Snooker (pronounced UK: /ˈsnuːkə/, US: /ˈsnʊkər/)^[2][3] is a cue sport that was first played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth (or "baize"), with six pockets: one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick, the players^[a] take turns to strike the white "" to the other twenty-one snooker balls in the correct sequence, accumulating points for each pot. An individual of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points by the end of the frame. A snooker ends with one of the players having won a predetermined number of frames, thus winning the match.

Snooker gained its identity in 1875 when army officer Sir Neville Chamberlain (1856–1944), stationed in Ootacamund, Madras, devised a set of rules that combined black pool and pyramids. The word snooker was a well-established derogatory term used to describe inexperienced or first-year military personnel. The game grew in popularity in the United Kingdom, and the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed in 1919. As a professional sport, snooker is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, founded in 1968.

The World Snooker Championship has taken place since 1927. Joe Davis, a key figure and pioneer in the early growth of the sport, won fifteen successive world championships between 1927 and 1946. The "modern era" of snooker began in 1969 after the broadcaster BBC commissioned the television series Pot Black, later airing daily coverage of the World Championship which was first televised in 1978. Key figures in the game were Ray Reardon in the 1970s, Steve Davis in the 1980s, and Stephen Hendry in the 1990s, each winning the World Championship on multiple occasions. Since 2000, Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the most world titles, with six. Top professional players now compete in regular tournaments around the world, earning millions of pounds on the World Snooker Tour which features competitors of many different nationalities.

History[edit]

The origin of snooker dates back to the latter half of the 19th century.^[5] In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity among British Army officers stationed in Jubbulpore, India, and several variations of the game were devised during this time.^[5] One variation, which originated at the Officers' Mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in 1875,^[6][7] combined the rules of two pocket billiards games—pyramid pool, played with fifteen red-coloured balls positioned in a triangle, and black pool, which involved the potting of designated balls.^[8][9][10] The game was further developed in 1884 when its first set of rules was finalised by Sir Neville Chamberlain,^[b] an English army officer who helped devise and popularise the game at Stone House in Ootacamund on a table built by Burroughes & Watts that had been brought to India by boat.^[11]

The word snooker was, at this time, British Army slang term for first-year cadets and inexperienced military personnel, but Chamberlain was in the habit of often using the term to describe the inferior performance of one of any of his fellow officers at the table.^[5] Snooker was given its first definite reference in England in an 1887 issue of the Sporting Life newspaper, which led to a growth in popularity.^[6] Chamberlain was revealed to be the game's inventor in a letter to The Field magazine, published on 19 March 1938, 63 years after the fact.^[6]

Snooker grew in popularity across the Indian colonies of the British Raj, and the United Kingdom, but it remained a game mainly for military officers and the gentry, and many gentlemen's clubs that had a billiards table would not allow non-members inside to play.^[6] To cater for the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed.^[6] In 1919, the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club (BA&CC) and a new, standardized set of rules for snooker were first established.^[12]

Played in 1926 and 1927, the first World Snooker Championship was organised by Joe Davis and known as the Professional Snooker Championship.^[5][13] Being a professional English billiards and snooker player himself, Davis moved the game from a recreational pastime to a professional sporting activity.^[14] Utterly dominant, he won every world championship until 1946, when he retired from taking part in the championships.^[15] Snooker then went into a period of decline through the 1950s and 1960s, with little public interest in the game beyond those who played it,^[16] and the World Championship itself was discontinued in 1957.^[7] In 1959, in an attempt to boost the game's appeal, Davis introduced a variation known as "Snooker Plus", with the addition of two extra colours, but this failed to attract attention and was very short-lived.^[17][18]

The return of the game to the public consciousness was due to the growth of colour television. In 1969, David Attenborough (then the controller of BBC2) commissioned the snooker tournament television series, Pot Black, primarily to showcase the potential of the BBC's new colour service, as the green table and multi-coloured balls provided an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of the new broadcasting technology.^[7][19][20] The series became a ratings success and was, for a time, the second-most popular show on BBC2.^[21] Interest in the game increased in the next decade and the 1978 World Snooker Championship was the first to receive daily television coverage.^[22][23] Snooker quickly became regarded as a mainstream game in the United Kingdom,^[24]Ireland, and much of the Commonwealth, and has remained consistently popular since the late 1970s, with most of the major ranking tournaments being televised.^[8] In 1985, an estimated 18.5 million viewers watched the conclusion of the World Championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, a record viewership in the UK for any broadcast after midnight.^[25][26]

