Cushion caroms sometimes called by its original name, the indirect game, is a carom billiards discipline generally played on a cloth-covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, pocketless table with two cue balls and a third red-colored ball. The game is sometimes incorrectly referred to as one-cushion or one-cushion billiards, which is the direct translation of its name into English from various other languages such as Spanish ("una banda") and German ("einband").

Cushion caroms is traceable to 1820s Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and is a descendant of the doublet game dating to at least 1807, which required the sole object ball to be off a cushion before being pocketed or, as it was described in 1833: "...no hazard is scored unless it is made by reverberation."

The name of the game is taken from the pre-existing shot. In a cushion carom shot, the cue ball caroms (strikes and rebounds) off of both with at least one rail being struck before the hit on the second object ball. The object of the game is to score up to an agreed upon number of cushion caroms, with one point being awarded for each successfully made. If no object ball is contacted, one point is deducted. If there is ambiguity

Ambiguity

Ambiguity of words or phrases is the ability to express more than one interpretation. It is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the lack of precision contained or available in the information.Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity...

 as to whether the second ball was contacted, it is resolved in favor of the shooter.

Cushions caroms was defunct for a number of years, but was revived in the late 1860s as an alternative to the game straight rail, in which points are scored by a simple carom off both object balls with no cushion requirement. Straight rail had for a time been falling into disfavor based on frustration by spectators with skill developments which allowed top players to monotonously score a seemingly endless

Infinity

Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity...

 series of points with the balls barely moving in a confined area of the table playing area. This was a result of the "rail nurse", a shot in which the object balls are nudged at very soft speed down a rail to a duplicate position again and again.

Instead of stopping long runs as intended, the skills developed at straight rail were transferred over to cushion caroms. Some time between 1881 and 1889 a new nurse was developed for cushion caroms, known as the "rub nurse." With the two object balls stacked perpendicular to a rail and just next to it, the rub nurse is performed by gently banking the cue ball off the rail just before them resulting in a soft graze of both and the same or near the same position repeating.

While cushion caroms waxed and waned, the game of balkline

Balkline and straight rail

Balkline is the overarching title of a large array of carom billiards games generally played with two and a third, red , on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, less table that is divided by on the cloth into marked regions called...

 was, by the late 1870s, increasingly becoming effective at limited nursing. It eclipsed cushion caroms as the game of public match play and tournaments until well into the 20th century. This is not to say that cushion caroms did not retain some popularity with the public. For example, it is known that Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

 enjoyed the game on occasion. The presently-dominant game, three-cushion billiards

Three-cushion billiards

Three-cushion billiards is a form of carom billiards, and one of the most popular and challenging cue sports in the world.The object of the game is to the off both and contact the at least 3...

, a direct outgrowth of cushion caroms also beginning in the 1870s, did not marginalize balkline until the 1920s.

The first known public exhibition at cushion caroms took place in 1867, won by Joseph Dion over John McDevitt. The first public match was won by "the wizard", Jacob Schaefer, Sr.

Jacob Schaefer Sr.

Jacob Schaefer, Sr. , nicknamed "the Wizard", was a professional carom billiards player, especially of the straight rail and balkline games, and was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1968....

, and the only world tournament at the game, in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1888, was won by Joseph Dion.

The U.S. title at cushion caroms has only been held by six men: Joseph Dion, William Sexton, Maurice Daly, George Slosson and the indomitable Willie Hoppe

Willie Hoppe

William Frederick Hoppe , known predominantly as Willie Hoppe , was an internationally renowned American professional carom billiards champion, who was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1966.-Biography:Hoppe was born in Cornwall on Hudson, New York on...

, who held it for 11 years from 1933 to 1944. Today, cushion caroms is rarely played in the U.S., but it still enjoys some popularity in Europe where it is featured as one of the five games making up the annual billiards pentathlon

Pentathlon

A pentathlon is a contest featuring five different events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente and -athlon . The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games...

s, the other four games being 47.1 balkline, straight rail, 71.2 balkline and three-cushion billiards.