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N.B. The official Rules and Regulations are published by the Rules Committee of the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association. Due to copyright restrictions I am unable to publish the
official rules,
The rules of snooker state that a regulation full-sized
table should have a playing surface of 5 feet 9½ inches
x 11 feet 8½ inches. The height of the table from the
floor to the top of the cushion rail officially must be
between 2 feet 9½ inches and 2 feet 10½ inches.
The bed of the table is covered with green napped
billiard cloth on which the spots for the various balls
and the baulk line are marked
The baulk line, 29 inches from the face of the
baulk cushion (also known as the bottom cushion), is the
line on which the spots for the yellow, green and brown
balls are placed – these three balls are sometimes
referred to collectively as the baulk colors. From the
yellow spot to the green spot is described a semicircle
(radius 11½ inches) known as the D.
The blue spot is positioned midway between
the two center pockets. The pink spot is positioned midway
between the blue spot and the face of the top cushion.
And finally, the black spot is positioned 12¼ inches
away from the face of the top cushion in a straight
line with the pink, blue and brown spots.
A room ideally needs to be a minimum of 18 feet
x 24 feet to accommodate a full-sized table, though
smaller sized tables of excellent quality are manufactured
in various sizes for a limited room space or budget, and
they are also a great building-block for children to start
learning the sport on.
A set of snooker balls consists of: fifteen reds; one yellow,
one green, one brown, one blue, one pink, one black (known
collectively as the colors or
colored balls); and one white
ball (known as the cue-ball).
Regulation size balls for full-sized tables
measure 2 1/16 inches in diameter.
Smaller balls are manufactured for smaller
than full-sized tables, with diameters of 1
7/8, 1 3/4
and 1 5/8 inches the most popular size of
balls. Though due to room constraints on the table,
usually tables of 8 feet in length and below will only
usually feature a set of ten red-balls instead of fifteen.
At the start of each frame – a frame
is the snooker term for one game or a rack – the
colored balls are placed on their respective spots, with
the red balls placed in a triangle with the apex red ball
as near as possible to the pink ball without actually
touching it (see picture of the snooker table set-up to
the right).
The basic idea of snooker is that players play
alternatively to pocket balls (referred to in the game of
snooker as to pot or potting balls)
to build-up a frame winning score. And when there is no
opportunity to pocket a ball, make it as difficult as
possible for your opponent to achieve this aim by playing
defensive or what is referred to in the game of snooker as
a safety shot.
To build-up a score, a player must first
attempt to pocket any of the red balls (worth one point
each) into any of the six pockets on the table. Having
pocketed a red ball, the player is then free to select
and pocket any colored ball into any pocket to add to their
score – if more than one red ball is pocketed in
the same stroke a player scores accordingly, but is free
to select and pocket only one colored ball.
Each colored ball is worth the following points:
Yellow (2 points),
Green (3 points),
Brown (4 points),
Blue (5 points),
Pink (6 points), &
Black (7 points).
Please note, once a red ball has been pocketed the colored
ball only needs to be nominated by a player if there is
reasonable doubt to which colored ball the player is
aiming for.
Once a colored ball has been pocketed, unlike
a red ball which stays in the pocket, it is returned to
its respective spot on the table. A player can then
attempt to pocket another red ball and continue the
sequence to build-up their score. However, if the pocketed
colored ball's spot on the table is occupied or obstructed
by another ball, the colored ball must then be placed on
the vacated spot of the highest valued ball and left there
till such a time it is pocketed, then returning it to its
spot – assuming that its spot has since been vacated.
In the event of all the spots being occupied, the colored
ball is then to be placed as near to its own spot in a
direct line toward the face of the top cushion (the cushion
nearest to the black spot).
Once the final red ball has been pocketed, a
player again has the option of playing to pocket a colored
ball. If the colored ball is pocketed, as usual it is
re-placed on the table, then a player must try to pocket
the colored balls in strict order, into any pocket, in
ascending numerical value from the yellow ball to the black
ball – only this time, when each colored ball has
been pocketed, it stays in the pocket.
The accumulation of points with a series of
successful pocketed balls in snooker is called a
break. The highest break you can achieve in
a frame of snooker, that is managing to successfully pocket
all 15 red balls alternatively with 15 black balls and all
of the colored balls in order, is officially recognized as
147 and is known as a maximum break.
The Snooker and the Foul Stroke
At one time in a frame, a player may find that
there are not enough points available on the table to
overtake their opponent's score to win the frame (referred
to as needing a snooker or snookers).
