Snooker (pronouncedUK:/ˈsnuːkər/SNOO-kər,US:/ˈsnʊkər/SNUUK-ər)[1][2] is acue sport played on a rectangularbilliards table covered with a green cloth calledbaize, with sixpockets: one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played byBritish Army officersstationed in India in the second half of the 19th century, the game is played with 22 balls, comprising a whitecue ball, 15 red balls and six other balls—a yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black—collectively called 'the colours'. Using asnooker cue, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the cue ball topot other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful pot and for eachfoul committed by the opposing player or team. An individualframe of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points, and a snookermatch ends when a player wins a predetermined number of frames.
In 1875, army officerNeville Chamberlain, stationed in India, devised a set of rules that combinedblack pool andpyramids. The wordsnooker was awell-established derogatory term used to describe inexperienced orfirst-year military personnel. In the early 20th century, snooker was predominantly played in the United Kingdom, where it was considered a "gentleman's sport" until the early 1960s before growing in popularity as a national pastime and eventually spreading overseas. The standard rules of the game were first established in 1919 when theBilliards Association and Control Club was formed. As a professional sport, snooker is now governed by theWorld Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.
TheWorld Snooker Championship first took place in1927, andJoe 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 broadcasterBBC commissioned the television seriesPot Black, later airing daily coverage of the World Championship which was first televised in1978. The most prominent players of the modern era areRay Reardon (1970s),Steve Davis (1980s) andStephen Hendry (1990s), each winning at least six world titles. Since 2000,Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the World Championship seven times, most recently in 2022.
Top professional players compete in regular tournaments around the world, earning millions of pounds on theWorld Snooker Tour—a circuit of international events featuring competitors of many different nationalities. The World Championship, theUK Championship and theMasters together make up theTriple Crown Series and are considered by many players to be the most highly valued titles. The main professional tour isopen to both male and female players, and there is a separate women's tour organised byWorld Women's Snooker. Competitive snooker is also available tonon-professional players, including seniors and people with disabilities. The popularity of snooker has led to the creation of many variations based on the standard game but with different rules or equipment, includingsix-red snooker, theshort-lived "snooker plus" and the more recentSnooker Shoot Out version.
Snooker originated in the second half of the 19th century in India during theBritish Raj.[3] In the 1870s,billiards was popular amongBritish Army officers stationed inJubbulpore (now Jabalpur), India, and several variations of the game were devised during this time.[3][4] A similar game, which originated at theOfficers' Mess of the 11thDevonshire Regiment in 1875,[5][6] combined the rules of twopool games:pyramids, played with 15 red balls positioned in a triangle,[a][8][9][10] andblack pool, which involved potting designated balls.[11][12][13] Snooker was further developed in 1882 when its first set of rules was finalised by British Army officerNeville Chamberlain,[b][5][14] who helped devise and popularise the game atStone House inOotacamund on a table built byBurroughes & Watts that had been sent to India by sea.[15][16] At the time, the wordsnooker was a slang term used in the British Army to describe new recruits and inexperienced military personnel; Chamberlain used the word to deride the inferior performance of a young fellow officer at the table.[14][17][18]
Chamberlain was revealed to be the inventor, 63 years after the fact, in a letter toThe Field magazine published on 19 March 1938.[5] Snooker became increasingly popular across the Indian colonies of the British Raj and in the United Kingdom, but it remained a game played mostly by military officers and thegentry.[19] Manygentlemen's clubs with a snooker table would refuse entry tonon-members who wished to go in and play snooker;[5][c] to cater for the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker clubs were formed.[5] The Billiards Association (formed in 1885) and the Billiards Control Club (formed in 1908) merged to form theBilliards Association and Control Club (BA&CC) and a new, standardised set of rules for snooker was first established in 1919.[22][23] The possibility of a drawn game was abolished by the use of are-spotted black as a tiebreaker.[22] These early rules are similar to those used in the modern game, although rules for a minimal point penalty were imposed later.[24]
