Snooker

Snooker

2014 and 2016 world champion Mark Selby playing a practice game
Highest governing body	World Snooker Association
First played	1870s
Characteristics
Contact	Non-contact
Type	Cue sport
Equipment	Snooker table, snooker balls, cue, triangle, chalk
Presence
Olympic	IOC recognition; bidding for inclusion in 2020

Snooker (UK /ˈsnuːkər/, US /ˈsnʊkər/) is a cue sport which originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century. It is played on a table covered with a green cloth, or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each side cushion. Using a cue and 22 coloured balls, players must strike the white ball (or "cue ball") to pot the remaining balls in the correct sequence, accumulating points for each pot. An individual game, or frame, is won by the player who scores the most points. A match is won when a player wins a predetermined number of frames.

In the 1870s, billiards was a popular sport played by members of the British Army stationed in India. Snooker gained its own identity in 1884 when officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, while stationed in Jabalpur, devised a set of rules that combined pyramid and life pool. The word "snooker" was a long used military term used to describe inexperienced or first year personnel. The game grew in popularity in England, cemented by the formation of the Billiards Association and Control Club (BB&CC) in 1919. It is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).