What is the difference between snooker and billets game?

Answer 1

The nearest billets comes to snooker is in the use of old snooker cues to make some 'billet sticks', the Golf-club-like stick used to propel the 'billet' as far as possible.

The game is local to the Calder Valley, in West Yorkshire, and is closely related to 'knur and spell', and 'nipsey'.

The 'billet' is a 4 inch long piece of wood (boxwood being a favourite), which is balanced in a groove cut across the head of the stick.

The 'stick' is about the size of a golf-club, but with a cylindrical head, about 2" diameter, fixed to, and in line with, the shaft. Holly was a favourite wood for the shaft, giving the right combination of strength and flexibility. Snooker cues, or fishing rods, were sometimes used in place of holly. Hornbeam was a favourite for the head - railway shunting poles being a useful source!

The player balanced the billet on the stick, then, stepping forward, tipped it off and attempted to strike it, in mid-air, as far as possible. The field would be marked with flags at 20 yard intervals, and points awarded for distance; each flag passed would earn 1 score, so an 80+ yard strike would earn the player 4 points.

A match might be over 10 strikes, and prize money, and side-bets, could be huge, for the time.

I don't know of the game being played since the late 1970s, but I hope to stand corrected on that!

Anyway, no real connection to snooker.