When buying billiard supplies for your billiard game room at home, style is probably the last thing on your mind. Certainly, focus should be given on the quality of the major billiard supplies that you will purchase like the billiard table and cue sticks. But, you can always squeeze in some style in these pieces of equipment and in their accompanying accessories.

In the billiard table, for instance, you can check out the different styles in the legs. There are carved legs and straight legs which come in a variety of finishes from light to dark wood stains. The cue sticks can come in beautiful and unique inlays and rings. They can serve as exquisite works of arts with their intricate hand-lain patterns.

When it comes to accessories, you would surely appreciate the billiard racks that can come in beautifully crafted wall units and floor racks. You can go traditional with very detailed carvings or you can go chic and trendy with sleek and sophisticated lines. There are also unique pieces of billiard racks that look like an 8-ball adding a whimsical edge to your game room. If you want, you can turn to billiard lighting units to add some pizzazz in your room. Billiard lights don’t only provide appropriate luminance into your room. These billiard supplies come in very elegant brass and colorful stained glass shades.

Don’t forget the furnishings in your room as well. Most billiard supplies stores also sell items such as chairs, bar stools and pub tables. You can match all these pieces with your basic billiard equipment to give your room a universal look. There are also fantastic pieces of coat racks and hangers with billiard ball designs perfect for hanging your hats or your friend’s coats and jackets. To complete your billiard game room’s stylish look you can add and hang wonderful posters or banners and perhaps add a touch of neon lighting in a neon clock.

Nine-ball is a billiard variation where players only use the balls numbered one through nine. In a 9-ball rack, you rack the balls in a diamond pattern, with the one ball at the front of the rack and nine ball in the center. The object of nine-ball is to hit the balls in ascending numerical order, starting with the one ball. You don’t need to pocket the lowest-numbered ball first, but you must hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table before pocketing it or any other ball.

Straight pool is a called-shot game. The object of straight pool is to shoot any ball into a pocket; you don’t have to aim for a particular set of balls or shoot the balls in any particular order. Straight pool players designate a score ahead of time; typically 100; and the winner is the first person to reach that score.
In straight pool, every ball sunk on a called shot counts as one point. Under called-shot rules, you can only designate one ball per shot; even if multiple balls are pocketed during a shot, all balls that are not the object of the called shot are returned to the table and the shot only counts as a single point. Because scores are typically 100 or 150, straight pool, or continuous pool, involves several consecutive games.

Eight-ball is a game where each player must pocket one set of balls; either the solid balls numbered 1 through 7, or the striped balls numbered 9 through 15. Like straight pool, the 8-ball billiard game is another called-shot game. Players must announce the shot they intend to make before striking the cue ball. If they fail to make the shot, their turn is over and play reverts to the opponent. The object of eight-ball is to pocket every ball in the player’s set, and then pocket the eight ball on a legal shot.

Cutthroat is a pool game for three players. In cutthroat, each player gets five balls; either group 1 through 5, 6 through 10 or 11 through 15. The object of the game is to sink your opponents’ balls while keeping your balls on the table. Whenever an opponent scratches, you can return your ball to the table, so the game isn’t over if all your balls get pocketed. When you successfully sink all of your opponents’ balls and have at least one of your own left standing, you win.