When did we start spelling it like "Q-ball"?

This Professional on-the-scene reporting
of the IPT tournament at Hard Times in LA
spells it "Q-ball" for the white ball.
When did that start?
Who says?
Hasn't it been "cue ball" for 400 years?

The author is an Editor at Inside Pool Magazine
and www.InsidePool.com
If you do a search on "Q-ball" there
only 2 results come up,
both for a website by that name,
but when searching for "cue ball"
there are 25 results.
So that tells me it should be
"cue ball" and not "Q-ball".

I don't get it...

(blog top)