How or why the name of "slosh" came to be applied to the game of Indian pool I have been quite unable to discover. But that "slosh" is to-day the most popular game played upon the billiard table there can be no doubt at all.
I visited recently the billiard room of a big club which boasts no fewer than six tables, and found four devoted to "slosh," one empty, while on the sixth, a match table, a game of real billiards was in progress.
"Slosh" is played with five balls, red, blue, green, yellow, and a cue ball, and consists of cannons, losing and winning hazards. But each ball has its own pocket, and penalties must be paid for putting a ball into its wrong pocket.
The game can be played by either two or four players, the scoring is rapid, and—the fact which, I think, has more than anything given the game popularity—the fun is frequent and free.
It is essentially a game for the amateur. A professional—if a pro. ever condescended to play "slosh"—would simply gather the five balls and run out with a sequence of cannons.
"Slosh" seems completely to have knocked out the once popular game of "black pool." The special feature of black pool is the introduction of a black ball into life pool. It is spotted on the centre spot and is public property. If taken, all other players pay the taker, and penalties incurred when playing on it are paid all round.
Each player has an infinite number of lives, there is no subscribed pool, and the game is regulated by time, usually lasting not longer than half an hour.
"Pyramids" seems to have gone out completely, at least in this country, though it is still popular in America, and life pool is not often played. "Snooker," however, holds its own.
Skittle pool and cork pool are still played in country houses, but very rarely in clubs or public billiard rooms. Indeed, the only three games which are fashionable to-day are billiards, slosh, and snooker.