Snooker Rules for Beginners
Snooker is played on a large table with 22 balls: the white cue ball, fifteen reds (1 point each) and six colours. You score by potting balls in a strict order, and the player with more points when the table is cleared wins the frame.
The balls
| Ball | Points |
|---|---|
| Red (×15) | 1 |
| Yellow | 2 |
| Green | 3 |
| Brown | 4 |
| Blue | 5 |
| Pink | 6 |
| Black | 7 |
The sequence
- Pot a red (you must hit a red first).
- Then you nominate and pot any colour. That colour goes back on its spot.
- Repeat red, colour, red, colour until the reds are gone.
- With no reds left, pot the colours in order of value, yellow up to black. These stay down.
A run of pots without leaving the table is a break. The maximum is 147: fifteen reds with fifteen blacks, then all six colours.
Fouls
A foul gives your opponent points and ends your turn. The penalty is 4 points, or the value of the ball involved if higher (up to 7). Fouls include: potting the cue ball, hitting a colour first when a red is “on”, hitting the wrong colour, potting the wrong ball, or failing to hit anything. Any colours potted in a foul are put back on their spots.
Winning a frame
When the black is potted, the frame is over and the higher score wins. If the scores are level, the black is respotted and the players play for it, and Cue & Chalk does exactly that. A player who cannot catch up may concede the frame, which is why every pro match has a handshake.
Why snooker feels different
The table is bigger, the pockets tighter, the balls smaller, and the winning shot is rarely a long pot: it is a safety, leaving the white tucked behind a colour so your opponent cannot hit a red. Our eye-level aiming camera is made for this. Get down on the shot and line up exactly as you would at a real table. See snooker scoring in detail and pool vs snooker.