Snooker Pool
Hoyle’s Games. Autograph edition. Edmond Hoyle. 1907
Snooker Pool
This game is played upon the regular six-pocket pool table. The pool balls are thrown round for the order of play. The fifteen red balls are spotted in the regulation pyramid and then six colored are placed, their spots and values being as follows;—
The brown ball on the balk-line spot; counts 4.
The yellow ball 10 inches to the right of the brown; counts 2.
The green ball 10 inches to the left of the brown; counts 3.
The blue ball in the centre of the table; counts 5.
The pink ball at the apex of the pyramid; counts 6.
The black ball half way between the base of the pyramid and the bottom cushion; counts 7.
All shots are made with the white ball. The first stroke must be from the balk and upon one of the red balls in the pyramid. After the first stroke, the balk is not protection.
Each player must pocket a red ball or lose his turn. If he pockets a red ball, it counts him i. After pocketing a red ball, he must play upon one of the colored balls, whichever he chooses. If he succeeds in pocketing the colored ball, he must play next upon a red ball, and if he gets that, upon a colored ball, and so on alternately until he misses. The value of all colored balls is scored to his credit, but if pocketed, they must be at once respotted. Red balls remain off the table. If the proper spot for a colored ball is occupied, it must go on the nearest unoccupied spot.
As soon as the last red ball is pocketed, there is no further spotting of the colored balls; but they must be played upon and holed in regular order, 2, 3, 4, etc. No one can play upon any ball but the 2 ball until it has been disposed of; nor upon any but the 3 ball after the 2 is gone, and so on.
When the striker cannot play directly upon the ball which he is bound to hit first, he is ”snookered.” If he fails to hit it, or hits another ball first, he is penalized.
The following are the penalties for foul shots;—
If the striker hits a colored ball first, when he should be playing upon a red one, he forfeits the value of the colored ball he hits. If he runs into a pocket with the white ball, without striking anything, he forfeits 3 points; unless It was his turn to play upon a colored ball of higher value than 3, in which case he forfeits the value of the ball. If, after pocketing a red ball, he aims at a colored ball and runs the white into the pocket, or makes a clear miss, he forfeits the value of the ball aimed at. A clear miss when playing at a red ball counts 1.
If he strikes a red ball when playing upon a colored ball, he forfeits the value of the ball played at. If he hits the wrong colored ball when playing upon them in rotation, he loses the value of the higher of the two; the one hit or the one he should have hit. The same penalties apply to pocketing the wrong ball, even if the right ball is struck first.
If a player runs a colored ball into a pocket at the same time that he plays upon or pockets a red ball, the stroke is foul, and he forfeits the value of the colored ball.
If the striker runs a red ball into a pocket at the same time that he plays upon or pockets a colored ball, he forfeits the value of the colored ball, and the stroke is foul.
If the striker runs two or more red balls into the pockets when it is his turn to play upon a red ball, he scores them all; but he must play on colored and red balls alternately afterward, just as if he had holed only one red.
If the striker plays upon a colored ball and holes two or more, he forfeits the value of the higher ball, unless the ball he should have played on is higher than either of them, in which case he forfeits that, and the stroke is foul.
When the last ball is off the table, the player with the highest score wins; or the one with the lowest score loses, according to the object of the game.