Snooker is an English, the most technical kind of billiards. It differs from ordinary billiards in everything: the color, number and diameter of balls, the increased size of the table, the shape of pockets and the value of each ball scored.
Snooker is “billiard chess”, in which the smartest and most calculating player who can provide the longest series of blows wins. A continuous series of one player is called a break.
Snooker creator
The creator of snooker was Colonel Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain (1856-1944) of the British Colonial Army. There is a tale of how a young officer lost a game to Chamberlain, who contemptuously called the loser a “snooker”. After that, the nickname stuck to the game itself – a new kind of pool. Snook in English means “long nose”, and its derivative snooker can be translated as “snot-nose”, “rookie” or “freshman cadet” (the latter was adopted at the Royal Military Academy).
Snooker table
The snooker table is larger than the pool table and has unusual pockets – they have rounded jaws. This shape of the pocket allows you to score even a ball that is close to the board (which is impossible in Russian billiards). Snooker balls are light and small: 52,4 mm in diameter against 68 in Russian billiards and 57 in pool.
Before the party starts 15 red balls are placed on the cloth and at certain points 6 balls of different colors (blue, yellow, brown, green, pink and black) as well as a white one – the pool cue (only cue can be touched). Total 22 balls.
The principle of the game
The principle of the game is different from billiards: clearing the table is not the most important thing, the main thing is to get the maximum number of points. The cost of balls depends on the color: red – 1 point, yellow – 2, green – 5, brown – 4, blue – 5, pink – 6 and black – 7 points. A player scores first a red ball, then any of the colored balls, then red again, then a colored ball again…
The scored red balls are not returned, and the colored balls are placed in their positions until the table runs out of red balls. After that, the colored balls must be scored in ascending order of value. The cue ball can not be hammered into the pocket. The game is started when all the balls are scored.
The strict order in which you have to score the balls determines the tactics of the game. Scoring a red ball, the snooker player tries to put the cue ball there, and after it will be red again.
So the best players are those who calculate at least 4-5 strokes ahead. They are skilled in circling, swirling strokes, when the cue ball bypasses the interfering ball, playing a duple from the board, or hitting one red ball with another.
Penalties
Penalties add points to the offender’s opponent: 4 points for a scored cue ball, 7 points – if the order is mixed up (instead of a colored player scores a red ball). For accidentally scored ball of a different color its cost is deducted.
The most interesting thing in this game is a positional struggle when the main thing is to drive your opponent into a difficult situation: to put the die after hitting it so that it would hide behind the wrong ball and the next ball would be out of sight – this is called snooker. By making it harder for your opponent to play, you increase his chances of making a mistake and can earn on his penalties.
Variations of this game are found everywhere and are classified according to geography.
The most popular snooker in the world is British, American and Brazilian are quite well known.
Annual world snooker championships have been held since 1977.