| People unfamiliar with the details of cue sports | | | | home has "faster" cloth, or baize with a smoother |
| such as billiards and pool often think that | | | | nap that gives less friction, so that the balls roll |
| everything depends upon the skill of the player. | | | | farther across. The fastest felt, as one might |
| Little do the unschooled know that the quality of | | | | expect, is the 100 percent worsted wool cloth |
| a key piece of equipment, the cloth covering, can | | | | covering tables used for professional competition. |
| make all the difference in how to play a Chicago | | | | |
| pool table. | | | | The cloth has been so important to the game |
| | | | | – and some players so insistent on keeping it |
| Call it pool, eight-ball, billiards or some other | | | | perfect – that extraordinary means have |
| variation, all cue sports can trace their history to | | | | been used to protect the baize. In fact, women |
| games that began in the 15th century. Initially, the | | | | pool players were required to continue to use |
| demand for pool tables was met by such noted | | | | club-like devices called maces even after cues |
| European furniture makes as John Thurston. | | | | where invented, because the men feared the |
| Whatever variety of the sport is played (and | | | | women would rip the baize using cues! It's |
| there are many more than one might suspect), | | | | doubtful that men could get away with such |
| any table used for cue sports since that time has | | | | attitudes playing at Chicago pool tables today! |
| been covered in billiard cloth, known informally as | | | | |
| "felt" but actually a form of woven wool a blend | | | | Traditionally billiard tables are covered in green |
| of wool and nylon. This cloth officially is known as | | | | cloth, an echo of the game's origin on grassy |
| "baize." | | | | lawns. Today, however, professional pool |
| | | | | technicians such as Alpha Billiards offer 26 |
| How important is the cloth that covers Chicago | | | | different colors of standard-grade baize cloth to |
| pool tables? Let's put it into historical context: The | | | | choose for a Chicago pool table. What's more, |
| original company of Iwan Simonis, the world's | | | | serious amateurs or professional players can |
| most famous manufacturer of baize, was formed | | | | choose an upgraded cloth known as the Tour |
| in 1453, around the time that the game got | | | | edition, comes in 9 shades: Tourney Green, Bottle |
| started. That humble-looking cloth on a Chicago | | | | Green, Dark Green, Euro Blue, Burgundy, Wine, |
| pool table has a long and distinguished lineage! | | | | Golden, Black and Navy. The ultimate cloth, |
| | | | | Mercury Ultra, comes in five shades: Tournament |
| Pool tables found in taverns and bars, or in | | | | Green, Dark Green, Basic Green, Burgundy and |
| commercial pool halls, typically have what's called a | | | | Euro Blue. |
| "slower" cloth. This means that the cloth on more | | | | |
| public Chicago pool tables is rougher to provide | | | | And believe it or not, the top most requested |
| more friction that helps the baize stand up to lots | | | | color for Chicago pool tables is … Burgundy! So |
| of use. On the other hand, more upscale pool | | | | much for that grassy-green tradition, eh? |
| clubs and the typical Chicago pool table used at | | | | |