Snooker Rules Explained: The Full Ruleset

Snooker is played with 15 red balls and six colours, and the whole game runs on one repeating pattern: pot a red, then a colour, then a red, then a colour, until the reds are gone — then clear the colours in order. The player with the most points wins the frame. That’s the core; the rest is the potting order, how points add up, and the fouls that quietly decide close frames.

It looks intricate the first time you watch, but the sequence is strict and logical. Once you know the values and the order, every shot a professional plays starts to make sense.

The balls and their values

There are 15 reds and six colours on the table, plus the white cue ball.

Ball	Points
Red (x15)	1
Yellow	2
Green	3
Brown	4
Blue	5
Pink	6
Black	7

The colours each start on their own marked spot. For a deeper breakdown of the values and where each colour sits, see our snooker ball values guide.

The potting order

A turn at the table is called a break or a visit. When there are reds on the table, you must pot a red first. Every potted red stays down and scores 1 point. After potting a red, you nominate and pot any colour you like — that colour is worth its value and is then re-spotted (returned to the table).

You keep alternating — red, colour, red, colour — with each colour re-spotting each time, until all 15 reds have been potted. Only then does the second phase begin: the six colours must be taken in ascending value order (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black), and this time they stay down once potted. When the black is potted, the frame is over.

Because you take the black (the most valuable colour) after each red for maximum points, the perfect single-visit clearance totals 147 — snooker’s maximum break.

How points and frames work

You score by potting balls and from your opponent’s fouls. The running total for a single visit is your break; a break of 50 or more is a solid contribution, and a century (100+) is the benchmark of class. Our how snooker scoring works guide breaks the point-counting down rally by rally.

A frame is won by whoever has the most points once the balls are cleared or the frame is conceded. A match is a set number of frames — best-of-9, best-of-19 at big events, best-of-35 in a World Championship final — and the first player to win the majority takes the match.

When a player falls far enough behind that the points left on the table can’t close the gap, they are said to “need snookers”, and they may concede rather than play on.

Safety, snookers and tactics

Snooker isn’t only about potting. When there’s no good pot on, a player plays a safety shot, trying to leave the cue ball where the opponent has nothing. Leaving the opponent unable to hit the required ball directly is a snooker — the tactic the sport is named after — and forces a tricky escape off a cushion. A missed escape often gives away a foul, so the safety battle is where many frames are actually won.

The fouls

Fouls are central to snooker, because they transfer points to the opponent. A foul awards a minimum of four points, or the value of the ball involved if that is higher.

• Missing all balls — the cue ball hits nothing: 4 points.
• Potting the cue ball (in-off) — the white goes down: at least 4.
• Hitting the wrong ball first — e.g. striking a colour when you’re on a red: 4, or the value of that ball if higher.
• Potting the wrong ball — a ball you weren’t on.
• Ball off the table — a ball jumps off the playing surface.
• Touching a ball with anything but the cue tip — hand, sleeve, or the cue’s other end.

After a foul, the incoming player can play the balls as they lie or, if snookered by the foul, ask their opponent to play again. The full list and penalties are covered in our snooker fouls explained guide.

Get started at the table

If you’ve never played, the rules read like a lot, but a single frame teaches them fast — pot a red, take a colour, repeat. Our how to play snooker guide walks a beginner through the setup, the break-off and a first visit, and if you enjoy how cue sports differ, the wider family of types of pool games shows how scoring and potting rules change from table to table.

The short version: 15 reds and six colours, pot a red then a colour (colour re-spots) until the reds are gone, then clear the colours yellow-to-black in order, most points wins the frame, and every foul hands your opponent at least four points.