At the end of 1968, theWorld Snooker Championship reverted to aknockout tournament format, with eight competitors; the tournament concluded in1969 withJohn Spencer winning the title.[36][37] The BBC had first launched itscolour television service in July 1967;[38] in 1969,David Attenborough, then the controller ofBBC2, commissioned the snooker tournament television seriesPot Black primarily to showcase the potential of theBBC's new colour television service—the green table andmulti-coloured balls provided an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of the new broadcasting technology.[6][39][40] The series became a ratings success and was, for a time, the second most popular show on BBC2 afterMorecambe and Wise.[41] Due to these developments, the year 1969 is taken to mark the beginning of snooker's modern era.[42] The World Snooker Championship moved in1977 to theCrucible Theatre inSheffield, where it has been staged ever since,[43] and the1978 World Snooker Championship was the first to receive daily television coverage.[44] Snooker quickly became a mainstream sport in the United Kingdom,[45][46] Ireland, and much of theCommonwealth, and has remained consistently popular since the late 1970s, with most of the major tournaments being televised.[11] In1985, an estimated 18.5 million viewers stayed up until the early hours of the morning to watch the conclusion of theWorld Championship final betweenDennis Taylor andSteve Davis, a record viewership in the UK for any broadcast on BBC Two and for any broadcast after midnight.[47][48]
As professional snooker grew as a mainstream sport, it became heavily dependent ontobacco advertising. Cigarette brandEmbassy sponsored the World Snooker Championship for thirty consecutive years from 1976 to 2005, one of the longest running deals in British sports sponsorship.[49] In the early 2000s, a ban on tobacco advertising led to a reduction in the number of professional tournaments,[50][51] which decreased from 22 events in 1999 to 15 in 2003.[52][53] The sport had become more popular in Asia with the emergence of players such asDing Junhui andMarco Fu,[54][55] and still received significant television coverage in the UK—the BBC dedicated 400 hours to snooker in 2007, compared to just 14 minutes 40 years earlier.[56] However, the British public's interest in snooker had waned significantly by the late 2000s. Warning that the sport was "lurching into terminal crisis",The Guardian newspaper predicted in 2010 that snooker would cease to exist as a professional sport within ten years.[57] In the same year, promoterBarry Hearn gained a controlling interest in theWorld Snooker Tour, pledging to revitalise the "moribund" professional game.[58][59][60]
Over the following decade, the number of professional tournaments increased, with 44 events held in the2019–20 season.[61] Snooker tournaments were adapted to make them more suitable for television audiences, with some tournaments being played over a shortened duration,[62] or theSnooker Shoot Out, which is a timed, oneframe competition.[63] The prize money for professional events increased, with the top players earning several million pounds over the course of their careers.[64] During theCOVID-19 pandemic, the professional tour was confined to events played within the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the2022–23 season, only two professional ranking tournaments were played outside the UK, theEuropean Masters in Fürth and theGerman Masters in Berlin, while lucrative Chinese events remained off the calendar.[65]
Snooker referees are an integral part of the sport, and some have becomewell-known personalities in their own right.Len Ganley,John Street andJohn Williams officiated at seventeen of the first twenty World Snooker finals held at the Crucible Theatre.[66] Since 2000,non-British and female referees have become more prominent in the sport; Dutch refereeJan Verhaas became the firstnon-Briton to referee a World Championship final in2003,[67] whileMichaela Tabb became the first woman to do so in2009.[68] Tabb was the only woman refereeing on the professional tour when she joined it in 2002,[69][70] but tournaments now routinely feature female referees such asDesislava Bozhilova,[71]Maike Kesseler,[72] andTatiana Woollaston.[73]
A complete set of snooker ballsA sliding scoreboard, some blocks of cue-tip chalk, white chalk-board chalk and two cuesA shot using arest, allowing the player to reach farther down the table
A standard full-sizesnooker table measures 12 ft × 6 ft (365.8 cm × 182.9 cm), with a rectangularplaying surface measuring 11 ft 8.5 in × 5 ft 10.0 in (356.9 cm × 177.8 cm).[74] The playing surface is surrounded by smallcushions along each side of the table. The height of the table from the floor to the top of the cushions is 2 ft 10.0 in (86.4 cm).[75]: 7 The table has sixpockets: one at each corner and one at the centre of each of the two longer side cushions.[75] One drawback of using afull-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).[76] Whilepool tables are common to manypubs, snooker tends to be played either in private settings or in publicsnooker halls.[77] The game can also be played on smaller tables,[74] with variant table sizes including 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), and 6 ft × 3 ft (183 cm × 91 cm).[78]
