Antique Life Pool scorer

A beautiful mahogany cased "Life Pool" marker by Lazarus of Calcutta India.

12 revolving circular bosses coloured black and white to show how many lives are attributed to each player.

Black denotes a lost "life" or foul , ie your ball has been potted and the white signifies a positive " life".

Life pool was a form of pocket billiards (pool) mainly played in the 19th century, Its rules were first recorded in 1819 simply as pool which remained its most common name among the British for about a century.

The object of the game is to be the last player left "alive" and therefore scoop the pool (take the winnings), each player has three "lives" to begin with and would lose one when another player potted their coloured ball which was designated to them at the start of the game.

Using the same number of balls as players, players take turns striking their designated ball with the cue in an attempt to collide that ball with one (or more) of their opponents' balls knocking the opponent ball into a pocket, once a player lost their three lives, they were declared "dead", i.e. out of the game.