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Early balls were made of various materials, including wood and clay (the latter remaining in use well into the 20th century). Although affordable [[ox]]-bone balls were in common use in Europe, elephant [[ivory]] was favored since at least 1627 until the early 20th century;<ref name="Shamos 1999">{{Shamos 1999}}</ref>{{rp|17}} the earliest known written reference to ivory billiard balls is in the 1588 inventory of the [[Duke of Norfolk]].<ref name="Everton 1986">{{cite book |title=The History of Snooker and Billiards |last=Everton |first=Clive |author-link=Clive Everton |location=Haywards Heath, England |publisher=[[Transworld (company)|Partridge Press]] |page=8 |date=1986 |isbn=1-85225-013-5 |quote=11 balls of {{sic|hide=y|yvery}} }} This is a revised version of ''The Story of Billiards and Snooker'', 1979.</ref> Dyed and numbered balls appeared around the early 1770s.<ref name="Shamos 1999" />{{rp|17}} By the mid-19th century, elephants were being slaughtered for their ivory at an alarming rate, just to keep up with the demand for high-end billiard balls – no more than eight balls could be made from a single elephant's tusks.{{citation needed|date=February 2010|reason=When sourced, this should probably be added to the article on elephants.}} The billiard industry realized that the supply of elephants (their primary source of ivory) was [[Endangered species|endangered]], as well as dangerous to obtain (the latter an issue of notable public concern at the turn of the 19th century).<ref name="Shamos 1999" />{{rp|17}} Inventors were challenged to come up with an alternative material that could be [[Manufacturing|manufactured]], with a [[United States dollar|US$]]10,000 (worth approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|10000|1869|r=1}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}) prize being offered by a New York supplier.<ref name="Shamos 1999" />{{rp|17}}
Although not the first artificial substance to be used for the balls (e.g. [[Sorel cement]], invented in 1867, was marketed as an artificial ivory), [[John Wesley Hyatt]] patented an "ivory imitation" composite made of [[nitrocellulose]], [[camphor]], and ground cattle bone in May 4, 1869 (US patent 89582, the first US billiard ball patent). The material was a success, and was sold as Bonzoline, Crystalate, Ivorylene until the 1960s, and was used by prominent professional players such as [[John Roberts Jr (billiards player)|John Roberts Jr]] (1847–1919), [[Charles Dawson (billiards player)|Charles Dawson]] (1866–1921), and [[Walter Lindrum]] (1898–1960). The ivory substitute was one the most significant early [[reinforced plastics]]; induced the global growth of billiards, pool, and snooker; and helped create a modern idea that the artificial can surpass the natural.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Neves |first1=Artur |last2=Friedel |first2=Robert |last3=Melo |first3=Maria J. |last4=Callapez |first4=Maria Elvira |last5=Vicenzi |first5=Edward P. |last6=Lam |first6=Thomas |date=1 November 2023 |title=Best billiard ball in the 19th century: Composite materials made of celluloid and bone as substitutes for ivory |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad360 |journal=PNAS Nexus |volume=2 |issue=11 |doi=10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad360 |issn=2752-6542 |pmc=10651075}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Neves |first=Artur |title=First successful substitutes for ivory billiard balls were made with celluloid reinforced with ground cattle bone |url=https://phys.org/news/2023-11-successful-substitutes-ivory-billiard-balls.html |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=Phys.org}}</ref>
However, Hyatt's composite had problems. One of the most relevant is cellulose nitrate flammability, not because of making the billiard balls explode, as is often claimed, but because of the dangers of handling it in its pure form during manufacturing. Another problem was related to camphor mass exploitation, leading to the devastation of Taiwan's forests and displacement of indigenous communities.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Altman |first=Rebecca |date=2 July 2021 |title=The myth of historical bio-based plastics |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj1003 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=373 |issue=6550 |pages=47–49 |doi=10.1126/science.abj1003 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> Subsequently, the industry experimented with various other synthetic materials for billiard balls such as [[Bakelite]], [[poly(methyl methacrylate)|acrylic]], and other plastic compounds.
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[[File:Carom billiards balls.jpg|thumb|200px|Carom balls. [[Four-ball billiards|Four-ball]] needs an additional object ball.]]
In the realm of [[carom billiards]] games, three balls are used to play most games on pocketless [[billiards table]]s. Carom balls are not numbered, and are 61–61.5 mm (approximately {{frac|2|13|32}} in) in diameter, and a weight ranging between {{convert|205|and|220|g}} with a typical weight of {{convert|7.5|oz|g|order=flip|abbr=on}}.<ref name="UMB-II-12-2">{{cite web |url= https://files.umb-carom.org/Public/Rules/Carom_Rules.pdf |title=World Rules of Carom Billiard |at=Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 12 ("Balls, Chalk"), Section 2 |work=UMB.org |publisher=[[Union Mondiale de Billard]] |location=Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium |date=1 January 1989 |access-date=27 November 2023}} Officially but somewhat poorly translated version, from the French original.</ref> They are typically colored as follows:
* White: {{Cuegloss|cue ball}} for
* Yellow: cue ball for
* Red: the {{Cuegloss|object ball}} ([[Four-ball billiards|four-ball]] uses an extra object ball, usually blue).
{{clear|right}}
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|caption2=Bumper pool ball near a pocket
}}
Various other games have their own variants of billiard balls. [[English billiards]] uses the same number of balls as carom billiards, but the same size as snooker balls, as the game is played on the same size table as snooker. Each player uses a separate cue ball, with modern English billiards sets using one white ball with red spots and the other being yellow with red spots.
[[Russian pyramid]] uses a set of fifteen numbered white balls and a red or yellow cue ball that are even larger than carom billiards balls at {{convert|68|mm|in|frac=16}}. [[Kaisa (cue sport)|Kaisa]] has the same pocket and ball dimensions but uses only five balls: one yellow, two red and two white cue balls, one for each player.<ref name="BVRP">{{cite web |url= https://cuesup.com/russian-pyramid-pool-a-game-bearing-more-games/ |title=Russian Billiards |work=CuesUp.com |author=<!--Staff writer; no byline.--> |date=2016 |access-date=28 December 2016}}</ref>
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