls were substituted for Aramiths.
 
Dean_H said:
I have seen ...billiard game ( Korean) that uses more then 4 65mm balls. I think the balls come in many different colors and you score different amount of points based on the color balls you carom off of. Perhaps those balls are bigger then the standard fare.....
Click to expand...

Not 100% sure, but the game you reference is always in play at one of the Korean spots I hit.

They call it Korean 9-ball and, like Keno, there is no point in playing if it isn't for $...or so they say!

I believe the balls are the standard 4-ball size (smaller than those used in 3c).
 
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