6.2 22 Balls and the Cycle

Snooker scoring is not pool

If you sit down in front of a snooker frame for the first time, the rules look insane. There are 22 balls on the table. They don't have stripes or solids. Six of them get respotted after pocketing. Sometimes.

This lesson teaches the rules cold so the next snooker frame you see makes sense. Source: WPBSA Rulebook 2024-25, sections 3.1, 3.3, 3.10, 3.12.

⏱ ~10 min · concept-only · the rules in 10 minutes

22 balls, six different values

On the table at the start of every frame:

• 15 reds — each worth 1 point
• 6 colors:
  • Yellow = 2
  • Green = 3
  • Brown = 4
  • Blue = 5
  • Pink = 6
  • Black = 7
• 1 cue ball (white)

Each color has a fixed spot on the table. When pocketed during the red-color cycle, they get put back on their spot.

• 15 reds (1pt) + 6 colors (2-7) + cue ball
• Each color has a fixed spot
• Maximum possible break: 147 (15 reds + 15 blacks + 6 colors)

The red-color cycle

Every shot in the first phase: alternate red then color.

1. Pot a red. It stays down. Get 1 point.
2. Now you must shoot a color (your choice — usually the highest-value one you can pot, often pink or black for higher-value cycle).
3. If you pot the color, you get 2-7 points, and the color is respotted.
4. Now back to a red. Cycle continues.
5. If at any point you fail to pot, miss legally, or commit a foul: turn passes to opponent.

The cycle continues until all 15 reds are gone. Then the second phase starts.

• Cycle: red → color → red → color
• Colors respot during the cycle
• Highest-value cycle: red → black → red → black (8 pts each round)

Endgame clearance: yellow → black

Once all reds are gone, the colors must be cleared in ascending value order:

Yellow (2) → Green (3) → Brown (4) → Blue (5) → Pink (6) → Black (7)

During clearance, colors do NOT respot. Each one stays down once pocketed.

If you fail to pot a color and it's an obvious miss with the next color available cleanly, the opponent can call a foul-and-a-miss (Rule 3.14) — making you replay from the same position.

• After all reds gone: yellow → ... → black
• No respots during clearance
• Foul-and-a-miss rule prevents you from "missing on purpose"

Fouls and the free ball

Fouls cost the opponent 4-7 points:

• Standard foul = 4 points to opponent
• If a higher-value ball was involved in the foul, the foul cost is the value of that ball
• Example: hitting the black first when you were "on" red = 7-point foul

Special situation: foul-snooker. If your opponent fouls and you can't see a full ball-on (the ball you're required to hit), you can call "free ball". You're allowed to nominate any ball as substitute for the ball-on, with that ball's value.

This is a powerful comeback mechanic — losing players use it to rack up safety points and turn frames around.

• Foul = 4-7 points to opponent
• Cost = value of the ball involved
• Free ball: comeback mechanism after a foul-snooker