A história da sinuca
The History of Snooker. 24 October 2022
by Gustavo Corrêa
Translation into English by Cristiane B.
From Billiards to Snooker – A Metamorphosis Spanning Centuries
The game we know today as snooker—owing to the simplicity of its fundamentals—has an obscure origin, and for that reason, many countries lay claim to its invention. The original idea was simply to have balls collide with one another or occasionally to pocket them, all on a specially designed table. The word that gives rise to “billiards” comes from “ball” (from the French bille) or from the Latin pila—which is also the root of the terms used for other ball games like “pelota.”
In Greece, around 589 B.C., Anacarsis is said to have witnessed a game in Athens similar to this. The accounts are vague. “If Rome played billiards, (…) Nero would have exchanged his incendiary pastimes for something more pleasant,” as Jacques Bonhomme would say in 1885. The idea that billiards might also have derived from croquet—albeit played on a table instead of on a lawn—is questionable, since that game only became popular in Europe around the mid-1850s. Nevertheless, even before that time, rich historical sources attest to the existence of many billiard tables in mansions throughout the continent.
It is highly likely that the form of billiards we recognize today originated directly from the game paillle-maille, much like croquet. Around 1300, the grassy field was replaced by a table—and this change alone explains why the cloth on the tables has traditionally been green. The very first commissioned table is said to have belonged to Louis XI of France in 1470. In that early game, balls, cue sticks (then known as “maças” or “tacos”), and rims were used. Occasionally, when the balls came to rest near the rails, the player would use a fine-tipped cue or even the tail end of the stick—referred to as a “queue” (tail)—for more precise shots. Over the centuries, the term “queue” eventually evolved into “cue.” The table also featured pockets—then known as “hazards”—which were areas to be avoided.
From that point onward, numerous references appear in historical records up until the late 17th century, when modifications began to shape billiards into the form we recognize today:
1514: “A large table for the game of billiards covered in green cloth” is listed among the possessions of a French duchess.
1551: During the reign of Henry III of France, billiards is referred to as the “noble game.”
1560: The modern form of billiards was attributed to the French artist Henri de Vigne during the reign of Charles IX.
1564: Shakespeare (1564–1616) makes numerous references to billiards in his plays.
1565: Billiards is introduced in North America by a Spanish family residing in St. Augustine, Florida, according to Frank G. Menke.
1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, complains that her captors deprived her of her billiard table at Fotheringay Castle shortly before her execution. Her letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow was written the night before her death.
1588: The first known reference to ivory billiard balls appears in an inventory of the Duke of Norfolk’s possessions. Howard House contained a “billiard board covered with green cloth [with] three billiard cues and 11 ivory balls.”
1591: The first literary reference to billiards (spelled “balyards”) appears in the tale of Hubberd’s mother by the poet Edmund Spenser.
1598: The modern spelling “billiard” appears in 1598, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. At this time, the pockets were still called “hazards.”
1605: King James I of England orders a table to be made by “Henry Waller, our joiner,” perhaps the first maker of English billiard tables.
1609: In one of Shakespeare’s works, Cleopatra tells her servant, “Let’s go to billiards. Come, Charmain.”
1610: King Louis XIII (1610–1643) plays billiards.
1632: John Locke (1632–1704) mentions billiards: “For when the ball obeys the strike of a billiard cue…” David Hume (1711–1776) was another philosopher who mentioned billiards while discussing cause and effect.
1638: Louis XIV (1638–1715), also known as “Louis the Great” and the “Sun King,” was an avid billiards player.
1665: The first known book containing instructions for billiards, La Maison de Jeux Academiques, is published in Paris. Samuel Pepys mentions billiards in his diaries.
1674: The first English book known to include instructions for billiards, The Compleat Gamester by Charles Cotton, is published. “It is allowed to use the small tip of the cue if the ball is very close to the rail.” (A step in the evolution of the cue.) At this time, pockets—called “hazards”—were to be avoided unless one could pocket the opponent’s ball. Cotton notes that in England, “few notable cities did not have a public billiard table.” He also warns, “Do not let a greedy desire to win someone else’s money lead you to lose your own.” Players were further cautioned against playing with “strangers” (i.e., hustlers).
