Snooker Rules Explained: Points, Fouls, Free Ball & the Miss Rule
The short version: reds are worth 1 point; the colours are yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6, black 7. You pot a red, then a colour, then a red, and so on. When the reds are gone, the colours are taken in order from yellow to black.
A foul gives your opponent 4 to 7 points. Snookers required means you are further behind than the points left on the table. There is a snookers-required calculator below.
Watch any snooker match and the commentators will soon be talking about snookers required, a free ball or a foul and a miss. All three come back to one question: how points are scored, and how they change hands when someone fouls. This guide goes through those rules using the current rulebook of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the body that writes the rules used on the professional tour and in most clubs.
If you come from pool, the article on snooker safety play for pool players covers the tactical side. This one is about the scoring.
What each ball is worth
A frame uses 22 balls: the white cue ball, 15 reds and 6 colours.
| Ball | Points | How many | Spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | 1 | 15 | Racked in a triangle; not re-spotted |
| Yellow | 2 | 1 | Right-hand corner of the D (from the baulk end) |
| Green | 3 | 1 | Left-hand corner of the D |
| Brown | 4 | 1 | Middle of the baulk line |
| Blue | 5 | 1 | Centre of the table |
| Pink | 6 | 1 | Halfway between the blue spot and the top cushion |
| Black | 7 | 1 | 324 mm (12¾ in) from the top cushion |
The order of play
- Every turn starts on a red. Pot a red and you may play any colour. A potted colour scores and is re-spotted, and you go back to the reds.
- Red, colour, red, colour until the reds are gone. After the last red is potted you still get one colour.
- Then the colours in sequence: yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black. Now they stay down.
- When you fail to score, your opponent plays from where the cue ball stopped.
Two reds in one shot? Both count, so you score 2. The rules say each red potted in the same stroke is scored. You then play just one colour as normal.
147 and 155
A 147 is the maximum break in normal play: all 15 reds with the black (15 × 8 = 120), then all six colours (2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 27). See snooker break building for how players get there.
A 155 is possible in theory. It needs your opponent to foul at the very start of the frame and leave you a free ball. You pot the free ball as an extra red (1) and take the black with it (7), which adds 8 to the 147. The chance almost never comes up, which is why 147 is treated as the maximum.
Snookers required: when the frame is "beyond" a player
Snookers required means the trailing player is further behind than the points left on the table. Even if they potted every remaining ball, they could not catch up. Their only route back is penalty points from the opponent's fouls, so they stop attacking and start laying snookers: hiding the cue ball so that the opponent cannot hit the ball on.
How to count the points remaining
| Situation | Maximum points left | Example |
|---|---|---|
| On a red | Reds left × 8 + 27 | 6 reds left: 6 × 8 + 27 = 75 |
| Just potted a red, on a colour | 7 + reds left × 8 + 27 | 5 reds left: 7 + 40 + 27 = 74 |
| Colours only | Ball on up to the black | On the blue: 5 + 6 + 7 = 18 |
The colours-only numbers are worth learning: on the yellow there are 27 left, green 25, brown 22, blue 18, pink 13, black 7.
If the deficit is greater than the points left, snookers are required. If it is exactly equal, the trailing player needs every ball to tie, and a tie means a re-spotted black (see below).
Can you still win when snookers are required?
Yes, through fouls. Each foul gives at least 4 points but leaves the points on the table untouched, so every successful snooker narrows the gap. "Needs one snooker" or "needs two snookers" is how commentators describe how many fouls are still required.
When should a player concede? The rules do not say; it is the player's call. In professional matches, players often concede when they need two or more snookers with only a few colours left. When the frame matters, many play on to the last ball.
Snookers-required calculator
Enter both scores and what is left on the table. You get the points remaining, whether snookers are required, and how many.
How many points is a foul?
The one rule to remember: a foul costs at least 4 points and at most 7, and the penalty is the value of the ball on or the ball involved in the foul, whichever is higher. The points go to your opponent; nothing on the table changes.
| Foul | Penalty |
|---|---|
| On a red, cue ball misses everything | 4 (a red is worth 1, so the minimum applies) |
| On a red, cue ball hits the black first | 7 (the black is the higher ball involved) |
| On the blue, cue ball misses everything | 5 (value of the ball on) |
| Cue ball goes in-off | Value of the ball on, minimum 4; higher if the cue ball first hit a higher ball |
| Potting a ball not on (e.g. the pink when on a red) | 6 (value of the pink) |
| Jump shot, push stroke, touching a ball with your body, clothing or cue | Ball on or ball involved, whichever is higher; minimum 4 |
| Playing at reds in two successive strokes | 7 |
| Using a ball off the table, or any object, to measure a gap | 7 |
Several fouls in one stroke are not added together; the highest penalty applies. After a foul, the opponent chooses: play from where the balls lie, or ask the player who fouled to play again. The second option is useful when the position left is awkward.
