Snooker is truly a great, intelligent game - it combines skill and strategy like no other billiard table game.
If you're not familiar with the game, do take the trouble to learn, you will not regret it.

Snooker is played on a large, (12ft by 6ft) table with 22 balls, 15 'reds', 6 'colours' and a 'white' cueball.
Each red potted is worth:-
1 point
The colours score:-
Yellow 2 points Green 3 Brown 4 Blue 5 Pink 6 Black 7 points

A coin is tossed to determine who breaks. The winner of the toss places the white (cueball) anywhere inside the 'D' and 'breaks'

The 'Break'
The player strikes the cueball, The first shot must contact a red before any other ball - or a foul is called.
Ideally - player 1 will pot (pocket/sink) 1 or more reds - but in snooker this is very hard, and rare, the more common alternative is to play a 'saftey' shot, clipping the 'pack' (of reds) - and returning the white to the top (right hand/baulk) end of the table - again, ideally behind a colour.

A good break
Before	After
A BAD break
Several balls have been left that the opponent could pocket

From this point, players score points by potting balls, and from 'fouls' committed by their opponents.
Play alternates between the two players - excepting that when a player pots a valid ball - he recives another turn.
The sequence that the balls must be potted in is:-

• Any red
• Any chosen colour
• Any red
• Any chosen colour

Repeat - until no reds remain.
when each colour is potted, it is replaced on its own spot.
then:-
Yellow,green,brown,blue,pink,black
(during this stage the colours do NOT come back up - unless they have been potted as part of a foul, for example, out of sequence)
Fortunately, Quicksnooker will guide you through all of this - it always shows you what to 'shoot at' in the panel at the bottom of the screen. It also deals with respotting the colours, and refereeing and scoring fouls.

Fouls
Failure to strike a red (before any other ball) - penalty four points
The penalty is increased to 5, 6 or 7 if, instead of a red, the cue-ball strikes a colour.
Failure to strike a valid colour also carries a penalty of four points, or more (to the value of the colour hit or the colour that was supposed to be hit). Also, if you have just sunk a red and may now shoot at any colour, the colour that you first hit is the one you must sink - sinking a different one is a foul.

Snookers
It should be obvious from the above, that often a player can score more points by forcing his opponenet into an 'awkward' (or impossible) situation - the act of so doing being a 'snooker'

Other rules
There are a number of other minor rules - such as the 'miss' and the 'fre ball' when they occurr they are handled by clear 'pop-ups' in the program - it should be obvious what to do - and why.

Pool

The registered version includes 'British' pool - as played on coin-op tables in the UK.
It features a nicely animated set of stripes and spots. Here's my very quick summary of the rules.

• Player A breaks and generally attempts to pot one or more balls.
• Whichever ball player A pots he adopts that set (stripes or spots) - if he pots a ball from both sets he may choose either set
• Player A must now pot all of his balls in any pockets, in any order - he must always touch one of his own balls as the first impact in any shot, if he succeeds in potting a ball he takes another turn.
• If a player - fails to hit his own ball first, fails to hit a ball at all, hits the black first, or pots one of his opponent's balls (even indirectly) he incurs a foul entitling his opponent to a free shot.
• During a free shot, a player may strike any object ball first, and may even (if for example his opponent has a pocket covered) pot one of opponents ball's - without incurring a foul.
• The winning player is the first to pot the Black - having first potted all of their own balls.

9 ball

9 ball is played with nine object balls numbered 1 through 9 and a cue ball.
The 9 ball has a yellow stripe.

On each shot, the first ball the cue ball contacts must be the lowest numbered ball on the table, but the balls need not be pocketed in order.

If a player pockets any ball on a legal shot, he remains at the table for another shot, and continues until missing, committing a foul, or winning the game by pocketing the 9 ball.

After a miss, the incoming player must shoot from the position left by the previous player, but after any foul the incoming player may position the cue ball anywhere on the table before playing their shot.

The Break (first shot)

At the start of each frame the object balls are arranged in a diamond with the 9 ball at the centre and the 1-ball at the head.
The remainder of the balls are positioned randomly within the diamond.

The player breaking may place the white, cue ball anywhere behind the balk line (headstring).
On the break the cueball must strike the 1 ball, and at least four balls must strike a cushion.

The Pushout

This rule is a little confusing - ostensbily it's here because of the likelyhood of a snooker (on the '1' ball) after the break.

If a ball is potted on the break, the breaking player may claim a pushout.
If no ball is potted on the break.. the non-breaking (incoming) player may claim a pushout.

When playing a pushout, there is no requirement for you to hit any cushion or ball with the cueball.
After the pushout - the other player can choose whether you or he she play the next shot. A player gets only one shot on a pushout, even if they sink a ball. (If they sink the 9ball, it is replaced on the table.)

Normal Play

The players take turns shooting, except that if a player legally sinks any object ball, they get another turn.

There are two ways to win - by (legally) sinking the 9 ball, or by having your opponent foul with three shots in a row.

Fouls

• On every shot (including the break) the cue ball must first hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table.
  Hitting any other ball first, or not hitting anything at all, is a foul.
• On the break, at least four object balls must hit rails (cushions), or a ball must be sunk (potted). Otherwise, it is a foul.
• On each subsequent shot, at least one ball (either an object ball or the cue ball) must hit a cushion, or an object ball must be sunk - otherwise it is a foul.
• Sinking the cueball at any time is a foul.

After any foul, the ball is 'in hand' - the next player may place the cueball anywhere on the table.

If an object ball has been sunk on a foul shot, it remains out of play unless it is the 9 ball (or the cueball).

Notes

The balls may be sunk in any order, and in particular the 9 ball may be sunk at any time. The rule is only that the lowest-numbered ball must be the first one hit, so if you can knock the lowest numbered all into the 9-ball in such a way that the 9-ball goes into a pocket, you can win a leg very quickly.