OCTANCULAR BILLIARDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 December 1907, Page 8

OCTANCULAR BILLIARDS.

.The .. octangular...bi)Lard-table - " lias , fpllow.ed closely: uponithe oval. .'All exhibition -pnnieof 203.up was.plav'ed recently .between:,Weiss; and I'eall, on the. firpt'.eiglit-sinflpd; t&ble\majM>y Messrs.' .'at the,. Thurston, Grand Ilall, Leicester, Square.: Weiss.once more , proved his grcaV capacity for adapting, his play to ; conditions ;by beating Peall each time, irt two': games of. 500 : up. In. trio afternoon .'ho scored; 500 to. Peall'si .2+5, and .at night he' defeated ■ his opponent "by, 289.. points. The .winner's .chief break" was; 93, while, Pealjs best . attempt :was ,41.;. The,, play, alj_ through, was interesting', especially, when (considered 'in, the light of a'new style of." game,- compared with .the. oval; billards recently •exploited. ~Tho octa'ngular game should "prove decidedly, popular. • '. . ' ' " . • '-' '.' The-makers of the table ..with eight .'.corners realise that tho; present standard' oblong .tablo ft 'the proper., thing for- 'orthodox' .billiards,; and what, they aim at .is providing a' now; kind :of billiards;; that' shall .be more-.interesting for tho" ordinary -plr-yer., who playii.- merely, for. aniusemcnt. The new. table .is practically, the ordinary qne.orith'-. the . corners'- cut ■' off, . the top and. .bottom : pockets beiiig placed in. tho middla of, the four' short extra sides' so formed,. The., first tiling ;that., ope, .'noticed,,in; Jthe play .was that; 'the': sides being straight. lines as'in tho ordinary table, there: was no strangeness in the angles at which the ball.came-oS the: cushions. The difference- chiefly, lav, in the; fact that eight' sides jn'ade much. greater scone, for all kinds of ingenious Cannons, and. both Weiss and. Peall gave proof of . this timo after time.' Otherwise, ,the .'rievr' game, .is very much like the old,' the sides of the table,, being 'straight, and; the middlo pockets, in the samo relative position as regards baulk as tliey afa oh. tho .ordinary 'table. Thoro was some {pretty play shown by the use of the wido angles. at 'the corners,'but the rattier exeessive ; "fluking" that is ono of tho features 'of the oviil tablet, was conspicuous, by its absence.,' Put'shortly, th.e octangular '.table- showed .that it ijives. far' more opportunities for. working-out 'niqo littlo problems" in ,pliiy than : the •;standard ;table, while its' straight cushions, introduco • no entirely. unknown quantity, as does,tho elliptical cushion of the oval'table.Jforo. than oneo each piayer .made a cannon. by using, soreral of . the cushions, and; a very" pretty stroke"ut was to watch, too,.and.yet-it called for ho new, knowledge ill the way of angles. "It ; was this point .which tended to.make; one ■ believe .that tho octangular .table will find ;first, placo in' the favour of- players of- qui,te ordinary capabilities as well as. for good players,, who do; not •- want.the eleinent.,of-monotony that often : dulls the edge of.the game on a standard table.;-.