Editing Snooker (section)

====Scoring====
{| class="wikitable floatright plainrowheaders"
! scope=col | Colour
! scope=col | Value
|-
! scope=row | [[File:Snooker_ball_red.png|14px|alt=Red snooker ball|link=]] {{Cuegloss|Red}}
| 1 point
|-
! scope=row | [[File:Snooker_ball_yellow.png|14px|alt=Yellow snooker ball|link=]] {{Cuegloss|Yellow}}
| 2 points
|-
! scope=row | [[File:Snooker_ball_green.png|14px|alt=Green snooker ball|link=]] {{Cuegloss|Green}}
| 3 points
|-
! scope=row | [[File:Snooker_ball_brown.png|14px|alt=Brown snooker ball|link=]] {{Cuegloss|Brown}}
| 4 points
|-
! scope=row | [[File:Snooker_ball_blue.png|14px|alt=Blue snooker ball|link=]] {{Cuegloss|Blue}}
| 5 points
|-
! scope=row | [[File:Snooker_ball_pink.png|14px|alt=Pink snooker ball|link=]] {{Cuegloss|Pink}}
| 6 points
|-
! scope=row | [[File:Snooker_ball_black.png|14px|alt=Black snooker ball|link=]] {{Cuegloss|Black}}
| 7 points
|}

Points in snooker are gained from potting the object balls in the correct sequence. The total number of consecutive points (excluding fouls) that a player amasses during one {{Cuegloss|visit}} to the table is known as a "break".{{sfn|Shamos|2002|pp=227–228}} For example, a player could achieve a break of 15 by first potting a red followed by a black, then another red followed by a pink, before failing to pot the next red. A break of 100 points or more is referred to as a [[century break]]; these are recorded over the career of a professional player.<ref name="rise of century" /> A [[maximum break]] in snooker (often known as a "147" or a "maximum") is achieved by potting all reds with blacks, then potting all six colours in sequence, yielding 147 points.<ref name="Max 210" /> {{As of|2025|02|24}}, there have been 214 officially confirmed maximum breaks achieved in professional competition.<ref name="Official 147s" /><ref name="Max 214" />

Penalty points are awarded to a player when their opponent commits a foul. This can occur for various reasons, such as sending the cue ball into a pocket or failing to hit the object ball. The latter is a common foul committed when a player fails to escape from a "snooker", where the previous player has left the cue ball positioned such that no legal ball can be struck directly in a straight line without being wholly or partially obstructed by an illegal ball. Fouls incur a minimum of four penalty points unless a higher value object ball is involved in the foul,{{efn|An object ball is involved in a foul if it is either the nominated {{cuegloss|ball on}}, or the highest-value ball unintentionally contacted or pocketed as a result of the foul.<ref name="WPBSA_Official_Rules" />{{rp|26–29}}}} up to a maximum of seven penalty points where the black ball is concerned.<ref name="WPBSA_Official_Rules" />{{rp|26–29}}{{efn|Until the 1920s, there was no minimum penalty, and a foul on a red ball was worth one point in penalties.{{sfn|Everton|1986|pages=49–50}}}} When a foul is committed, the offending player's turn ends and the referee announces the penalty. All points scored in the break before the foul occurred are awarded to the striker, but no points are scored for any ball pocketed during the foul shot.<ref name="WPBSA_Official_Rules" />{{rp|25}}

If dissatisfied with the position left after a foul, the next player may nominate the opponent who committed the foul to continue playing from where the balls have come to rest. If the referee has also called a "miss"—meaning that the offending player is deemed not to have made their best possible attempt to hit the object ball—the next player has the option of having the balls replaced to their original positions and forcing their opponent to replay the intended shot. If, after a foul, it is not possible to cleanly strike both sides of the object ball directly, the referee may call a free ball, allowing the next player to nominate any other ball in place of the object ball they might normally have played.<ref name="WPBSA_Official_Rules" />{{rp|13, 28}} If a player is awarded a free ball with all fifteen reds still in play, they can potentially make [[Maximum break#Breaks exceeding 147|a break exceeding 147]], with the highest possible being a 155&nbsp;break, achieved by nominating the free ball as an extra red, then potting the black as the additional colour after potting the {{nowrap|free-ball}} red, followed by the fifteen reds with blacks, and finally the colours.{{sfn|Morrison|1987|p=79}} [[Jamie Cope]] was the first player to achieve a verified 155&nbsp;break during a practice frame in 2005.<ref name="guardian_murphy" />
[[File:To pot the red.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A close-up view of a pockmarked white ball to the front and left of a red snooker ball which is itself next to a corner pocket in top right-hand corner of the image. The tip of a cue stick is visible in bottom right-hand corner of the image, about to strike the white ball.|A close-up view of a cue tip about to strike the cue ball, the aim being to pot the red ball into a corner pocket]]
One {{Cuegloss|game}} of snooker is called a "frame", and a snooker {{Cuegloss|match}} generally consists of a predetermined number of frames. Most matches in current professional tournaments are played as the best of 7, 9, or 11 frames, with finals usually the best of 17 or 19 frames. The World Championship uses a longer format, with matches ranging from the best of 19 frames in the first round to best of 35 for the final, which is played over four {{cuegloss|session|sessions}} of play held over two days.<ref name="BBCWSN1" /><!--{{fv|date=August 2024|reason=Not all of the preceding info is supported by this source.}}--> Some early world finals had much longer matches, such as the [[1947 World Snooker Championship]], which was played over the best of 145 frames.<ref name="Snooker Scene" />{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|page=144}}