As someone who has chalked up more cues than I can count, it’s no secret that I love the world of cue sports. Like any true admirer of the sport, I get miffed when people confuse billiards and snooker, the two most popular cue sports.
Yes, both are played on a table and use balls and cues; the similarities end there. While billiards is the old-school elder of the cue sports, snooker is a relatively younger, savvier cousin.
The tables and tools
When you see a billiards table, the first thing you will notice is that there are no pockets at all. The first time I saw one, I was surprised to see how small it was compared to a snooker table. It is 10 feet long and covered in a special felt-like cloth designed to bounce the balls off the cushions and each other.
A snooker table, on the other hand, is 12 feet long and has six pockets. Another thing I noticed when I saw both tables for the first time is that a billiards table is like a clean slate, whereas a snooker table has various spots and lines.
The gameplay
I like playing billiards as it has simple rules. You score points by striking the cue ball so it hits the other two balls on the table. While it may seem very easy, I couldn’t score a point to save my life when I played it for the first time. You need a thorough understanding of angles and power to score in this challenging game.
Scoring points in snooker involves pocketing balls in a specific sequence. You pocket a red ball followed by a coloured ball. You need strategic planning and precision to excel in snooker which is why it’s a popular live sport that people bet on with sites like comeon.com.
Scoring in billiards is simple—you score points each time you carrom, meaning each time you hit two other balls with your cue ball. In snooker, the scoring is more regimented.
Each time you pocket a red ball, you get one point; if you pocket a coloured ball, after that, you get between 2 and 7 points. For instance, if you pot a black ball after a red ball, you get one point for the red ball and seven for the black ball, eight points in total. If you miss a shot, your opponent scores, thanks to the strict penalty rules.
Popularity
Billiards, being the older of the two, has a rich history, and you will find many fans of the sport, especially in Europe and Asia. On the other hand, snooker is a relatively new sport invented in the British Army barracks of colonial India in the 19th century.
Snooker has garnered a massive following in recent years, with the 2023 World Championship event watched by over 280 million fans the world over.
Whether you prefer the calculated dance of snooker or the artistic challenge of billiards, I think both games have unique appeals. While both might share the basic tools of cues and balls, they are as different from each other as are chess and checkers!
