Rules of Snooker
The most popular form of Snooker is International Snooker, also called English Snooker. It is especially popular in most English speaking countries and in China.
Snooker began in the last half of the nineteenth century when the British Army devised new ways to play traditional Billiard Games. Snooker was their slang word for a first year cadet or inexperienced personnel.
The regulation size Snooker table is 12 feet by 6 feet. It has a pocket at each of the four corners and one pocket in the middle of each long side. The large size of the table makes it a difficult game to have at home due to the large amount of room needed for the table and around each side for the player to be able to make their shot. For this reason it is usually played in public Snooker Halls or in a private setting.
Snooker can be played on smaller tables. These are usually fold away tables or a conversion for your dining room table. Most players use fewer red balls when playing on a smaller table.
Whichever size table you play Snooker on, the accessories needed remain the same. Chalk is needed for the Cue Tip, a Triangle Rack is needed to rack the red balls and a scoreboard is needed to, of course, keep score. Rests are also used to help the player make a shot across the long table. If you are playing on a small table, this may not be a necessary accessory.
The game of Snooker is played with a set of Snooker Balls. These consist of fifteen solid red balls called reds, six balls of other colors called colors and one cue ball called the white ball.
Each of the six color balls are worth different points:
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Red = 1 point
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Yellow = 2 points
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Green = 3 points
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Brown = 4 points
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Blue = 5 points
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Pink = 6 points
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Black = 7 points
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Points are scored by legally pocketing, or potting, reds or colors and by fouls made by your opponent. Each red ball that is legally potted gives you 1 point and each color ball gives you the points as indicated above. A game, or frame, ends when all of the balls have been potted legally according to the rules of the game.
A game of Snooker begins with the player having the Cue Ball in hand within the half circle. The player must use a Cue Stick to hit the Cue Ball and knock it into a red ball. Unlike Eight Ball or Nine Ball, a foul does not occur if a ball is not pocketed or sent to a rail on the table.
During a players turn, to earn points, a red ball must be legally pocketed followed by a color ball. As long as there are red balls left on the table, play on a turn will alternate between reds and colors. The reds remain in the pocket while the colors are spotted to their original position after each shot where one is put in a pocket.
When there are no red balls left on the table, the players will try to pocket all the colors in order from the color that gives you two points (yellow) to the black ball which gives seven points.
A turn ends when the player fails to legally pocket either a red ball or color ball, depending on which he is aiming for, or commits another foul.
The game, or frame, ends when all the balls are off the table. The winner of the frame is the one who has scored the most points. Most play a match which consists of a set number of frames and detemine the winner by who won the most frames.
If you have never played Snooker, I highly recommend trying to find somewhere that has a Snooker Table so you can play a game. Snooker is a challenging yet extremely fun game to play and if you enjoy other Billiard Games, I am sure you will love this one.
