Decorative view of a typucal Billard sallon in the 1880. Interested women viewing the men players.

A recognizable form of billiards was played outdoors in the 1340s, and was reminiscent of croquet. King Louis XI of France (1461–1483) had the first known indoor billiard table.‪Louis XIV further refined and popularized the game, and it swiftly spread among the French nobility.‪ While the game had long been played on the ground, this version appears to have died out in the 17th century, in favor of croquet, golf and bowling games, while table billiards had grown in popularity as an indoor activity.‪ Mary, Queen of Scots, claimed that her "table de billiard" had been taken away by those who eventually became her executioners (and who covered her body with the table's cloth).‪ In 1588, the Duke of Norfolk, owned a -billyard bord coered with a greene cloth... three billyard sticks and 11 balls of yvery-.‪ Billiards grew to the extent that by 1727, it was being played in almost every Paris cafe. In England, the game was developing into a very popular activity for members of the gentry.