snooker, popular billiards game of British origin, played on a table similar in size and markings to that used in English billiards. The game arose, presumably in India, as a pastime for soldiers in the 1870s. Snooker is played with 22 balls, made up of one white ball (the cue ball); 15 red balls, valued at 1 point each; one yellow, 2 points; one green, 3; one brown, 4; one blue, 5; one pink, 6; and one black, 7. Players try to pocket first the red and then the nonred balls, scoring one point for each red and the number value of the others.
To begin, the balls are arranged as follows: all reds in a pyramid with its apex on the pyramid spot; black on the billiard spot near the foot of the table; pink touching the apex of the pyramid; blue at the center spot; and green, brown, and yellow at the left, center, and right of the straight line of the D, a semicircular area at the head of the table.
The first (break) shot must contact a red ball initially. A player shoots until he fails to pocket a ball or fouls. Then the player yields play to an opponent. When playing at a nonred ball, the player must designate which ball is “on” (the target), although the player need not specify the intended pocket for the ball. Red balls remain pocketed, whether played legally or not, but the others are immediately replaced on their respective spots as long as any reds remain on the table. When all reds are pocketed, players attempt to pocket the other balls in numerical order. When the last ball is off the table, the game, or “frame,” ends, and the player with the highest score wins.
Penalties are assessed for fouls—i.e., violations of certain rules—including pocketing the cue ball (“scratching”), failing to hit any ball with the cue ball, causing the cue ball to strike first a ball that is not on, and pocketing two balls (other than two reds) on the same stroke. Penalties usually consist of a forfeit of a certain number of points to all opponents, loss of any score made on the foul stroke, and loss of the turn at play. English and American versions of the game vary somewhat according to rules of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) and the Billiard Congress of America (BCA), respectively.
The term snooker denotes a position of the cue ball from which the player is unable to hit the ball that the rules require one to play. Compare pocket billiards; pyramids.