Three-cushion billiards

In three-cushion billiards, the cue ball must contact at least three different cushion rails before striking the second object ball for a valid point. The game is played on a pocketless table with three balls—one red, one white, and one yellow cue ball—and each successful point is worth one tally, with matches typically played to 40 or 50 points.

In standard carom billiards (also called straight rail or free game), the cue ball simply needs to contact both object balls with no minimum cushion requirement. The three-cushion variant's requirement forces players to use creative kick shots and rail-first patterns, making it far more difficult and producing much lower scoring averages.

Raymond Ceulemans of Belgium is widely considered the greatest three-cushion player, having won a record 21 UMB World Championship titles between 1962 and 1987. Torbjörn Blomdahl of Sweden dominated the sport in the 1980s and 1990s, while Semih Saygıner of Turkey brought attention to the sport in Asia and the Middle East.

Professional three-cushion billiards is played on a heated carom table measuring 1.5 meters by 3 meters (approximately 5 by 10 feet), which is larger than a standard American pool table. The table is heated to approximately 30°C (about 86°F) to reduce moisture on the cloth and make the balls roll more consistently and quickly.