Snooker and 8 Ball Pool Online: Rules and Tips for Beginners
🎮 by DIJEN TECHSnooker and 8 ball pool are both played with a cue and a white cue ball, but they reward different things: snooker is a long game of points and position, while 8 ball pool is a quicker race to clear your group and sink the black.
Here are the basic rules of both, the most common fouls, and a few aiming tips. Both games are in TumbleTuck's billiards category, free to play on the web and Android.
8 ball pool in short
- There are fifteen coloured balls: solids (1–7), stripes (9–15) and the black 8 ball.
- After the break, the first player to pot a ball takes that group; the other player gets the rest.
- You keep shooting while you pot balls from your group.
- When your group is cleared, pot the 8 ball in a pocket to win.
- Potting the 8 ball too early, or potting the cue ball with it, loses the game.
Snooker in short
- Fifteen reds are worth 1 point each; the colours are yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6 and black 7.
- Pot a red, then a colour, then a red again. Colours go back on their spots while reds remain.
- When the reds are gone, pot the colours in order from yellow to black.
- The player with more points when the table is cleared wins the frame.
Common fouls
- Potting the white cue ball.
- Hitting the wrong ball first.
- Not hitting any ball at all.
- In snooker, a foul gives your opponent points; in pool, it usually gives them the cue ball to place.
Aiming tips
- Aim through the object ball at the spot opposite the pocket, not at the ball's centre.
- Use less power than you think — soft shots leave the cue ball in better places.
- Before each shot, think about where the white ball will stop, not only about this pot.
- Leave the cue ball close to your next ball, and far from easy pots for your opponent.
Playing on TumbleTuck
TumbleTuck draws the table and handles aiming, shot power, collisions and pockets for you, and has a "How to play" panel at the table. You can even choose the colour of the table cloth. Play against others online, or share a room link so friends join your table.