1700: Billiards is played in Russia during the reign of Peter the Great.
1710: Louis XV (1710–1774) was a fan of billiards. One of the earliest mentions of the game in America appears in the secret diary of colonial legislator William Byrd II of Virginia. After making love to his wife, Byrd writes, “It should be noted that the flourish was performed on the billiards table.” Additionally, M. Jean Barbeyrac, a law professor, writes a book discussing the legality of billiards.
1727: By this time, billiards was being played in almost every café in Paris.
1734: The first printed reference to the billiard cue (or “the stick”) appears in the updated Complete Gamester by Seymour.
1745: The game gained such notoriety that it was banned from upper floors for fear that the weight of the “furniture and the crowd” might sink the floor.
1755: Dr. Samuel Johnson, creator of the first English dictionary, asserts that “billiards” derives from “balyards” and not from French.
1756: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) plays billiards; his financial troubles were attributed to his obsession with the game.
1757: Billiards was banned from taverns in England by an act of Parliament during the reign of King George II.
1792: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette play billiards on the eve of their arrest. It is said that Marie Antoinette’s cue was fashioned from a single piece of elephant, decorated with gold inlays. Records indicate that she defeated the king in these final games.
Important Modifications of the Components
In 1755, the game of billiards—which had been gradually shedding its earlier limitations—received an additional ball and a scoring system based on the number of ball collisions was introduced. The pockets were then enclosed, and thus French billiards was born. At that time, English billiards is said to have already incorporated more “pockets” or “hazards” (as we now know them), and in the British colonies, various game variants with different rules were commonly played. In 1776, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton all played billiards; Washington even recorded his wins.
In the Old World, Captain François Mingaud was released from prison in 1807 and demonstrated the possibilities unlocked by his invention: the leather cue tip. He is also credited with inventing the tie shot and the massé—a shot “so incredible that people claimed to see the devil’s hand in it.” At that time, the best cues were made of ash or well-seasoned walnut, and if dropped, they would reach a player’s chin. The balls were made of ivory or wood and measured about five centimeters in diameter. Since the wood deformed over time, this problem was soon resolved.
E. White published a practical treatise on billiards—the first and most important complete book on the game in English. It was in this work that the terms “object ball” and “white ball” made their debut. According to White, cues had been used “almost exclusively” in England, while abroad, the Italians and Dutch employed them as well. He advised English players to file down the tips of their cues to avoid errors and described sidespin as an annoyance best avoided by opting for the heavier cue instead of its lighter counterpart. Shortly thereafter, cues of both types were sold in equal numbers in England.
In 1825, the first English billiards championship took place. The frequent occurrence of “effects” (spin and curve shots) spurred scientific interest, leading engineer Gaspard Gustave Coriolis to write a volume on the mathematical formulas related to the game and their applications.
Wood was the material of choice for billiard tables until around 1835, when slate became popular due to its durability, moisture resistance, and resistance to deformation. In 1839, Charles Goodyear discovered the vulcanization process for rubber, and by 1845, rubber was being used to make billiard cushions. Prior to that, table surfaces were made of cotton or even consisted of a type of hose heated with water. As for table dimensions, standardization took time since they depended on the available space in establishments as well as the varied construction practices of manufacturers.
By the mid-1850s, French billiard tables began to feature “diamonds” on their rails to aid in aiming.
Various tables, rules, and game variants were disseminated and played. The game of pin-ball was a specific variant of billiards that included traditional obstacles. Such tables were brought to North America in 1934—a process that is well documented.
In 1846, Pope Pius IX had a billiard table installed in the Vatican.
In 1848, J.M. Brunswick opened his first sales office for tables and equipment in Chicago, USA. This event is significant because it was Brunswick that first proposed a set of rules in Brazil, which would later become known as the “Ubatuba Rule.” However, that development would take almost another century. Let us now return to the realm of billiards.