In the early 2000s, a ban on tobacco advertising led to a reduction in the number of professional tournaments,^[27] which decreased from twenty-two events in 1999 to just fifteen in 2003.^[28][29] However, the popularity of the game in Asia, with emerging talents such as Liang Wenbo and more established players such as Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, boosted the sport in the Far East.^[30][31] By 2007, the BBC dedicated 400 hours to snooker coverage, compared to just 14 minutes 40 years earlier.^[32]

In 2010, promoter Barry Hearn gained a controlling interest in World Snooker Ltd. and the World Snooker Tour, pledging to revitalise the "moribund" professional game.^[33][34][35] Since then, the number of professional tournaments has increased, with 44 events held in the 2019–20 season.^[36] Snooker tournaments have been adapted to make them more suitable for television audiences, one example being the Snooker Shoot Out, which is a timed, one- competition.^[37] The prize money for professional events has increased as the sport continues to grow, with the top players earning several million pounds over the course of their careers.^[38] The winner of the 2020 World Snooker Championship received £500,000 out of a total prize fund of £2,395,000.^[39]

Gameplay[edit]

Equipment[edit]

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

A complete set of snooker balls

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

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

A standard full-size snooker table measures 12 ft × 6 ft (365.8 cm × 182.9 cm), with a rectangular measuring 11 ft 8.5 in × 5 ft 10.0 in (356.9 cm × 177.8 cm). The height of the table from the floor to the top of the is 2 ft 10.0 in (86.4 cm).^[4] The table has six holes, one at each corner and one at the centre of each of the two longer side cushions.^[40] One drawback of using a full-size table is the amount of space required to accommodate it, which limits the locations where the game can easily be played. The minimum room size that allows space on all sides for comfortable cueing is 22 ft × 16 ft (6.7 m × 4.9 m).^[41] While pool tables are common to many pubs, snooker tends to be played either in private settings or in public snooker halls.^[42]

The game can also be played on smaller tables using fewer red balls. Variant table sizes include 10 ft × 5 ft (305 cm × 152 cm), 9 ft × 4.5 ft (274 cm × 137 cm), 8 ft × 4 ft (244 cm × 122 cm), 6 ft × 3 ft (183 cm × 91 cm) (the smallest for realistic play) and 4 ft × 2 ft (122 cm × 61 cm). Smaller tables can come in a variety of styles, such as fold-away or dining-table convertible.^[43]

The cloth on a snooker table is usually a form of tightly woven woollen green baize, with a directional nap that runs from the end of the table, towards the far end near the . The nap affects the speed and trajectory of the , depending on the direction in which the ball is shot and whether any is placed on the ball. Even if the cue ball is hit in precisely the same way, the effect of the nap will differ according to whether the ball is hit down the table (towards the black ball spot) or up the table (towards the baulk line). The cloth is not vacuumed because this can damage the nap; instead, the cloth is brushed in a straight line, from the baulk end to the opposite end, with multiple brush strokes directed along the table (i.e. not across the table). Some table men then drag along a dampened cloth, wrapped around a short piece of board (like a two by four) or the straight back of a brush, to collect any remaining fine dust and to help lay down the nap. The cloth is finally ironed. Strachan cloth, used in official snooker tournaments, is 100% wool. Some other types of cloth include a small percentage of nylon.^[44][45]

A snooker ball set consists of twenty-two unmarked balls: fifteen reds, six colour balls, and one white cue ball (which is shared between the players). The six colours are one each of yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black. Each ball has a diameter of 2.1 inches (5.25 cm).^[4] At the start of the game, the red balls are racked into a tightly packed equilateral triangle and the six colours are positioned at designated on the table. The cue ball is placed inside the "D" ready for the break-off shot.^[4]

Each player has a cue stick (or simply a "cue"), not less than 3 ft (91.4 cm) in length, which is used to strike the cue ball. The of the cue must only make contact with the cue ball and is never used for striking any of the reds or colours directly.^[4]

Snooker accessories include for the tip of the cue, various sorts of for playing shots that are difficult to play by hand, for lengthening the cue stick, a for the reds, and a which is typically attached to a wall near the snooker table. A traditional snooker scoreboard resembles an abacus and records the score for each frame in units and twenties, as well as the frame scores. A simple scoring bead is sometimes used, called a "scoring string" or "scoring wire".^[46] Each segment of the string (bead) represents one point. The players can move one or several beads along the string using the ends of their cue sticks.^[46]

Rules[edit]

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.

