<P> Fouls (or faults): A player missing the opponent's ball added one point to his opponent's total; the shooter conceded two points if that player's own ball (then acting as the cue ball) went into a pocket after striking the opponent's ball; and the player conceded three points if the cue ball was pocketed without even hitting the opponent's ball . These rules continued to exist in English billiards until 1983, when a standard two points for all fouls was introduced . </P> <P> By contrast, in the losing game a player could only score (2 points) by pocketing the cue ball through a carom off the opponent's ball . "Winning hazard" and "losing hazard" are terms still mentioned in the official rules for these two fundamental shot types, although "pot" and "in - off" have become the usual terms for them in British English . </P> <P> The final element was the cannon (or carom) shot, which came from carom or carambole billiards, a three - ball game popular in various countries of western Continental Europe, especially popularized by France (and today also popular in many parts of Asia and South America). In the 1700s, the carambole game added a red object ball to the two white cue balls, and dispensed with the pockets . This ball was adopted into the English game, which retained the pockets, and the goal was to cannon off both the red and the opponent's ball on a single shot, earning 2 points . This influence on the English game appears to have come about through the popularity of French tables in English coffee houses; London alone had over two thousand such establishments in the early 18th century . One period advertisement read: "A very good French Billiard Table, little the worse for wearing, full size, with all the materials fit for French or English play". </P> <P> The three ancestral games had their British heyday in the 1770s, but had combined into English billiards, with a 16 - point score total, by approximately 1800 . The skill required in playing these games helped retire the billiard mace in favour of the cue . </P>

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