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The fascinating Games of Billiards and Snooker

The fascinating Games of Billiards and Snooker

Since times immemorial Games and Sports have been an integral part of man's life. Then there is the hype associated with winning and loosing. They say the most important is to participate, whereas loosing and winning don't matter. But still when you participate you do it to kill or win.  So a balance has to be struck somewhere. There are Confidence Level, Concentration, Will Power, skills and Mindsets and Mind blocks which make players score or not.

These two international indoor games, quite popular in India as well, played on big tables covered with green baize cloth are considered the Royal games as they are very costly in every sense of the word. These are the ultimate testing of aiming and concentration abilities of the players.

The long tapering wooden stick which is used to push or hit the balls is called the Cue. This has a leather tip on which chalk needs to be applied regularly during play to avoid slipping while hitting a ball.

Billiards: This game is played by two players, with three balls, two white striker balls and one red ball. There are six pockets on the table with a D area adjoining a baulk line near the table bottom and some spots in the middle and top. The red ball always occupies the top spot in the beginning and whenever after its potted or pocketed.

One of the white strikers has a black spot on it for distinction. The player who starts always strikes with this ball. In the beginning and later whenever after a white is pocketed it comes into the D area as a free ball and then the player is free to place it anywhere in the D before striking the other balls with the cue.

So right at the beginning the red ball is at the fixed spot on top and the strikers are off the table. The first player then places his spotted white in D area and has to hit the red. If you fail to hit or touch any ball that is a foul costing two points.

Till you score or make a Shot of which there are five, you keep playing making a Break. So in the beginning once the first player has played the second player also keeps his white striker anywhere in D area and plays either of the two other balls to make a shot.

There are five shots in all - namely Red pot, Red in-off, Canon, White pot and White in-off fetching respectively 3 points for 1st two, 2 for the third and the last two.

When the red ball gets pocketed in anyway that is a red pot for 3 points. The same way when the white other than the current striker gets pocketed that is white pot for 2 points.

But if the current striker white gets pocketed without hitting any other ball that is a foul  resulting in loss of two points.

Then if the striker goes into the pocket after hitting the red ball that is a red in-off again  fetching 3 points and if it gets pocketed off the other striker its white in-off for 2 points.  That is Billiards in a nutshell though to cover all the complexities and facets of the game will require a whole book.

Only a brief mention can be made on Side Spins - These are based on where exactly the tip of the cue strikes the striker ball - its Center, Left, Right, Top or Bottom. These sides or side spins help to control closely the path of the striker, especially after hitting the target ball.

It is the combinations of speeds and spins that are crucial to achieving and alter different tangents and   rebound angles paths resulting in infinite possibilities.

Snooker: Then Snooker is another exquisite colorful ball game with 22 balls of which 15 reds, one white or the common striker between the two players and six colors. These are yellow for 2 points, green for 3 points, brown for 4 points, blue for 5 points, pink for 6 points and black for 7 points. Each color has a fixed spot on the table and comes back there after getting potted till any reds remain. Each red when pocketed fetches one point.

Again in the beginning or in case the striker is pocketed without kissing any other ball or the wrong ball (which is a foul of negative four or more) the  white is a free ball in the D area for the current player.

To start the 15 reds are framed in a triangular shape at the top of the table at a fixed spot.  The black occupies the topmost spot which coincides with the red spot in the game of Billiards.  All the colors have fixed spots and whenever pocketed come back to the same spot till there is a red remaining.

The main rule of the game is that to qualify to pot a color the player first needs to pot a red.  For example one player pots a red then the pink followed by a red again and then another color say green. Then he attempts a third red when missing passes on the turn to the other player. In this case he made a break of 1+6+1+3 that is 11. The game goes on this way till all the reds get  pocketed and then it is the turn of the colors in increasing order that is yellow first and black  the last. Once the black gets potted the frame ends.

That's another basic difference between the two games - Where as in Snooker a game has a definite end in Billiards there is no such end. So here two possibilities exist. Either play for a fixed score or fixed time. The player who first reaches the fixed score or who scores more in the fixed time wins.

Another integral facet from which the game of Snooker derives its name is a Snook. Whenever a player plays in such a way that a color or reds get obstructed with respect to the striker it's a Snook. For example the last red remaining if I play the red and the striker rolls and goes behind the black. Then the red has to be played but the black is obstructing a direct hit. So the other player is obliged to play off the cushions to break the Snook. Also for example suppose its blues turn to be potted and I play the blue in such a way that when all balls are stationary the pink is between the blue and the white, then it is a Snook for the other player to break, again.

The players are obliged to play a particular ball at all times of the game that is any red or a color. If one misses all balls then also it's a foul of 4. If a red is to be potted and I hit the blue instead then that's minus five-ooof. But if I hit green that's still minus four as the minimum foul is 4. If you miss reds completely or hit a color instead then the foul is 4 or that color's number which ever is more.

This brings us to the end of these games. Then there are pool games on the same or smaller tables where the balls are colored, spotted or numbered, and many other variations.

One of the principal Indian names here is Michael Ferreira from Bombay who went on to become world champion more than once. Then recently there have been Geet Sethi and very recently Pankaj Advani and Ashok Shandilya.

In clubs you have to pay a token amount to reserve these tables for half an hour or one hour or more. You can just dream of having a table at home. Only the likes of Michael Ferreira and all can afford that, who would practice everyday for several hours. It's a big pleasure to watch such players play these thrilling games.

About the Author

I am a Comp science graduate from a very renowned college in Delhi. I got introduced to these games in college. At present I am into MySQL and LAMP stack and associated open source softwares

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