Blackball is an internationally standardised variation of the popular bar and club game eightball pool (a.k.a. eight-ball pool or 8-ball pool), closely related to the originally American and now professionally internationalised game eight-ball.
Like blackball and eightball pool today, this forerunner game was played with seven yellow and seven red balls, unnumbered (in contrast to the international-style numbered stripes and solids, sometimes called American-style or kelly pool balls in Commonwealth English), a black ball, and the white cue ball. The game had relatively simple rules compared to the modern game.