Snooker

Snooker table with the 21 target balls

Snooker is a cue sport played by two players. It is popular in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and parts of Asia.

It is played on a large (12 by 6 feet) table that is covered with a smooth green cloth called baize and has holes (called pockets) in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions.

The players use long thin sticks called cues to strike a white ball (the cue ball). The cue ball must always be hit first when attempting a shot at the target ball.

There are 21 target balls in total - 15 red balls (worth 1 point each) and 6 colours: a yellow (2 points), green (3 points), brown (4 points), blue (5 points), pink (6 points) and black ball (7 points).

Each target ball must be aimed or 'potted' into one of the pockets in order. A red ball followed by a colour then a red ball again. This happens until only the coloured balls are left. The colours then have to be potted in the following order: yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black.

The player who scores more points wins the game or 'frame'. A match consists of an agreed number of frames.

Big events in snooker are the World Snooker Championship, UK Championship and the Masters. Professional players play on the World Snooker Tour.

The best-known snooker players are the seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry. Other former world champions are for example Joe Davis (fifteen wins), his brother Fred Davis, John Pulman (each eight wins) and six-time world champions Ray Reardon and Steve Davis.

Snooker Media

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  Sir Neville Chamberlain, a British Army officer who devised the game and its rules in the late 19th century

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  A full-size snooker table set up for the start of a game

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  A complete set of snooker balls

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  A sliding scoreboard, some blocks of cue-tip chalk, white chalk-board chalk, and two cue sticks

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  A shot using a rest, allowing the player to reach farther down the table

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  Illustration A: Aerial view of a snooker table with the balls in their starting positions. The cue ball (white) may be placed anywhere in the semicircle (known as the "D") at the start of the game.

• Computer simulation of a snooker break-off shot at the start of a frame

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  Röd snookerboll

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  Gul snookerboll

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  Grön snookerboll