So this is the time when the player needs to employ a tactic
to try and force their opponent to commit a
foul stroke, in order to gain the extra points
for their score.
A foul stroke in snooker can be committed
in several ways and carries a minimum penalty of 4 points
going to the non-offending player. The value of the penalty
depends on which ball the offense was committed on; foul
strokes committed on the colored balls which are worth more
than 4 points are given away in accordance to their
respective value. In the event of a foul stroke having
been committed on more than one ball, only the points of
the highest valued ball involved are given away.
The term to snooker means to
position the cue-ball behind another ball, thus blocking
a clear path to the target-ball(s) (in snooker the
target-ball(s) are referred to as the ball
or balls on). This may happen unintentionally
or by design by a player to try and gain those extra points
to win the frame, as it forces a player to strike the
cue-ball on a less direct path to the target-ball(s) with
either a massé shot (usually refered to in snooker as
a swerve shot) or by playing off a cushion. This position
is known as a snooker or being
snookered, and failure to hit the target-ball(s)
is a foul stroke – this tactic can also be deployed
throughout a frame as a defensive safety shot.
Foul Strokes can be committed with the following rule
infringements:
In some situations after a foul stroke, the
offending player may gain an advantage over their opponent
– for example, the cue-ball could come to rest in a
snooker or other safe position.
To counter this situation, after any foul stroke
committed the offending player can be requested by their
opponent to continue at the table. However, if the
non-offending player is snookered on the target-ball(s),
that is the player cannot be judged to be able to strike
the cue-ball to hit both sides of the object-ball (though
you cannot be snookered on a red ball by a red ball), the
player is allowed to nominate any ball on the table as their
target-ball (known as a free-ball). If the
free-ball is the pocketed, it will score only in accordance
as the original target-ball – in theory, before any
red balls have been pocketed, if a player is awarded a
free-ball there is a possible break of 155 on, though this
is not recognized as the maximum break total.
Other rules to take note of as regard to the
free-ball are: it is permissible to pocket a target-ball
using a free-ball in a combination shot (referred to in
snooker as a plant, but its much more common
use is for pocketing red balls in a combination); and also
a player may not snooker their opponent behind a free-ball,
except that is when only the colored balls pink and black
remain on the table.
Also, if a player is deemed by the referee to
have not come close enough to making contact with the
target-ball(s) from a snooker, then the referee will give
the option to their opponent to have the cue-ball, and any
other balls if necessary, replaced in their original positions.
The shot is known as a miss and will be called
along with a foul stroke by the referee (a miss however will
not be called if any player requires a snooker or snookers at
that moment in the frame), and the player must then attempt
the shot again until contact is made with the target-ball(s),
or the referee deems the player has made an exceptional
attempt at making contact with the target-ball(s) –
in calling a miss, the referee will usually take into
consideration the size of the target balls such as a cluster
of reds, and the pace at which the cue-ball was struck. And
when a player is not snookered and fails to hit the
target-ball(s), a foul stroke and a miss will automatically
be called by the referee. Three misses of this kind will
result in the automatic forfeiture of the frame – this
section of rules however is much more stringently enforced in
professional and top amateur level snooker.
The Start of a Frame
The break-off is the opening shot played in a
frame of snooker. The player who has the break-off is allowed
to place the cue-ball anywhere within the area known as the
D, and play for the red balls. As it is
extremely difficult to pocket a red ball from this shot, it
is usual practice for a player to try and return the cue-ball
back to the baulk area (preferably to the baulk cushion or
behind one of the baulk colored balls) as a safety shot.
The End of a Frame
A frame is technically still alive until only
the black ball remains with the cue-ball on the table. Once
this situation has been reached, the player who is more than
7 points (the value of the black ball) behind has lost the
frame – I believe it was decided in the 1970s that it
was deemed unsportsmanlike play to try and gain points from
a foul stroke on the final black ball.
Of course, some frames are closely fought and
a player may need to pocket the final black ball to win.
This is known as a black ball game, and the
player who pockets the black ball or whose opponent commits
a foul stroke on it wins the frame.
If the scores are level once the final black
ball has been pocketed at the end of a frame, the black ball
is replaced on its spot and the players spin a coin to
decide who will place the cue-ball in the area known as the
D, and play from then on. The normal rules of
a black ball game are then contested.
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THE SNOOKER TABLE
THE SNOOKER BALLS
THE RULES OF PLAYING SNOOKER