Thecloth on a snooker table is usually a form of tightly woven woollen greenbaize,[79] with a directionalnap that runs lengthwise from thebaulk end of the table to the far end near theblack ball spot.[80] The nap affects the speed and trajectory of the balls, depending on the direction of the shot and whether anyside spin is placed on the ball.[80][81] Even if thecue ball is struck in precisely the same manner, the effect of the nap will differ according to whether the ball is directed towards thebaulk line or towards the opposite end of the table.[5][80][81]
Asnooker ball set consists of 22 unmarked balls: 15reds, sixcoloured balls, and one white cue ball. The colours are one each of yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black,[74] although the brown and blue balls were not a part of the original rules.[17] Each ball has a diameter of2+1⁄16 inches (52.5 mm).[75]: 8 At the start of the game, the red balls areracked into a tightly packedequilateral triangle, and the colours are positioned at designatedspots on the table. The cue ball is placed insidethe "D" ready for thebreak-off shot.[75]: 17
Each player has asnooker cue (or simply a "cue"), not less than 3 ft (91.4 cm) in length, which is used to strike the cue ball. Thetip of the cue must only make contact with the cue ball and is never used for striking any of the reds or colours directly.[75]: 9
Snooker accessories include:chalk for the tip of the cue, to help applyspin on the cue ball; various differentrests such as theswan orspider, for playing shots that are difficult to play by hand;extensions for lengthening the cue; atriangle for racking the reds; and ascoreboard, typically attached to a wall near the snooker table.[82] A traditional snooker scoreboard resembles anabacus and records thepoints scored by each player for the current 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".[83] Each segment of the string (bead) represents one point as the players can move one or several beads along the string.[83]
Additional accessories include cue tips of varying hardness to suit player preferences,anti-slip cue grips for better control, and specialized table brushes and cloths to maintain optimal table conditions.
Illustration A: Aerial view of asnooker table with the 22 balls in their starting positions. The cue ball (white) may be placed anywhere in thesemicircle (known as the "D") at the start of the game.
A player wins a frame by scoring more points than their opponent. At the start of a frame, theobject balls are positioned on the table as shown in illustration A. Starting with the cue ball in the "D", the first player executes abreak-off shot by striking the cue ball with the tip of their cue, aiming to hit any of the red balls in the triangularpack. The players then take alternatingturns at playing shots,[d] with the aim ofpotting a red ball into a pocket and thereby scoring one point. Failure to make contact with a red ball constitutes afoul, which results in penalty points being awarded to the opponent.[75] At the end of each shot, the cue ball remains in the position where it has come to rest, unless it has entered a pocket (from where it is returned to the "D"), ready for the next shot.[75]: 25 If the cue ball finishes in contact with an object ball, atouching ball is called;[e] the player must then play away from that ball without moving it, otherwise the player will concede penalty points.[75]: 23
When a red ball has entered a pocket, the striker[f] must then choose a coloured ball (or "colour") and attempt to pot it.[g] If successful, the value of the potted colour is added to the player's score, and the colour is returned to its designated spot on the table.[h] The player must then pot another red ball followed by another colour. The process of alternately potting reds and colours continues until the striker fails to pot the desired object ball or commits a foul—at which point the opponent comes to the table to start the next turn—or when there are no red balls remaining in play.[75] Points accumulated by potting successive object balls are called a "break" (seeScoring below).[75] At the start of each player's turn, the objective is to first pot a red ball, unless all reds are off the table or the player has been awarded afree ball, which allows them to nominate another object ball in place of a red.[84] The cue ball can contact an object ball directly or it may be made to bounce off one or more cushions before hitting the required object ball.[75]: 12