In the mid-1880s, a patent was registered for using high-pressure bovine bone to create balls that replaced the old wooden ones. It would still be some time before Crystalate balls—used today as a permanent substitute for ivory—were adopted.
The Birth of Snooker
French billiards had already begun to diverge significantly from English billiards. The English table—much larger than its French counterpart (both still lacking a clearly defined size but with only minor proportional variations)—was sent to the colonies. In India, which came under French and later English rule around 1763, an increasing number of British troops arrived. On these English tables, two types of games were played: one called “pyramids,” featuring 15 red balls plus a white ball, and another known as “life pool,” which used two-colored balls in addition to the white. In the pyramid game, the objective was to pocket as many red balls as possible, whereas life pool (very similar to the game of “vida” still played in Brazil) consisted of pocketing the opponent’s ball. Initially, the game was played by five players using colored balls in red, yellow, green, and brown. A variation of this game, known as black pool, featured a solitary black ball at the center of the table.
A young British officer, Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain, around 1875, combined the two games. It is worth noting that Neville was the nephew of Field Marshal Neville Bowles Chamberlain—who had nothing to do with snooker—but was born in Brazil in 1820 while his father served as the British consul. Yes! Snooker is French, English, Indian, and even has a Brazilian genetic touch—because, why not? Snooker is a game for the world!
In 1886, the game—comprising 15 red balls, a yellow ball worth 2 points, a green ball worth 3, a brown ball worth 4, and a black ball worth 5—was played in several Indian clubs. It was the game of the new cadets, who would sometimes miss easy shots. These players were nicknamed “snookers” (or “neux” in French, and “novato” in Portuguese). To spare their feelings, everyone who dared to play was called a snooker.
From 1875 until 1919, the game returned to England, where its rules were gradually formalized despite significant disorganization. A few years earlier, Burroughes & Watts had increased the number of balls from the standard set to include an additional six, alongside the 15 red balls. The Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC) was established, and by 1920 an official publication from the association was already in circulation.
It is believed that French billiards also made its way to South America during this period. In Argentina, 36 Biliares was founded in 1894 at Av. de Mayo, 1271—a billiard hall that remains among the most traditional on the continent.
Meanwhile, regulated snooker held its first championship in England in 1907, with Charles Dawson emerging as the champion. Soon after, Albert Raynor compiled a break of 73 points. In 1910, Charles Kirkpatrick recorded a 99-point break, and in 1915, George Hargest achieved a 112-point break—thereby inaugurating the era of century breaks.
Joe Davis, born in 1901, is said to have made a century break at the tender age of 11. By 1919, he had turned professional, ushering in snooker’s golden era. Joe Davis went on to win the World Professional Snooker Championship 15 consecutive times (1927–1946), compiling 687 century breaks in the process. He set the record for a 147-maximum break in 1955 against Willie Smith and retired from competitive snooker in 1946. Davis recounted stories of his talented contemporaries, such as Tom Reece and Melbourne Inman, who dominated the sport in the early decades of the century—both on and off the table. In one confrontation, Davis recounts, Reece made an exceptionally high-scoring break against Inman, who sat silently watching; Reece then pointed at Inman and told the referee, “That man should pay to be here.” Joe Davis passed away in 1978 at the age of 77, and his younger brother, Fred Davis, was champion from 1948 to 1956.
Another prominent player of that era was Alex “Hurricane” Higgins. Higgins, immensely talented and charismatic (though temperamental), was known as the “Champion of the People” at a time when snooker was gaining widespread prominence. The 1982 match between Jimmy White and Alex Higgins—in which Higgins compiled a 69-point break to overturn the game—is considered by snooker aficionados to be one of the greatest matches ever played. Higgins faced off against the likes of Ray Reardon, eight-time champion John Pulman, and Jimmy White, the latter being one of the first left-handed snooker players and famously known as the perennial runner-up. Still, many refer to him as “the most talented of his era.”
