Billiards

by William Broadfoot

SNOOKER

Snooker—or, to give it its full title, Snooker’s Pool—is a hybrid game, half pool and half pyramids. Any reasonable number of players, say five or six, may take part; but it is best to play a single-handed game, or for two to play against two. As is the case with black pool, there are no accepted rules, the published code being of little use, so many are the deviations from it. The general method of play is here laid down, so that those who are unfamiliar with the game may make its acquaintance.

The pyramid balls are set up in the usual way, and the striker always uses the white ball. The black ball is set on the billiard spot, the pink on the centre spot. Blue is placed just below the apex-ball of the pyramid, brown on the centre spot of the Ｄ, with yellow and green on the right and left corner spots.

If pink and black are not introduced, blue is put on the billiard spot, brown on the centre spot, green at the apex of the triangle, and yellow on the centre spot of the Ｄ. The positions of pink and black are sometimes reversed.

A red ball counts one, yellow two, green three, brown four, blue five, pink six, and black seven. The score, if two persons are playing or sides are formed, may be marked on the board as at billiards.

A red ball must be taken before a coloured ball can be played at; if the striker, playing on a red, holes it, and takes a coloured ball also, the latter does not count and is spotted. If, playing on red, he fails to hole it, but holes a coloured ball, the value of the latter is scored to the other side.

In each of these cases the striker is allowed in some rooms to score the coloured ball; the rule given is the generally accepted one.

After taking a red, the striker must play on one of the coloured balls. If he holes one of them, any other balls that go down by the same stroke count to him. All coloured balls which are holed must be spotted immediately; if the striker plays before all are spotted, the stroke is foul. No red ball is ever put up. The rules for foul strokes are the same as those of ordinary pool, and penalties are incurred in the same way, but the amount of the penalty is the value of the ball played at—i.e. to miss a red counts one, to miss the yellow two, and so forth. If the striker, playing at red, hits a coloured ball, the penalty is the value of the ball struck.

The rule is not always as severe as this. In many rooms, to miss red involves a penalty of one, to miss yellow of two, and so on, regardless of the value of any ball that may be struck afterwards.

If the striker gives a miss, the ball is left where it finally stops. If the striker is by law obliged to play on a red ball or on a coloured ball, but from the position of his own ball is unable to do so directly, he is said to be snookered; he must then make a bona-fide shot at the proper ball off the cushion, the penalty if he misses being the minimum penalty: e.g. if he is bound to hit a red ball, the penalty is only one; if a coloured ball, two—the value of yellow.

In some rooms, the striker is bound, when snookered, to play a bona-fide shot as described, and if he hits a coloured ball when playing on red is mulcted in the value of that ball. In others, if he has to play on a coloured ball and is snookered for them all, he has to name the ball he intends to play on; if he misses all the coloured balls, or hits one of a smaller value, he is debited with the value of the one he plays at; if he hits a more valuable one, he is fined the value of it; but as it is hard to define what a bona-fide shot is, these regulations lead to many disputes. A good rule is to allow the striker to give a miss, the penalty being the lowest that can be exacted, but he must not thereby snooker the next player. If he does snooker him, the stroke must be played over again, till the next player has a clear shot at the right ball.

When all the red balls have been holed, the others must be taken in proper pool order—first yellow, then green, and so on. When holed they are not put up. The striker, when snookered for his proper object ball, must play a bona-fide shot for it, being fined its value if he misses it.

Here again there are variations. In some rooms he may give a miss, leaving the next player in a position from which he can play on the proper ball, and being fined the value of the object ball; or he may (sometimes must) play at that ball, and if he hits another he is fined the value of it, which at this period of the game is always greater than that of the object ball.

When only white and black are on the table, white always plays on black. If white misses black, or goes in off it, or forces it off the table, or goes off the table himself, the game is at an end.

In some rooms the game proceeds till black is actually holed.

Of course the main object of the good player is to get behind a ball of great price when he has taken a red, green and yellow being of no great value, though their capture may lead on to higher game. As a rule, it is wasted time to hole a red when there is no chance of a break to follow, as by this means one of the preliminaries to a break is destroyed; but at the same time the opponent’s chance is diminished, so that this general principle may be laid down—that the player who is leading, or receiving points, should get rid of the red balls, so as to reduce his opponent’s chance of making a big score; but he who is giving points, or is behind in the game, should abstain from taking a red ball unless he has a fair chance of getting a coloured one afterwards. He should play rigid safety, leaving the opponent long shots, from under a cushion if possible. Safety is indeed one of the beauties of the game, misses and coups being often good play; but when all the red balls have been holed, the utmost accuracy of strength and direction is called into play, so as to snooker the adversary, whose efforts to hit the proper ball may enable the other to retrieve an apparently lost game. It must never be forgotten that, as a break may run up to thirty or forty, or even more, each point representing money, a single incautious stroke may cost the loss of the game, and that care and thought are consequently of enormous importance.

The drawback to the game is the large part played in it by luck. There are so many balls on the table that really excellent strokes are incessantly being spoilt by a combination of kisses against which it is impossible to provide. To this both sides are equally liable, but in a game of skill the element of luck ought not to be too prominent, and it is owing to the preponderance of luck in snooker that the game is, as a game of skill, inferior to black pool.