This increasingly popular version of the game of Pool is in fact a
combination of Pool and Pyramids. The fifteen coloured Pyramid balls are
placed on the table by means of the "triangle," in the same way as for
Pyramids, whilst the white ball is used by each player as the cue-ball
throughout the game. Six Pool balls are used, viz., the Black, Pink, Blue,
Brown, Green and Yellow balls, the positions and values of which are set
out in Rule 2 (_vide infra_).
Each player is bound to play at a Red ball first, and, having taken it (or
another Red ball or balls), then at a Pool ball, and again, if successful,
at a Red ball, and so on. Whilst any Red balls remain on the table the Pool
balls, after having been pocketed, are replaced on their respective spots;
but after all the Red balls have been taken, the players play at each Pool
ball in rotation in their order as coloured on the marking board, viz.,
Yellow, Green, Brown, Blue, Pink, and Black, until every ball has been
pocketed, when the game is ended.
Much amusement is often caused by a player being "snookered"--in other
words, by his ball being so obstructed by other balls that he cannot hit a
Pool or Pyramid ball direct, but has to play it off a cushion, when, in the
event of a miss, the value of the ball played at is counted to each of the
other players' scores. (_Vide_ Rules 7 and 11.) {332}
At "Snooker" safety-play is of little or no use. A player must try to get
on the Pool balls, particularly on those of highest value, as often as he
can. Still, safety-play can be indulged in to some extent at the end of the
game, when only the Pool balls are left on the table, and a player should
remember to play for hazards with a fair amount of strength, and thus avoid
leaving a ball over a pocket for an opponent to profit by.
Bad hazard strikers should think twice before joining in Snooker Pool, even
for small stakes, with better players than themselves, as, with the high
values of the Pool balls, large scores can be run up by an expert, and
those players who own the lowest scores at the end of the game have to make
heavy disbursements, as they have to pay every one whose score is higher
than their own. The scores are best kept on a slate.