In the blossoming golden era of snooker, with the advent of television broadcasts, a supremely technical and cool-headed player emerged: Steve Davis. Davis ushered in the TV era of snooker, winning the World Championship six times and becoming synonymous with the sport. In 1977, the first World Rankings were introduced, and Steve Davis recorded the first televised 147 break in history. His precise and methodical play inspired a new generation of players—leading eventually to the emergence of the young Stephen Hendry, the “Golden Boy” who became the youngest world champion at 21 and arguably the sport’s highest earner. In the 1990s, records continued to fall. Tony Drago, benefiting from a free ball, amassed 149 points in a match in 1995. In 1993, the snooker world witnessed the debut of Ronnie O’Sullivan, who would go on to be one of the greatest—holding 15 maximum breaks of 147 points, including one against Mick Price in 1997 that remains the fastest in history at 5 minutes and 20 seconds. O’Sullivan also holds the all-time record with 1,171 century breaks to date. He remains active today, competing alongside the best of the new generation: John Higgins, Mark Williams, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson, and the phenomenon Judd Trump. Furthermore, the sport is now witnessing the rise of great Chinese players—such as Yan Bingtao, Zhou Yuelong, and Zhao Xintong—who promise to elevate snooker to even greater heights.
From Snooker to Sinuca – A Brazilian Perspective
To retrace the evolution of sinuca, we must set aside legends like O’Sullivan, Hendry, and Steve Davis and return to the 19th century—traveling not only to England, but also to France and the United States. As noted, in the early 1900s the so-called “Silver Countries,” such as Argentina, already boasted billiard halls likely introduced by the Spanish; however, that had little to do with snooker. For instance, in the newspaper Folha da Noite on September 29, 1923, an advertisement appeared reading: “BAR E BILHARES ARTÍSTICOS Antonio Caropreso on Av. São João in São Paulo.”
In the United States, a version of billiards played on smaller tables began to gain popularity. Its natural evolution from continuous pool starting in 1887 eventually led to today’s 9-ball and 8-ball, with 8-ball being registered around 1907. This represents a separate chapter from other game variants that gave rise to what in Brazil is known as “sinuquinha” or “drawer snooker” (also called “bar snooker”). But let us not get ahead of ourselves.
According to period newspapers, references to billiards and snooker were scarce until 1927. The American company Brunswick Balke Collender established itself in Rio de Janeiro in 1930, later opening offices in Recife, Porto Alegre, and São Paulo, and a year later launching the “ABC do Bilhar: principais regras para aprender a jogar; regulamento para todos os jogos de bilhar em mesas francesas, inglesas e norte-americanas.” The preferred table in Brazil was the French model, measuring 2.84 by 1.42 meters, complete with pockets and diamonds—and these characteristics remained unchanged. One of the rules stated: “It can also be played with two shots on the colored balls, whereby if on the second shot the called ball is not pocketed, the corresponding points are forfeited.” Thus, the Brazilian rule was born—initially with three red balls and later reduced to just one. In 1931, and two years earlier in the state of Sergipe, Walfrido Rodrigues dos Santos was born, who even as a child received the nickname “Carne Frita” (Fried Meat) from a clown.
In 1940, the first billiard table factory in Brazil was established in Rio de Janeiro: Tujague. Shortly thereafter, Taco de Ouro was founded in São Paulo. Carne Frita soon became a standout in the sinuca scene. He is said to have moved to Rio de Janeiro around the mid-1950s and, after eight years away, returned to São Paulo. The first inter-club tournament on record took place in São Paulo among the clubs Homs, Pinheiros, and Piratiniga. In that same year, the Rio–São Paulo challenge was broadcast on the program hosted by Flávio Cavalcanti—the champion being Carne Frita.