Objective[edit]

The objective of the game is to score more than one's opponent by potting in the correct order. At the start of a , the balls are positioned as shown in the table illustration opposite. With the cue ball in the "D", one player completes a , requiring to hit a . The players then take turns hitting shots by striking the cue ball with the of the cue, their aim being to one of the red balls into a pocket and thereby score a point. Failure to make contact with a red ball constitutes a , which results in penalty points being awarded to the opponent.^[4] At the end of each shot, the cue ball remains in the position where it comes to rest (unless it has entered a pocket) ready for the next shot.^[4]

If a red ball enters a pocket, the striker^[c] must then pot a "" of their choice.^[d] If successful, the value of the potted colour ball is added to the player's score, and the ball is returned to its designated spot on the table. The player must then pot another red ball followed by another colour. The process of potting reds and colours alternately continues until the striker fails to pot the desired object ball, at which point the opponent comes to the table to play the next shot.^[4] The act of potting successive object balls and scoring sequentially in this manner is to make a "" (see Scoring below).^[4] At the start of each player's turn, the objective is to first pot a red ball; this is always the case unless all the reds are off the table.^[47] The cue ball may contact an object ball directly or it can be made to bounce off one or more cushions before hitting the required object ball.^[4]

The game continues until all the reds have been potted and only the six colours are left on the table.^[4] The colours must next be potted in the ascending order of their value, from the least valuable to the most valuable ball, i.e. first (worth two points), then (three points), (four points), (five points), (six points), and finally (seven points); each ball remains in the pocket after being potted.^[4] When the final ball is potted, the player with the most points wins the frame.^[4][e] Players will often play on even after they do not have enough points remaining on the table to win the frame, hoping to force their opponent into playing foul shots.^[4][47] If a player deduces that there are not enough points available on the table to beat the opponent's score, that player may offer to concede the frame while at the table (but not while the opponent is still at the table); a frame concession is a common occurrence in professional snooker.^[4][47]

If the scores are equal when all the object balls have been potted, the black is used as a tiebreaker. In this situation, called a "", the black ball is returned to its designated spot and the cue ball is played , meaning that it may be placed anywhere on or within the lines of the "D" to start the tiebreak. The referee then tosses a coin and the winner of the toss decides who goes first. The game continues until one of the players either pots the black ball to win the frame, or commits a foul (losing the frame).^[4]

Professional and competitive amateur matches are officiated by a referee, who is charged with ensuring the proper conduct of players and making decisions "in the interests of fair play". The responsibilities of the referee include: announcing the points scored during a break; announcing the penalty points awarded after a foul has been committed; replacing colour balls onto their designated spots after being potted; and cleaning the cue ball or any object ball upon request by the striker.^[4]:39 Another duty of the referee is to recognise and declare a stalemate when neither player is able to make any progress in the frame. If both players agree, the balls are returned to their starting positions and the frame is restarted (known as a ""), the same player taking the break-off shot as before.^[4]:33 Professional players usually play the game in a sporting manner, declaring fouls they have committed which the referee has not noticed,^[48] acknowledging good shots from their opponent, and holding up a hand to apologise for fortunate shots, known as "flukes".^[48]

Scoring[edit]

Points in snooker are gained from potting the object balls in the correct sequence. The total number of consecutive points (excluding fouls) that a player amasses during one to the table is known as a "break". A player could achieve a break of 15, for example, by first potting a red followed by a black, then another red followed by a pink, before failing to pot the next red. A maximum break in snooker is achieved by potting all reds with blacks, then potting all six colours, yielding 147 points; this is often known as a "147" or a "maximum".^[49] As of 20 January 2021^[update], there are 166 confirmed instances of players scoring a maximum break in professional competition.^[50]

Penalty points are awarded to a player when a foul is committed by the opponent. A foul can occur for various reasons, most commonly for sending the cue ball into a pocket, or for failing to hit the correct object ball (e.g. hitting a colour first when attempting to contact a red). The latter is a common foul committed when a player fails to escape from a "", where the previous player has left the cue ball positioned such that no legal ball can be struck directly in a straight line without being wholly or partially obstructed by an illegal ball. Fouls incur a minimum of four penalty points unless a higher-value object ball is involved in the foul,^[f] up to a maximum of seven penalty points where the black ball is concerned.^[4]:26–28 When a foul is committed, the offender's turn ends and the referee announces the penalty. All points scored in the break before the foul was committed are awarded to the striker, but no points are scored for any ball pocketed during the foul shot.^[4]

