Snooker online
- Cue
- 6 pockets
- 15 reds and 6 colours
The game of the big English table: 3.57 metres of cloth, narrow pockets with rounded jaws and twenty-two balls. The fifteen reds are worth one point each, the six colours from 2 (the yellow) to 7 (the black). A red is potted, then a colour, then another red, and the player stays at the table while potting: the highest possible break is 147.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Online multiplayer
- Plays in your browser
Once the reds are gone the colours go down in order, from yellow to black, and the higher score wins the frame. When there is nothing to pot, players play safe and try to leave the opponent snookered, hidden behind another ball: a foul gives at least 4 points away. The rules are the WPBSA’s: a single 6-red frame by default and, with more time, 10 or 15 reds, best of 3, 5 or 7 frames.
It plays straight away in your browser, with nothing to download. To play without a connection too, download and install it as an app, on phone, tablet and computer: free, and without going through an app store.
Snooker rules
- One frame, or best of 3, 5 or 7
- WPBSA rules
- 12 ft table
The WPBSA game on the 12 ft table: 15 reds worth 1 and six colours, yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6 and black 7. A red is potted, then a colour, and so on: the colours come back on their spots while reds remain, then go down in order from yellow to black. The higher score wins the frame; matches are races to N frames. Shorter frames with 10 or 6 reds (WPBSA Six Reds): here one 6-red frame by default.
Scoring
- 1A redEvery red potted on the stroke scores 1, and a colour is then on
- 2–7A colourThe first colour the cue ball hits is the one on: potted, it scores its value
- +The breakRed, colour, red… potted in turn keep the player at the table
Fouls
Fouls score for the opponent: the value of the ball on or of a higher ball concerned, at least 4 (7 for playing at a red again after a red). After a foul the opponent plays on, or has the offender play again; after a miss, also with the balls put back where they were. Left snookered by a foul, they get a free ball: any other ball counts as the ball on.
- Wrong ball first
- The cue ball hits a ball not on first, two balls at once (two reds aside), or no ball at all.
- A ball not on potted
- A colour on a red, or a colour other than the one hit first.
- In-off
- The cue ball goes into a pocket or off the table: the next player plays from the D.
- Foul and a miss
- Failing to hit a ball on with a straight line to part of one open, when nobody needed snookers. Three in a row from a ball in full view lose the frame (six reds: from the fifth, the opponent may take the cue ball anywhere).
- Snookering behind the free ball
- Leaving the opponent snookered behind the free ball, unless only two object balls are left; with six reds, behind the colour played after a red too.
- Jump shot
- The cue ball jumps over a ball before hitting one.
Snookers and the end of the frame
- A snooker: the cue ball cannot hit both edges of any ball on in a straight line, because a ball not on is in the way (a cushion never snookers). Leaving the opponent snookered is the game’s main safety: they will likely miss and give away foul points. A player “needs snookers” when behind by more than the points left on the table.
- Break-offs alternate, from the D: any red first.
- With only the black left, a lead of more than 7 ends the frame; otherwise the first pot or foul does. With the scores then level, the black is spotted again, lots are drawn, and the winner chooses who plays first from the D.
- A frame may be conceded only once a player needs snookers.
- Potted colours go back on their own spot; if it is taken, on the highest free one.
The official rules
The rules above are the ones Biliardo Plus applies in a match, in short, and they are in the game too, in the Rules window. The full text is the federation’s (in Italian for FIBiS):