The game continues until all 15 red balls have been potted and only the six colours and the cue ball are left on the table.[75] The colours must next be potted in the ascending order of their values, from lowest to highest, i.e.yellow first (worth two points), thengreen (three points),brown (four points),blue (five points),pink (six points), and finallyblack (seven points); at this stage of the game, each colour remains in the pocket after being potted.[75] When the final ball is potted, the player who has accumulated the most points wins the frame.[75][i] If there are not enough points remaining on the table for a player to potentially win the frame, that player may offer to concede the frame while at the table (but not while their opponent is still at the table); a frameconcession is a common occurrence in professional snooker.[75][84] However, players will often play on even when there are not enough points available for them to win, in the hope of laying one or more "snookers" to force their opponent into playing foul shots.[75][84] Snookers are shots designed to make it difficult for the opponent to play alegal shot on their next turn, such as leaving another ball between the cue ball and the object ball.[85]
If the scores are equal when all object balls have been potted, the black is used as atiebreaker in a situation called a "re-spotted black". The black ball is returned to its designated spot and the cue ball is playedin-hand, meaning that it may be placed anywhere on or within the lines of the "D" to start the tiebreak. The player to take the first strike in the tiebreak is chosen at random, and the game continues until one of the players either wins the frame by potting the black ball or loses the frame by committing a foul.[75]: 20
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, determining when a foul has been committed and awarding penalty points and free balls accordingly, replacing colours onto their designated spots after being potted, restoring the balls to their previous positions after the "miss" rule has been invoked (seeScoring below), and cleaning the cue ball or any object ball upon request by the striker.[75]: 40 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 (known as a "re-rack") and the frame is restarted, with the same player taking thebreak-off shot as in the abandoned frame.[75]: 33 Professional players usually play the game in a sporting manner, declaring fouls they have committed that the referee has not noticed,[86] acknowledging good shots from their opponent, and holding up a hand to apologise for a fortunate shot (known as a "fluke").[86][87]
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 onevisit to the table is known as a "break".[74] For example, a player could achieve a break of 15 by first potting a red followed by a black, then another red followed by a pink, before failing to pot the next red. A break of 100 points or more is referred to as acentury break; these are recorded over the career of a professional player.[88] Amaximum break in snooker (often known as a "147" or a "maximum") is achieved by potting all reds with blacks, then potting all six colours in sequence, yielding 147 points.[89] As of 2 September 2025[update], there have been 225 officially confirmed maximum breaks achieved in professional competition.[90]
Penalty points are awarded to a player when their opponent commits a foul. This can occur for various reasons, such as sending the cue ball into a pocket or failing to hit the object ball. The latter is a common foul committed when a player fails to escape from a "snooker", 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,[j] up to a maximum of seven penalty points where the black ball is concerned.[75]: 26–29 [k] When a foul is committed, the offending player's turn ends and the referee announces the penalty. All points scored in the break before the foul occurred are awarded to the striker, but no points are scored for any ball pocketed during the foul shot.[75]: 25
If dissatisfied with the position left after a foul, the next player may nominate the opponent who committed the foul to continue playing from where the balls have come to rest. If the referee has also called a "miss"—meaning that the offending player is deemed not to have made their best possible attempt to hit the object ball—the next player has the option of having the balls replaced to their original positions and forcing their opponent to replay the intended shot. If, after a foul, it is not possible to cleanly strike both sides of the object ball directly, the referee may call a free ball, allowing the next player to nominate any other ball in place of the object ball they might normally have played.[75]: 13, 28 If a player is awarded a free ball with all fifteen reds still in play, they can potentially makea 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 thefree-ball red, followed by the fifteen reds with blacks, and finally the colours.[91]Jamie Cope was the first player to achieve a verified 155 break during a practice frame in 2005.[92]
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
Onegame of snooker is called a "frame", and a snookermatch generally consists of a predetermined number of frames. Most matches in current professional tournaments are played as the best of 7, 9, or 11 frames, with finals usually the best of 17 or 19 frames. The World Championship uses a longer format, with matches ranging from the best of 19 frames in the first round to best of 35 for the final, which is played over foursessions of play held over two days.[93] Some early world finals had much longer matches, such as the1947 World Snooker Championship, which was played over the best of 145 frames.[94][95]