It is important here to consider the country’s political, social, and historical context. The late 19th century was marked by the proclamation of the republic, while the early decades of the 20th century experienced polarized politics and severe public health crises. Under the Estado Novo and the Vargas Dictatorship, labor reforms may have helped spread the sport, although the period also witnessed World War II. Matters worsened during Eurico Dutra’s administration, when gambling was prohibited—resulting in the closure of halls and casinos. Sinuca was looked down upon as a game lacking any sporting merit. As Manoel Tubino later observed, “Indeed, sinuca was also a victim of such prejudice, much like surfing and capoeira. With sinuca, there was also the stereotype of people playing in smoky bars while drinking—a negative image, perhaps a constructed one, portraying the game not as a sport but merely as leisure.”
Thus, the rules were highly disorganized. Every city had its own version and method of scoring, with table sizes varying according to the establishment. Despite this, notoriety was not lacking: Carne Frita and Jesus Sanchez emerged as idols of sinuca, and every micro-region had its “best player.” The state of Guanabara (today the city of Rio de Janeiro) was instrumental in founding the Federação de Bilhar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro on August 30, 1973—a body that remains active. In 1979, the Federação Paulista de Sinuca e Bilhar was established, and in 1986, Brasília followed suit. That same year, the three federations formed the Confederação Brasileira de Bilhar e Sinuca (CBBS).
A significant milestone was the dissemination of the document Regras da Sinuca – Aprovadas pela Carta de Ubatuba. Dating from 1988 (the year of the new constitution) and initially valid for only eight years, it was nevertheless sufficient to establish a standardized set of rules. From then on, players had an official document to refer to—even though regional variations persisted in contravention of the national rule. Thus, the game known as Ubatuba, or the Brazilian Rule, was born—either through common parlance or as a formally registered document.
The trend in sinuca, however, was increasingly to merge with English snooker. Steve Davis, for example, visited Brazil at the invitation of Galasso and Jesus Sanchez—two ardent proponents of aligning the rules more closely with snooker standards.
In 1995, Miguelzinho (from São Paulo) and Jairzinho (from Rio de Janeiro) set the record for the highest break in a sinuca match by scoring 112 points. Over time, the rules evolved: starting in 1997, there was an intense “anglicization” of the Brazilian Rule. The black ball’s placement shifted to be nearer the rail (previously it was aligned perpendicularly to the first diamond), 54 mm balls began to be replaced by 52 mm ones, and Brazilian tables’ pockets—originally 75 mm in size—started to resemble the 80 mm pockets found on English tables. Moreover, the game of six reds (a simplified version of snooker) became the most popular format in certain regions of Brazil, with rules that differed from traditional snooker.
Looking back to those early years, in addition to Carne Frita and Jesus (the player with the most titles), figures such as Rui Matos Amorim (nicknamed Rui Chapéu) and Roberto Carlos de Oliveira emerged. According to snooker enthusiasts, Roberto Carlos was among the greatest sinuca players ever seen in Brazil. Known for his extremely aggressive style, he even defeated Steve Davis in 1987 when the latter visited the country. Jair de Oliveira, another prominent name in sinuca, once remarked, “Roberto Carlos never warmed up before matches. He simply arrived at the hall with his cue, waited his turn, played, and won.” Today, we stand at the end of one era and the beginning of another. The game of sinuca is increasingly aligning with English snooker, while the Ubatuba style is now cherished mainly by traditionalists. Modern players such as Noel and Jota split their time between competitions held under the Brazilian Rule and those following the English Rule. Meanwhile, Igor Figueiredo competes in tournaments both in England and in Brazil; in 2022, he broke the longstanding Brazilian Rule record from 1995 by scoring 112 points. With the rise of YouTube, many channels featuring games played on bar tables have become popular, and figures like Noel and Jota frequently appear in these broadcasts—spurring renewed interest in sinuca. It is entirely possible that we are about to witness the birth of a new chapter in the history of Brazilian sinuca. For now, it can be said that this article remains “
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A história da sinuca. Do bilhar para a sinuca - uma metamorfose de séculos. Por Gustavo Corrêa