Snooker

cue sport · strategy · British · precision

22 colorful balls. The game uses a white cue ball plus 15 red balls and 6 colored balls (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black). Players must pot the balls in a specific order to score points.

Pockets everywhere. The snooker table has 6 pockets total: one in each corner and one in the middle of each long side. Getting a ball into a pocket is called potting it.

Born in India. British Army officers invented snooker in India during the second half of the 1800s and brought the game back to Britain, where it became hugely popular.

Frames and matches. Players compete in rounds called frames, and whoever scores the most points in a frame wins it. A match is won by the first player to win a set number of frames.

Fouls cost you. If you break the rules (called a foul), your opponent gets penalty points. This means even your mistakes can help your opponent score.