Rule questions on colour balls

[muzza610]

Sorry if this is a very basic question, but I have not been able to figure it out from the official rules, and it is just myself and a buddy that play one night a week without any other snooker players around here in the US - so trying to sort it all out ourselves...(we have to take our own snooker balls to the pool hall and the best we can get on is a 9')

When you are on a color, can you call that colour in off another ball?, or does it need to be clean?

Thanks very much.

[snookerdad]

As long as the cue-ball hits the correct colour first, that colour can hit another ball and go into a pocket legally.

Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)

[nrage]

You can pot a colour off any number of other balls, cushions etc, it does not need to be "clean", and you don't even need to "call" it. So long as you strike the colour first (with the white) and it is the only ball potted, it's not a foul. Pot any other ball (including the white) and it's a foul. On a red you may pot any number of reds, but pot any colour or the white and it's a foul.

p.s. Compliments on spelling colour both ways, to keep everyone happy?

[muzza610]

Haha...didn't catch the first 'color' :-) It's odd living in the US and having two spellings - like Cheque vs. Check, tyre vs. tire, etc.

Thanks very much for the answers. I thought that being in a bow-tie it may need to be clean :-)

[LittleMissAlexa]

ball hit first and potted is all that matters in snooker

[Tred]

The only time you need to "call" the colour is if it's not obvious which ball you're going for (i.e. if two coloured balls are close together)...

[Souwester]

The only time you need to "call" the colour is if it's not obvious which ball you're going for (i.e. if two coloured balls are close together)...

I got the impression that the reference to 'calling' was nominating the pocket or precise shot to be played, rather than the colour itself, as in the normal definition of 'nomination'.

[Terry Davidson]

In North America there is a lot of confusion between pool and snooker and there are local rules which are different almost anywhere you go. One of those is snooker should be a 'call shot' game where you must call BOTH the colour and pocket, like 'black in the corner'.

When I was traveling more I used to come across this in different towns and it was really frustrating because of course you have to play by the local 'rules' and you might not know them. For instance, in my home town of Fort Erie, Ontario if I play a touch up snooker on the brown, the brown ball is lifted and then re-spotted after he shoots.

Another favourite is 2 red must hit a cushion on the break shot (old American rule for 10ft tables) and sometimes as in 9-ball one ball, either object or cueball must hit a cushion or pocket every shot (ball frozen on cushion doesn't count).

So when I travel I always check and see which 'rules' we are playing under, especially in a money game.

Terry

[the montrealer]

In North America there is a lot of confusion between pool and snooker and there are local rules which are different almost anywhere you go. One of those is snooker should be a 'call shot' game where you must call BOTH the colour and pocket, like 'black in the corner'.

When I was traveling more I used to come across this in different towns and it was really frustrating because of course you have to play by the local 'rules' and you might not know them. For instance, in my home town of Fort Erie, Ontario if I play a touch up snooker on the brown, the brown ball is lifted and then re-spotted after he shoots.

Another favourite is 2 red must hit a cushion on the break shot (old American rule for 10ft tables) and sometimes as in 9-ball one ball, either object or cueball must hit a cushion or pocket every shot (ball frozen on cushion doesn't count).

So when I travel I always check and see which 'rules' we are playing under, especially in a money game.

Terry

HI Terry you know your rules. I played in a room called Mcgirs in New York City about twenty years ago.

They had a snooker table there and these were the rules of snooker. All fouls or snookers were seven points skratch the table was very tight. If you tried to clear the colours it was almost impossible to clear up.

In this room they had three cushion tables with no pockets also they had pool tables 4 ft 12 inches by 9 foot tables and they played snooker with only one red and the red was spotted before the pink spot.

In those days you did not hang your clothes on the wall because it disappeared pretty fast. So this is what they did to protect your clothes. You had a screen that you would put your clothes under each table and you locked the screen door this way your clothes were safe.

All the best players such as Mosconi Lassisater Minnisota Fats played in this room there was a lot of unrully people there
such as pimps and crooks use to hang there also pool hustlers. Those were the good old days

I use to love going to New York but did not know the danger when i went to these rooms

[DeanH]

Sorry if this is a very basic question, but I have not been able to figure it out from the official rules, and it is just myself and a buddy that play one night a week without any other snooker players around here in the US - so trying to sort it all out ourselves...(we have to take our own snooker balls to the pool hall and the best we can get on is a 9')

When you are on a color, can you call that colour in off another ball?, or does it need to be clean?

Thanks very much.

Welcome to TSF muzza610.
Have a look at the following website where a TSF member has attempted to catalogue the snooker tables in the US, maybe your 9' is not there and you can help update the list or it may help you find a 12' snooker table
www.findsnooker.com
cheers

[jimhassel]

If your cue ball hits the right color first and then that color hits another ball and goes into the pocket, this situation is legal. If any other ball goes into the pocket, then it is a foul.

[Souwester]

If your cue ball hits the right color first and then that color hits another ball and goes into the pocket, this situation is legal. If any other ball goes into the pocket, then it is a foul.

I'm not sure exactly what you're saying here.

Say a red has just been potted, and you nominate pink. The cue ball must first make contact with the pink, and ONLY the pink can be legally potted. If any coloured ball, other than the pink, should enter a pocket then it is a foul, even if the pink was the first ball to be struck with the cue ball.

[muzza610]

That's great info - thank you. I will see if I can update it for Austin, TX.

[tommygunner1309]

In North America there is a lot of confusion between pool and snooker and there are local rules which are different almost anywhere you go. One of those is snooker should be a 'call shot' game where you must call BOTH the colour and pocket, like 'black in the corner'.

When I was traveling more I used to come across this in different towns and it was really frustrating because of course you have to play by the local 'rules' and you might not know them. For instance, in my home town of Fort Erie, Ontario if I play a touch up snooker on the brown, the brown ball is lifted and then re-spotted after he shoots.

Another favourite is 2 red must hit a cushion on the break shot (old American rule for 10ft tables) and sometimes as in 9-ball one ball, either object or cueball must hit a cushion or pocket every shot (ball frozen on cushion doesn't count).

So when I travel I always check and see which 'rules' we are playing under, especially in a money game.

Terry

Hi Terry - I was quite surprised and shocked to see some of these rules applying to snooker - even in North America. I never knew that - about the 2 reds and particularly about the brown being lifted.

I say I was shocked because I thought the rules of snooker were - well - the rules of snooker wherever it is being played. It would be like an American soccer team scoring from offside in England and wondering why the goal didn't count!!!!
Well I guess you learn something new every day