Pocket billiards is generally agreed to have morphed from an outdoor game played on grass, with mallets very similar to croquet. It was moved indoors, and rails and pockets added as the game evolved. Perhaps the single most important revolution to the game was the addition of leather tips, which added a great deal of control to the "strike".
One key point is that I have described pocket billiards, which is...billiards with pockets. Billiards refers to any game where one has balls that strike each other.
Billiards is generally accepted as originating in Italy as a modified version of trucco. However, the first record of the billiard table is in France. It is argued and has not yet been found whether the indoor game of billiards was first played in Italy or France. The evolution of the equipment, as we know it, definitely was the result of a Frenchman, Francois Mignaud, but he played in many European countries as this was developed.
Billiards is no longer there.
It doesn't. There is no "mat" related to the game of English Billiards or Pocket Billiards.
This depends upon which billiards game - English Billiards is most popular in the UK. Pocket Billiards is most popular in the US.
The only jobs available for billiards is working at a billiards hall at the counter or as a cleaner.
billiards Players
There are generally two terms used for billiards - English billiards or pocket billiards. Pocket billiards is also called pool. Billiards is a popular bar game that has a number of different names that it has been called over the years but the most notable and popular is simply that of pool.
Billiards covers English Billiards, Carom Billiards, and Pocket Billiards, and each has their own set of rules.
Billiards in the name of a popular cue sport.
Snooker is fairly similar to billiards.
A faulty billiards shot is called a "miscue"
There are many companies that specialize in offering classic billiards game tables. Online, one can order the billiards games tables from Classic Games and Billiards and Overstock.
There are many very good books on how to learn billiards. Two of these are The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool and Billiards and The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards.