Control the cue, you will win the game: Snooker!

Snooker is a game for either two players or two teams which involve the players using cues to pot the coloured balls on the table and gain the highest score. It is widely said that the game has originated from India and have been developed from (English) Billiards, a game involving two cue balls and singular object ball.

The player must always use the cue ball to hit, or pot, an object ball into the pocket. The player must do this in a specific order of first a red, then a color and so on to gain consecutive points (a break). The red balls are worth one point, the yellow ball two, the green ball three, the brown ball four, the blue ball five, the pink ball six, and finally the black ball which is worth the most, seven. The player also gives points to their opponent through fouling which can include: missing all balls, striking a color before a red, and getting the cue ball in the pocket.

When the cue ball is pocketed it is commonly referred to as ‘scratching’. This stems from when the scores were kept on a blackboard, and when the player would pot the cue ball their opponent would literally ‘scratch’ the player’s points from the blackboard. The highest break a player can get involves them potting a black after every red then potting all the colours consecutively. This is called a 147, and is often believed to be the maximum break. There is, however, a foul penalty when a player misses a red ball, and then snookers their opponent which occurs in something called a ‘free ball’. This ‘free ball’ rule indicates that the opponent can name a color to represent a red, pot it, and then pot a color which means that if a ‘free ball’ is offered with all the red on the table the maximum break is of 155. Snooker and Pool are always widely considered to be the one of the safest sports in the entire world.

By: Saksham Gupta

Content: https://www.thefactsite.com/interesting-snooker-facts/