Professional snooker players compete on the World Snooker Tour, which is a circuit ofworld ranking tournaments and invitational events held throughout the snooker season. All competitions areopen 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 by virtue of their position in the world rankings from prior seasons, by winning continental championships, or through theChallenge Tour orQ School events.[96] Players on the World Snooker Tour generally gain atwo-year "tour card" for participation in the events.[96] Beginning in the2014–15 season, some players have also received invitational tour cards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the sport; these cards are issued at the discretion of the World Snooker Board, and have been awarded to players includingSteve Davis,James Wattana,Jimmy White, andStephen Hendry.[97] Some additional secondary tours have been contested over the years. Atwo-tier structure was adopted for the1997–98 season; comprising six tournaments known as the WPBSA Minor Tour was open to all professionals, but only ran for one season.[98][99] A similar secondary UK Tour was first played from the 1997–98 season, which was renamed the Challenge Tour in 2000, Players Tour Championship in 2010 and returned as the Challenge Tour in 2018.[100][99][101]
The global governing body for professional snooker is theWorld Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA),[102][103] founded in 1968 as the Professional Billiards Players' Association.[104][105] The WPBSA owns and publishes the official rules of snooker,[103][106] and has overall responsibility for policy making in the professional sport of snooker.[104] World Snooker Ltd is responsible for the professional tour which is owned by both the WPBSA andMatchroom Sport.[107]
Every player on the World Snooker Tour is assigned a position on the WPBSA's official world ranking list, which is used to determine theseedings and the level of qualification each player requires for the tournaments on the professional circuit.[108] The current world rankings are determined using atwo-year rolling points system, where points are allocated to the players according to the prize money earned at designated tournaments.[109] 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; theseyear-end lists are used forpre-qualification at certain tournaments and fortour-card guarantees.[108]
The top 16 players in the world ranking list, generally regarded as the "elite" of the professional snooker circuit,[110] are not required topre-qualify for some of the tournaments, such as theShanghai Masters, theMasters and the World Snooker Championship.[111] Certain other events, such as those in thePlayers Series, use theone-year ranking list to qualify; these use the results of the current season to denote participants.[112] There are approximately 128 places available on the World Snooker Tour each season.[113] As of the2024–25 season, players in the top 64 on the official ranking list are guaranteed a tour place for the next season, as well as a maximum of 31 players who are currently on the first year of atwo-year tour card, and the top four prize money earners during the most recent season who are not already qualified; this being assessed after the World Championship.[114]
The oldest current professional snooker tournament is theWorld Snooker Championship,[93] which has taken place as an annual event most years since 1927.[115][116] Hosted at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield since 1977,[115] the championship was sponsored by tobacco company Embassy from 1976 to 2005[50] and has since been sponsored by various betting companies after the introduction of anEU-wide ban on the advertising of tobacco products.[117][118][119] The World Championship is the most highly valued title in professional snooker,[120] in terms of financial reward (the tournament has carried a £500,000 winner's prize since 2019), ranking points and prestige.[121][122]
TheUK Championship, held annually since 1977, is considered to be the second most important ranking tournament after the World Championship.[123] These two events, and the annualnon-rankingMasters tournament, make up snooker'sTriple Crown Series;[124][125] among the oldest competitions on the professional circuit, the Triple Crown events are valued by many players as the most prestigious.[125] As of January 2025[update], only eleven players have won all three events,[126] the most recent beingJudd Trump who completed the Triple Crown in May 2019.[127] The Triple Crown events are televised in the UK by the BBC,[128][129][130] while most other tournaments are broadcast across Europe on theEurosport network,[131] orITV Sport,[132] as well as numerous other broadcasters internationally.[133][134]
