Kelly pool

noun

A pocket billiards game using numbered markers, called peas or pills, and a standard set of sixteen pool balls. Players draw peas at random from a shake bottle, which assigns to them the correspondingly numbered pool ball, kept secret from their opponents, but which they must pocket in order to win the game.

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Meanings

nounKelly pool (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA pocket billiards game using numbered markers, called peas or pills, and a standard set of sixteen pool balls. Players draw peas at random from a shake bottle, which assigns to them the correspondingly numbered pool ball, kept secret from their opponents, but which they must pocket in order to win the game.

Origin

Reportedly invented by Calistus "Kelly" Mulvaney in 1893.

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Cite this entry
APA

Kelly pool. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kelly%20pool

MLA

“Kelly pool.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kelly%20pool. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Kelly pool,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kelly%20pool.

Source: Kelly pool on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.