The free ball rule
If your opponent fouls and leaves you snookered, the referee calls FREE BALL. The idea is simple: a foul should be punished, so it should not also leave you trapped.
What counts as snookered
The rulebook definition is precise: if at least one ball on can be hit at both extreme edges in a straight line, without obstruction by a ball not on, you are not snookered. Only when every ball on is at least partly blocked are you snookered. "Awkward" is not enough. And a cushion can never snooker you.
How a free ball works
- You may nominate any other ball as the ball on. It takes the value of the ball it replaces. On a red, a nominated blue counts 1 point if potted; the blue is re-spotted and you then play a colour.
- You can ignore the free ball and play the real ball on instead.
- You cannot use the free ball to snooker your opponent. If the stroke scores nothing and leaves the opponent snookered on all reds (or the ball on) by the free ball, it is a foul. The exception, added in August 2024, is when only two object balls remain: pink and black, or black and one other colour.
- If you ask the player who fouled to play again, the free ball is gone.
A free ball matters most when the scores are close to snookers required: it gets you out of the snooker and gives you an extra "red", worth 8 with the black.
Foul and a miss
This is snooker's most distinctive rule, and its most argued about. The striker must try to the best of their ability to hit the ball on. If the referee decides they did not, they call FOUL AND A MISS as well as giving the normal penalty. The opponent then gets an extra option: have every ball put back where it was and make the offender play the shot again.
The rule exists to stop deliberate misses. If missing only cost 4 points, it could pay to roll the cue ball somewhere safe instead of trying to escape a snooker. With the miss rule, you keep being put back until you hit the ball.
Why there is no miss when snookers are required
This is the question viewers ask most. The rule is explicit: the referee shall not call a miss if any player required penalty points before, or as a result of, the stroke, and the referee is satisfied the miss was not intentional. In that case it is just a foul.
The logic: once a player needs snookers, penalty points decide the frame. If the opponent could still have the balls replaced again and again, the miss rule would become a way of piling up points rather than a check on deliberate misses. That is why you hear commentators say "he needs snookers now, so the referee won't call a miss".
The exception: if there was a clear, straight path to a full-ball contact on a ball on (for a red, the full width of a red not blocked by a colour), a second failure from the same position is called a miss whatever the scores.
The three-miss rule
In that full-ball situation, after the second failure the referee warns the player that one more failure will award the frame to the opponent. A third failure loses the frame. This only applies when a full-ball contact was available. When you are snookered and have to escape off a cushion, there is no three-miss rule.
How a frame ends, and what happens in a tie
- When only the black is left, the first pot or the first foul ends the frame.
- When only the black is left and the gap is more than 7 points, the player ahead can claim the frame; the black is only worth 7.
- If the scores are level after the final black, the black is re-spotted. The players draw lots for who plays next, that player plays from in-hand in the D, and the first pot or foul ends the frame.
See the rules in action
AimGeometry's snooker pages follow the professional tour: live scores, results, the schedule and the world rankings, updated through the day. Keep this page open next to a match and the miss calls and free balls start to make sense.
Open live snooker scores →Want to practise the geometry behind snooker shots? The free trainer has a snooker rules lesson and a snooker geometry lesson you can play in the browser.
FAQ
How many points is a foul in snooker?
At least 4, at most 7: the value of the ball on or the ball involved, whichever is higher. On a red and hitting the black first costs 7; on the blue and missing everything costs 5. The points go to your opponent.
Do two reds potted in one shot both count?
Yes, 1 point each. You then play one colour. Potting a red when you should be on a colour is a foul.
Can you snooker someone with a free ball?
No. If the free-ball stroke scores nothing and leaves the opponent snookered behind the free ball, it is a foul, unless only two object balls remain.
Can you keep playing when you need snookers?
Yes, and players often do. Snookers required only means you need fouls from your opponent. Whether to concede is up to the player.
What does "needs two snookers" mean?
Each foul is worth at least 4. If the trailing player would still be 5 to 8 points short after potting everything, they need at least two fouls, so "two snookers". The calculator above works this out for you.
Related reading: Snooker Shoot Out Rules · Snooker Safety Play for Pool Players · Snooker Break Building · How Long Is a Snooker Match? · Billiards vs Pool vs Snooker · Snooker World Rankings
Rules source: WPBSA, Official Rules of the Games of Snooker and English Billiards, September 2024 edition (including the August 2024 change that extended the free-ball exception to the last two object balls). In a match, the referee's decision is final. This article contains no sponsored or affiliate links.