How to Play Snooker: Know the Rules

Snooker is a game played with one cue stick and twenty-two balls. This game is quite popular and entertaining. It would be helpful to know the rules of the game before you start playing. One needs more skills to play snooker as the table is larger and pockets narrower as compared to other cue sports.

The objective of the game is to hit the white cue ball with the cue in the direction of the other pool balls in one of the six pockets. There are some important rules that must be followed while playing, which include:

Rules:

1. First of all, all the equipments needed for the game should be arranged. One cue stick and 22 balls which consist of 15 Red balls, a group of 6 balls of different colors and one white ball or the cue ball.

   The point values for the snooker balls are as follows: red-1, yellow-2, green-3, brown-4, blue-5, pink-6, black-7.

2. A player who is supposed to strike, has to hit the red ball first. The maximum time allowed for each shot is 60 seconds, otherwise a foul is incurred.

3. A strike is legal (if the object is a red ball) when:
• The white ball is not potted.
• The white ball hits a red ball first.
• Only red balls are be potted.

Otherwise, the strike is foul.

4. The strike on the red ball is legal when:
• The first player fails to pot the red ball and the opposing player is next.
• The red ball is plotted, then the player gets as many points as the number of red balls plotted.
5. A strike is legal (if the next legal object is a color ball) when:
• the white ball is not potted.
• if one of the colored balls is hit by white ball despite having red balls on the table.
• if there are no red balls left on the table, then the colored ball with the lowest point is hit first.
• the ball first hit by the white ball is potted.

Otherwise the strike is foul.

6. A strike on the colored ball is legal when:
• no ball is potted and the opposing player is next.
• the striker’s next legal object is a red ball. If there are no red balls on the table, the next legal object is the ball with the lowest points.

These are the rules which you should keep in mind while playing Snooker. It will help you master the game in a short span of time.