After facing some criticism for matches taking too long,[135] Matchroom Sport chairman Barry Hearn introduced a series of timed tournaments: theshot-timedPremier League Snooker, held between 1987 and 2012, featured seven players invited to compete at regular United Kingdom venues and was televised onSky Sports.[122] The players had 25 seconds to take each shot, with each player allowed fivetime-outs per match. The format did achieve some success but was not afforded the same amount of press attention or status as the regular ranking tournaments.[135] The event was removed from the professional tour after the 2012–13 season, when theChampion of Champions wasre-established;[136] players qualify for this tournament by virtue of winning other events in the season, with sixteen champions competing.[137][l]
Several players, includingRonnie O'Sullivan,Mark Allen and Steve Davis, have claimed that there are too many tournaments in the season, causingburnout of players.[151] O'Sullivan played only a subset of tournaments in 2012, so he could spend more time with his children; as a result he ended the 2012–13 season ranked 19th in the world despite being the world champion. O'Sullivan played only one tournament in 2013, theWorld Championship, which he won.[152] He suggested that a "breakaway tour" with fewer events would be beneficial to the sport, but none was organised.[153]
Some players, including 2005 world championShaun Murphy, have asserted that a 128 player professional tour is financially unsustainable.[154][155]Lower-ranked professional players can struggle to make a living from the sport, especially after paying tournament entry fees, travel costs and other expenses.[156] In 2023,Stephen Maguire criticised the World Snooker Tour and WPBSA, claiming that "the game is dying right in front of our eyes",[157] and stating that some players ranked within the world's top 30 were seeking jobs outside the sport due to lack of earning potential from tournaments.[158]
Non-professional snooker (including youth competition) is governed by theInternational Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF).[159] The highest level competition in the amateur sport is the IBSF World Snooker Championship.[160] Events held specifically for seniors are handled by the WPBSA under theWorld Seniors Tour,[161][162][163] the highest level of the senior sport being theWorld Seniors Championship.[163] 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.[77] The most prestigious amateur event in England is theEnglish Amateur Championship; first held in 1916, this is the oldest snooker competition still being played in the world.[164]
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 male and female players alike, there is also a separate women's tour organised byWorld Women's Snooker (formerly the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association) which encourages female players to participate in the sport and take part in high level amateur competitions.[77][165] The leading tournament on the women's tour is theWorld Women's Snooker Championship, the winner of which receives atwo-year tour card to the main professional tour.[166]
Reanne Evans won the women's world title a record twelve times, including ten consecutive victories from2005 to2014.[167][168] She has also participated on the World Snooker Tour and has taken part in the qualifying rounds of the main World Snooker Championship on five occasions, reaching the second round in 2017.[169] Evans holds the record for the highest break made in WWS competition, having achieved a 140 break twice (in 2008 and 2010).[28] Other successful female players areKelly Fisher (with five women's world titles),Ng On-yee (with three), and most recentlyNutcharut Wongharuthai,Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan andBai Yulu, who won the World Women's Snooker Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively.[168]
Some leagues have allowed clubs to exclude female players from tournaments.[170][171] A committee member of the Keighley league defended allowing such teams in the league as necessity: "If we lose two of these clubs [with themen-only policies] we would lose four teams and we can't afford to lose four teams otherwise we would have no league."[170] A World Women's Snooker spokesperson commented, "It is disappointing and unacceptable that in 2019 that [sic] players such asRebecca Kenna have been the victim of antiquated discriminatory practices."[172] Theall-party parliamentary group for snooker said, "The group believes that being prevented from playing in a club because of gender is archaic."[172]
After the creation of the World Snooker Championship, snooker overtook billiards as the most popular cue sport in the United Kingdom.[174]Joe Davis was the World Champion for twenty years, retiring unbeaten in the event after claiming his fifteenth world title in 1946 when the tournament was reinstated after the Second World War.[173] During his entire professional career, Davis remained undefeated when playing on equal terms, although he did lose some matches inhandicapped tournaments.[173][175][176] He was only ever beaten on level terms by his younger brotherFred Davis, but not until after he had retired from professional play.[173]
