Arcade

Snooker.

Snooker on a long garden table: pot a red, then a colour, and build breaks until the colours are cleared in order. Play the computer at Easy, Normal or Hard, or pass the device to a friend.

All agesAge guidance

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Enable JavaScript to play. Your game saves stay in this browser.How to playDrag on the table to aim; the guide line shows where the cue ball meets the first ball. Pull back from the cue ball and release to shoot, or set the power slider and press Shoot. Keyboard: ← → aim (hold Shift for fine turns), ↑ ↓ power, Space or Enter shoots. With the cue ball in hand, drag it inside the D, or move it with W A S D (Shift for small steps). Spin: tap or drag on the small cue ball beside the power slider (top for follow, bottom for screw, left or right for side), or focus it and use the arrow keys; Centre resets it. When a colour is on and the cue ball would meet a cushion first, name a colour with the colour buttons under the table.

Break off from the D: the cue ball must hit a red first. While reds remain, pot a red, then any colour, then a red again. Potted colours return to their spots.

After the last red and the colour that follows it, pot the colours in order: yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black.

A foul gives your opponent 4 points, or the value of the ball on or the ball involved if higher, up to 7: missing every ball, hitting the wrong ball first, potting the wrong ball or potting the cue ball.

After a foul your opponent chooses: play on from where the cue ball lies (from the D after a cue-ball foul), or make the fouling player play again.

Free ball: if the foul leaves your opponent unable to hit both sides of any ball on in a straight line, they may name any colour and play it as the ball on. Potted, it scores as the ball on and is re-spotted.

Foul and a miss: failing to hit a ball on when one was in plain view is a miss, unless the striker needed snookers. The opponent may then also have the balls put back and the shot played again.

On a colour, the colour hit first counts as the nominated one. When the cue ball would meet a cushion first, name the colour before you shoot.

If the scores are level after the black, it is re-spotted and the next score or foul wins.

How to play

Goal. Score more points than your opponent by potting reds and colours. The frame ends when the black, the last ball, is potted.

The table and the break-off

Fifteen reds sit in a triangle behind the pink. Yellow, brown and green wait on the baulk line at the left end, blue in the centre, pink above the reds and black near the far cushion.
The first shot is played from the D, the half circle on the baulk line. Place the cue ball anywhere inside it and hit a red first. A gentle break-off that leaves the cue ball back near baulk is the safest start.

Reds, colours and breaks

While reds remain, pot a red (1 point), then any colour: yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6, black 7. The colour you hit first counts as your nomination; it goes back on its spot. If the cue ball would reach a cushion before any ball, name a colour with the buttons under the table first.
Keep alternating red and colour for as long as you pot. Your points in one visit are your break, shown under the scores. The highest possible break here is 147.
After the last red and its colour, the colours are potted in order from yellow to black and stay down.

Fouls

It is a foul to miss every ball, hit the wrong ball first, pot a ball that is not on, or pot the cue ball. Your opponent receives at least 4 points, or the value of the ball on or the ball involved, up to 7.
Colours potted on a foul are re-spotted; reds stay down. Your opponent then chooses to play on from where the cue ball lies (from the D if it went in) or to make you play again.
Free ball: when a foul leaves the next player snookered, unable to hit both sides of any ball on in a straight line, they may name any colour and play it as if it were the ball on. A potted free ball scores as the ball on and returns to its spot.
Foul and a miss: if you fail to hit a ball on when one was in plain view, and you did not need snookers, it is also a miss. Your opponent may then have the balls put back where they were and make you play the shot again.
A re-spotted colour goes on its own spot, or the highest-value free spot if that is covered, or as close to its own spot as possible.

End of the frame

When only the black remains, the next score or foul ends the frame. If the scores are then level, the black is re-spotted and the player chosen by lot plays from the D; the next score or foul wins.
Not included here: conceding a frame, the three-miss rule, and the foul for leaving your opponent snookered behind a free ball.

Computer levels and two players

Easy aims loosely and sometimes picks a harder pot than it needs. Normal takes the simplest open pot with a steady cue and leans toward the valuable colours.
Hard test-plays its options on the same table physics you play on, adds a little follow or screw when it helps, plays for the next pot and looks for safeties that leave you little.
Choose Friend in the settings to play two players on one device. Your frame is saved in this browser after every shot.

Tips

After potting a red, look for the colour you can reach most easily. A sure 2 or 3 that keeps the break going beats a hard black that ends it.
Softer shots are more accurate and keep the cue ball near the reds. The circle on the guide line shows where the cue ball meets the object ball.
When no pot is on, roll the cue ball gently into a red and stop it near a cushion, far from the open reds.
Use the small cue ball beside the power slider for spin. Strike low for screw to bring the cue ball back, high to follow through, and left or right of centre to change the angle it takes off a cushion. The dotted guide line bends with follow and screw.

Credits

An original Leaf Arcade game: table physics, rules, computer opponent and garden artwork were all made for this site.
The physics run in fixed small steps, so the same shot always gives the same result, spin included. Side spin changes the angle off cushions; the cue ball does not swerve or jump.

Controls

Drag on the table to aim; the guide line shows where the cue ball meets the first ball. Pull back from the cue ball and release to shoot, or set the power slider and press Shoot. Keyboard: ← → aim (hold Shift for fine turns), ↑ ↓ power, Space or Enter shoots. With the cue ball in hand, drag it inside the D, or move it with W A S D (Shift for small steps). Spin: tap or drag on the small cue ball beside the power slider (top for follow, bottom for screw, left or right for side), or focus it and use the arrow keys; Centre resets it. When a colour is on and the cue ball would meet a cushion first, name a colour with the colour buttons under the table.