How does snooker scoring work?

Players score by potting balls in a set order, and the colours are worth different amounts.

The table holds 15 reds worth one point each, and six colours: yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6, black 7.

The sequence is strict. A player must first pot a red. With a red down, they may then nominate and pot any colour, which is returned to its spot. Then another red, then another colour, alternating until all the reds are gone. Once the last red and the colour following it have been potted, the six colours must be taken in ascending order of value — yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black — and this time they stay down.

A continuous run of scoring shots is a break. The maximum possible break is 147: fifteen reds each followed by a black (15 × 8 = 120), then the colours in sequence (27).

Points also come from an opponent's mistakes. A foul — missing every legal ball, potting the wrong ball, potting the cue ball — awards the opponent a minimum of four points, or the value of the ball involved if higher.

A frame ends when all balls are potted or a player concedes. Matches are decided by frames won.

When the points remaining on the table are fewer than the deficit, the trailing player is said to need snookers — situations where the opponent cannot hit the legal ball directly, forcing fouls that generate points.

Billiards and pool use entirely different scoring, despite the shared table.