By 1947, Fred Davis was deemed by his older brother ready to become World Champion,[173] but he lost that year's world final toWalter Donaldson.[177][178] Davis and Donaldson contested the next four world finals, with Davis winning three of the four.[179] With the abandonment of the World Championship in 1953 (after the boycott of the 1952 event by British professionals), the World ProfessionalMatch-play Championship became the unofficial world championship.[180] Fred Davis won the tournament every year from 1952 to 1956 but did not enter the 1957 event.[181]John Pulman won in 1957 and was the most successful player of the 1960s, winning the world title seven timesbetween April 1964 and March 1968 while the World Championship was being contested at irregular intervals on a challenge basis.[95][181] Pulman's winning streak ended when the tournament reverted to a knockout format in 1968.[182][183]Ray Reardon was the dominant force of the 1970s, winning six world titles (in 1970, 1973–1976, and 1978), andJohn Spencer won the world title three times (in 1969, 1971 and 1977).[184][185]
Steve Davis (no relation to Joe or Fred) won his first World Championship in 1981, becoming the 11th World Snooker Champion since 1927.[188][189] He won six world titles altogether (in 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1987–1989) and competed in themost-watched snooker match, the 1985 World Snooker Championship final, which he lost to Dennis Taylor.[47]Stephen Hendry became the 14th World Snooker Champion in 1990, aged 21 years and 106 days, the youngest player ever to have lifted the world title.[6] He dominated the sport through the 1990s,[190] winning the World Championship seven times (in 1990, 1992–1996, and 1999).[181][191]
Ronnie O'Sullivan has claimed the most world titles since 2000, having won the World Championship seven times (in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020 and 2022).[187]John Higgins andMark Selby have both won four world titles (Higgins in 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011; Selby in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021),[192][193] andMark Williams three (in 2000, 2003 and 2018).[194][195] O'Sullivan, Higgins andJudd Trump are the only players to have made over1,000 career century breaks.[196] O'Sullivan holds the record for the most maximum breaks compiled in professional competition, having achieved his 16th and 17th in August 2025.[197] O'Sullivan also holds the record for the most ranking titles (41) and most Triple Crown titles (23) achieved in the sport.[198]
Some versions of snooker, such assix-red orten-red snooker, are played with almost identical rules to the standard game but with fewer object balls, reducing the time taken to play each frame.[199][75]: 34 TheSix-red World Championship, contested annually inBangkok, Thailand, was a regular fixture on the World Snooker Tour between2012 and2023.[200] A World Women's10-Red Championship was held annually in Leeds, England, from 2017 to 2019.[201][202][203]
Geographic variations exist in the United States and Brazil, while speed versions of the standard game have been developed in the United Kingdom.American snooker is an amateur version of the game played almost exclusively in the United States.[204] With simplified rules and generally played on smaller tables, this variant dates back to 1925.[n][204]Sinuca brasileira (or "Brazilian snooker") is a variant of snooker played exclusively in Brazil, with fully divergent rules from the standard game and using only one red ball instead of fifteen. At the start of the game, the single red is positioned halfway between the pink ball and the side cushion, and thebreak-off shot cannot be used to pot the red or place the opponent in a snooker.[206] TheSnooker Shoot Out is a variant snooker tournament consisting of single frame matches for an accelerated format. First staged in1990, the idea was resurrected in2011 with a modified version that was added to the professional tour in the2010–11 season and upgraded to a ranking event in2017.[207][208]
Other games have been designed with an increased number of object balls in play. One example is "snooker plus", which included two additional colours: an orange ball worth eight points positioned between pink and blue, and a purple ball worth ten points positioned between brown and blue, increasing the maximum possible break to 210.[209] Introduced at the1959 News of the World Snooker Plus Tournament, this variant failed to gain popularity and is no longer played.[210]Power Snooker was ashort-lived cue sport based on aspects of snooker and pool; this was first played competitively in2010 and again in2011, but the format was discontinued after it failed to gain widespread appeal.[207] Using nine red balls racked in a diamond shaped pack at the start of the game, the matches were limited to a fixedgame-play period of 30 minutes.[211]Tenball was a snooker variant designed specifically for the television show of the same name, anLWT production that was broadcast for one series in 1995. An extra ball worth ten points (the yellow and black "tenball") was added between the blue and pink, and the game had a slightly revised set of rules compared to the standard game.[212]
