How the games
actually work.
Nine pieces, written for people who have not played and would rather not find that out in front of a room. In reading order, though none of them depends on the last.
- 1red
- 2yellow
- 3green
- 4brown
- 5blue
- 6pink
- 7black
The seven values in snooker. If that is all you came for, you now have it.
- 1Pool or snooker?Two games on green cloth that share almost nothing else. Four questions settle which one you want tonight.5 minute read
- 2How snooker scoring worksReds and colours, why the colours keep coming back, and how a frame actually ends. It is simpler than watching it suggests.7 minute read
- 3Pool rules, plainlyEight-ball as it is really played here — and why the rules in your head may not be the rules at your table.6 minute read
- 4The snooker table, explainedBaulk, the D, the spots and every named part of a full-size table, drawn to the real measurements.5 minute read
- 5Your first hour of snookerA full-size table is enormous and that is the whole problem. An hour’s worth of things to actually do about it.6 minute read
- 6Your first hour of poolPool forgives more than snooker does, which is exactly why bad habits set in fast. What to watch in your first hour.5 minute read
- 7Table etiquetteThe unwritten rules of a snooker room, written down — so nobody has to learn them by being glared at.4 minute read
- 8Choosing a cueTip, weight, length and balance — and why the house cue you already like beats the expensive one you do not.6 minute read
- 9Looking after a cueMost cues are ruined by a hot car, not by play. Five minutes of care, and the things that quietly destroy one.5 minute read
About these
These are about the games, not the room
A snooker table is 3569 mm long in Enfield and in Sheffield; the black is worth seven wherever you are. So the guides hold anywhere, and they say nothing about our hours or our prices. For those, the questions page has the short answers and the counter has the rest.