How to Play Pool Snooker

Snooker is a billiards game similar to traditional pool, but with several important differences. Instead of attempting to sink solid or striped balls, snooker commands the player to alternate sinking red balls and colored balls and to rack up points. Snooker is a challenging and technical game, and has been popular around the world for many years.

Instructions

1

Rack 15 red balls and place them in the lower half of the table. There are also six colored balls that must be placed in very particular locations on the table. Place the black ball halfway between the racked red balls and the back wall. Set the pink ball directly in front of the red balls, touching the front-most ball. Place the blue ball in the very center of the pool table. The orange ball should be placed in the center of the front half of the pool table, about a quarter of the way down the table. Put the green ball to the left and the yellow ball to the right of the orange ball. The green and yellow balls should be separated by several inches from the orange ball.

2

Trace an imaginary circle that circles the orange ball and cuts through the yellow and green balls. Place the white cue ball in the semi-circle region that is furthest away from the red ball side of the table. This is known as the half circle, and the break must occur from this region. Hit the cue ball down the length of the table so it comes into contact with a red ball. Ideally, the red balls should be knocked apart by the break.

3

Hit the cue ball in a way that pots, or sinks, a red ball. Red balls, once sunk, remain in the pockets for the duration of the game. The red balls each add one point to the sinking players score. If the shot successfully potted a red ball, hit the cue ball again to try and sink a colored ball. The colored balls each have point values associated with them, and every time a player sinks them, they receive those points. If the colored ball is successfully sunk, it is returned to its position on the table. You must now try to pot another red ball, then pot a colored ball, and so on. If at any stage during this process, or during any time of the game, you fail to sink a red ball or a colored ball, the other player gets her turn.

4

Pot the colored balls, in order, after all of the red balls are sunk. During this stage of the game, colored balls, once sunk, stay in the pockets. The order of sinking is yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black. These balls are worth, in order, two, three, four, five, six, and seven points. Once the last colored ball is potted by any player, add up your points and compare the total to your opponents score. The player with the highest score at the end of the match wins.