^A game called pyramid pool, like pyramids, was also played on a billiard table in England prior to 1850. The rules of these two games were very similar. However, that game of pyramid pool was played at this time in England with 14 reds instead of 15. In both games, each player shared the same cue ball.[7]
^Reflecting the game's aristocratic origins, the majority of tournaments on the professional circuit still require players to wearwaistcoats andbow ties, although the necessity for this attire has been questioned.[20][21]
^Snooker is played either by two independent players or by more than two players taking "sides", e.g. four players constituting two sides of two players.[75]: 16, 33
^The touching ball rule was first introduced in 1927.[22]
^Thestriker is the person whoseturn it is at the table, either currently in play or about to play.[75]: 11
^The termcolour is understood to mean one of the six remaining object balls other than red, i.e. yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black.[75]: 16
^If the colour's designated spot is obstructed by another ball and therefore not available, the colour is placed on the highest available colour spot; if no spots are available, the colour is respotted as close as possible to its own spot without touching the obstructing ball and in the direction of the top cushion.[75]: 22
^When black is the only object ball remaining on the table, the striker can claim the frame if more than seven points ahead of the opponent.[75]: 10
^An object ball is involved in a foul if it is either the nominatedball on, or the highest-value ball unintentionally contacted or pocketed as a result of the foul.[75]: 26–29
^Until the 1920s, there was no minimum penalty, and a foul on a red ball was worth one point in penalties.[24]
^Under certain circumstances, some runners-up participate at the Champion of Champions.[137]
^abcdefClare, Peter (2008)."Origins of Snooker".snookerheritage.co.uk. E. A. Clare & Son Limited.Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved8 February 2017.
^abcdeNunns, Hector; Hendon, David."History of Snooker".World Snooker.Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved11 February 2021.
^Kentfield, Edwin (1850).The Game of Billiards (5th ed.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 49–50 – via Google Books.
^"Professional snooker".Dundee Courier. 13 November 1926. p. 6. Retrieved21 January 2016 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
^Everton, Clive (6 April 1976)."Women Take Cue".The Guardian. p. 27 – via Newspapers.com.
^ab"WWS History".World Women's Snooker.Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved13 August 2024.A professional Championship was also held for the first time in 1934, with Billiards champions Ruth Harrison and most recently Thelma Carpenter among its winners most recently in 1950.
^"John Higgins eyes more crucible titles".The Daily Telegraph. London. 5 May 2009.Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved13 April 2020....the modern era, which began in 1969 when the World Championship became a knockout event.
^MacInnes, Paul (10 February 2004)."Thatch of the day".The Guardian.Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved16 September 2019.
^ab"1985: The black ball final".BBC Sport. 18 April 2003.Archived from the original on 24 September 2003. Retrieved31 January 2019.Dennis Taylor's remarkable 18–17 victory over Steve Davis on the final black has justifiably become regarded as one of the great moments in British sport.
^"Thurston Snooker Table makers".thurstonsnooker.co.uk. Archived fromthe original on 3 May 2006. Retrieved25 February 2007.Recommended room size for full size table 22 ft × 16 ft
^ab"Triple Crown winners to wear new icon".World Snooker. 11 January 2020. Archived fromthe original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved11 February 2021.Triple Crown events remain the most prestigious and historic in snooker, and they are the titles the players covet most.
^"Spencer beats Pulman".The Times. 23 November 1968. p. 5.
^Baxter, Trevor (26 January 1999)."Obituary: John Pulman".The Independent. London.Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved31 August 2012.
^Nunns, Hector (8 April 2014)."Before the Crucible".Inside Snooker.Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved29 January 2016.
^"Snooker – Reardon's a class above rest".The Times. 24 April 1976. p. 15.
^"Snooker Games".Billiards: The Official Rules and Records Book. Colorado Springs, Colorado: Billiard Congress of America. 2008. "American Snooker" entry, pp. 118–121.ISBN978-1-87849-318-7.
Gadsby, Paul; Williams, Luke (2005).Masters of the Baize: Cue Legends, Bad Boys and Forgotten Men in Search of Snooker's Ultimate Prize. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing.ISBN978-1-84018-872-1.
Hayton, Eric N.; Dee, John (2004).The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications.ISBN978-0-9548549-0-4.
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