If dissatisfied with the position left after a foul, the next player may request that the opponent who committed the foul should be made to play again from where the balls have come to rest. If the foul has left no valid shot available for the next player, the referee may call a , allowing the player to "nominate" any object ball in place of the shot they might normally have played.^[4] Doing so with all 15 red balls still in play can potentially result in a break exceeding 147, with the highest possible being a 155 break, achieved by nominating the free ball as an extra red, then potting the black as the additional colour after potting the free-ball red, followed by the 15 reds with blacks, and finally the colours. Jamie Cope is recorded as being the first player to post a verified 155 break, achieved in a practice frame in 2005, with other players such as Alex Higgins claiming to have made a similar break.^[51][52]

A close-up view of a cue tip about to strike the cue ball, the aim being to pot the red ball into a corner pocket.

One of snooker, beginning with the balls in their starting positions and ending when the last ball is potted, is called a "frame". A snooker generally consists of a predetermined number of frames and the player who wins the most frames wins the match. Most professional matches require a player to win five frames, and are called "best of nine" in reference to the maximum possible number of frames. Tournament finals are usually best of 17 or best of 19, but some tournaments, such as the World Championship uses longer matches – ranging from best of 19 in the qualifiers and the first round up to best of 35 for the final (first to 18), and is played over four sessions of play held over two days.^[53]

Governance and tournaments[edit]

Professional[edit]

Professional snooker players compete on the World Snooker Tour, which is a circuit of ranking tournaments and invitational events held throughout the snooker season. All competitions are open to professional players who have qualified for the tour, and selected amateur players, but most events include a separate qualification stage. Players can qualify for the tour either by virtue of their position in the world rankings from prior seasons, by winning continental championships, or through the Challenge Tour or Q School events.^[54] Players on the World Snooker Tour generally gain a two-year "tour card" for participation in the events.^[54] Reflecting the game's aristocratic origins, the majority of tournaments on the professional circuit require players to wear waistcoats and bow ties. The necessity for this rule has been questioned, and players such as Stephen Maguire have been granted medical exemptions from wearing a bow tie.^[55]

The global governing body for professional snooker is the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), founded in 1968 as the Professional Billiard Players' Association.^[56] The WPBSA owns and publishes the official rules of snooker,^[57] and has overall responsibility for policy-making in the professional sport of snooker.^[58]World Snooker (rebranded the "World Snooker Tour" in 2020) is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of WPBSA responsible for the professional tour.^[59]

World rankings[edit]

Every player on the World Snooker Tour is assigned a position on the WPBSA's official world ranking list, which is used to determine the seedings and the level of qualification each player requires for the tournaments on the professional circuit.^[60] The current world rankings are determined using a two-year rolling points system, where ranking points are allocated to the players according to the prize money earned at designated ranking tournaments.^[61] This "rolling" list is maintained and updated throughout the season, with points from tournaments played in the current season replacing points earned from the corresponding tournaments of two seasons ago. Additionally, "one-year" and "two-year" ranking lists are compiled at the end of every season, after the World Championship; these year-end lists are used for pre-qualification at certain tournaments and for tour-card guarantees.^[60]

The top 16 players in the world ranking list, generally regarded as the "elite" of the professional snooker circuit,^[62] are not required to pre-qualify for some of the tournaments, such as the Shanghai Masters, the Masters and the World Snooker Championship.^[63] Certain other events, such as those in the Cazoo Cup series, use the one-year ranking list to qualify; these use the results of the current season to denote participants.^[64] As of the 2020–21 season, there are 128 places available on the World Snooker Tour,^[65] with players either in the top 64 on the official ranking list, or finishing as one of the top eight prize money earners during the most recent season, guaranteed a tour place for the next season, this being assessed after the World Championship.^[66]

Tournaments[edit]

The oldest current professional snooker tournament is the World Snooker Championship,^[53] which has taken place annually since 1927 (except during World War II and between 1958 and 1963).^[67][68] The tournament has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, since 1977,^[67] and was sponsored by Embassy from 1976 to 2005.^[27] Since the ban on advertising tobacco products, the championship has been sponsored by various betting companies.^[69][70][71] It is televised extensively in the UK by the BBC,^[72] and receives significant coverage in Europe on the Eurosport network,^[73] and in East Asia on CCTV-5.^[74] The first official snooker tournament was the 1908 American Tournament [it], held between 1907 and 1908 and won by Charles Dawson when the sport was used as an extra feature to billiard matches.^[75]

