How-to Play Snooker
Monday, September 29th, 2008
Have you ever walked into a bar, game hall, restaurant, or home and found people playing a weird version of pool? If you’ve ever seen an oversized pool table dotted with a bunch of red balls, you’ve seen snooker. Snooker is a billiards game that originated in England. It is different from pool games, such as the common 8-ball or 9-ball, in that it uses a 6′x12′ table versus a 4.5′x9′ table, and a different set of balls. Which means, of course, that the rules are different. And so is the lingo. Snooker is considered to be harder than pool. Its large table, narrow pockets, and smaller balls require a player to have more skill, so if you’ve mastered pool, take your game to a new level and learn snooker.
Common Terms in Snooker:
Potted: Balls are “potted” not “pocketed.”
Baulk Line: A line used for positioning the balls.
The Half-Circle: An area within the baulk that is further used to determine ball positioning.
Striker: The person hitting the ball.
Re-spotted: After a colored ball is potted, it is placed back on the table in its assigned position.
General Overview:
Snooker is played with 22 balls—15 red balls and 6 other colored balls. The object of the games is to earn more points than your opponent, by “potting” the balls. Potting a red ball is worth 1 point. Potting the yellow ball is worth 2 points, green is worth 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6, and black is worth 7.
During game play, players try to pot a red ball. Upon potting a red ball, the player then has the opportunity to shoot at a colored ball. If the player sinks the colored ball, it is “re-spotted” to its assigned position on the table. Red balls remain in the pockets. Play continues until no red balls remain on the table.
Tutorials:
Via Billiard World
Via Play 89
Via eHow
Watch Video:
Snooker World Championship via YouTube
