Snooker Rules
Like billiards or pool, snooker is played on a table that contains pockets, using a cue (a stick) and balls. At 12 feet by six feet, the traditional snooker table is unusually large. Taverns and homeowners usually buy smaller snooker tables that are about 50 to 70 percent as large as a regulation table.
Unlike a pool table, a snooker table is marked with a baulk line and a D. The D is a semicircle drawn behind the baulk line; the baulk line is a single line drawn parallel to and 29 inches from the cushion at the baulk side (one of the two short sides) of the table. Across the table, 12 feet away from the baulk end and cushion, is the top cushion.
Snooker Rules and the Basics of Play
Snooker rules dictate that there are 22 balls used in the game. Fifteen of these balls are red; six are colored (with one ball apiece in green, blue, pink, brown, yellow, and black), and the last ball is white. According to snooker rules, the white ball is the cue ball. In the U.K., balls are usually left unnumbered. In the U.S., the six color balls are sometimes numbered so that they are not mistaken for pool balls.The goal in snooker is to score the most points by pocketing the most balls. According to snooker rules, hitting a ball into one of the six pockets is called "potting" the ball. A game of snooker is called a frame, and a predetermined, odd number of frames make up a match.
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