The World Championship is the most highly valued prize in professional snooker^[76] in terms of financial reward (£500,000 for the winner since 2019), ranking points, and prestige.^[77][78] The World Championship is part of the Triple Crown Series, along with the UK Championship and the non-ranking Masters tournament.^[79][80] The Triple Crown events are valued by some players as the most prestigious, and are also some of the oldest competitions on the professional circuit.^[80] Winning all three is a difficult challenge that has only been achieved by eleven players.^[81][82]

With some events having been criticised for matches taking too long,^[83] an alternative series of timed tournaments has been organised by Matchroom Sport chairman Barry Hearn. The shot-timed Premier League Snooker was established, with seven players invited to compete at regular United Kingdom venues, televised on Sky Sports.^[78] Players had twenty-five seconds to take each shot, with five time-outs per player per match. While some success was achieved with this format, it generally did not receive the same amount of press attention or status as the regular ranking tournaments.^[83] This event has been taken out of the tour since 2013, when the Champion of Champions was established.^[84] The Champion of Champions saw players qualify by virtue of winning other events in the season, with 16 champions competing.^[85][g]

In 2015, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association submitted an unsuccessful bid for snooker to be played at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.^[1][86] Another bid has been put forward for 2024 Summer Olympics through the World Snooker Federation, founded in 2017.^[87][88] A trial for the format for cue sports to be played at the 2024 games was put forward at the 2019 World Team Trophy, also featuring nine-ball and carom billiards.^[89] Snooker has been contested at the World Games since 2001, and was included as an event at the 2019 African Games.^[90][91][92]

Criticism[edit]

Several players, such as Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Allen and Steve Davis, have warned that there are too many tournaments during the season, and that players risk burning out.^[93] In 2012, O'Sullivan played fewer tournaments in order to spend more time with his children, and ended the 2012–13 season ranked 19th in the world.^[93] Furthermore, he did not play any tournament in 2013 except the World Championship, which he won.^[93] O'Sullivan has suggested that a "breakaway tour" with fewer events would be beneficial to the sport, but as of 2019 no such tour has been organised.^[94]

Some leagues have allowed clubs to refuse to accept women players in tournaments.^[95][96] League committee leadership defended the practice, saying, "If we lose two of these clubs [with the men-only policies] we would lose four teams and we can't afford to lose four teams otherwise we would have no league."^[95] A World Women's Snooker spokesperson said, "It is disappointing and unacceptable that in 2019 that players such as Rebecca Kenna have been the victim of antiquated discriminatory practices."^[97] The All-Party Parliamentary Group said, "The group believes that being prevented from playing in a club because of gender is archaic."^[97]

Amateur[edit]

Non-professional snooker (including youth competition) is governed by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF).^[98] Events held specifically for seniors are handled by the WPBSA under the World Seniors Tour.^{[99][100][101]} World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS) is a WPBSA subsidiary that organises events and playing aids in snooker and other cue sports for people with disabilities.^[42] Snooker is a mixed gender sport that affords men and women the same opportunities to progress at all levels of the game. While the main professional tour is open to female players, there is also a separate women's tour organised by World Women's Snooker (formerly the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association) that encourages female players to participate in the sport.^[42]

The highest competition in the amateur sport is the IBSF World Snooker Championship,^[102] while the highest level of the senior sport is the World Seniors Championship.^[101] On the women's tour, the leading tournament is the World Women's Snooker Championship. The reigning champion is Reanne Evans who has held the women's world title twelve times since first winning the championship in 2005. Evans has also participated on the World Snooker Tour and has taken part in the qualifying rounds of the main world championship on five occasions, reaching the second round in 2017.^[103] The most prestigious amateur event in England is the English Amateur Championship, an annual competition first held in 1916, the oldest competition still being played.^[104]

Important players[edit]

In the professional era of snooker, which began with Joe Davis in the 1930s and continues until the present day, a relatively small number of players have succeeded at the top level.^[105][106] Davis was world champion for twenty years, retiring unbeaten after claiming his fifteenth world title in 1946 when the tournament was reinstated after the Second World War.^[107] Undefeated in World Championship play, he was only beaten four times in his life, all of these defeats coming after his retirement and inflicted by his own brother Fred Davis.^[107] He did lose matches in handicapped tournaments, but on level terms these four defeats were the only losses of his entire career.^[108] He was also world billiards champion.^[107][109] It is considered highly unlikely that anyone will ever dominate the game to this level again.^[110]

After Davis retired from World Championship play, the next dominant force was his younger brother Fred Davis, who had lost the 1940 final to Joe.^[107]