Snooker originated in the second half of the 19th century in India during the British Raj. However, the British public's interest in snooker had waned significantly by the late 2000s. Warning that the sport was "lurching into terminal crisis", The Guardian newspaper predicted in 2010 that snooker would cease to exist as a professional sport within ten years. Snooker featured in an 1887 issue of the Sporting Life newspaper in England, which led to a growth in popularity. The popularity of snooker has led to the creation of many variations based on the standard game but with different rules or equipment, including six-red snooker, the short-lived "snooker plus" and the more recent Snooker Shoot Out version. In an effort to boost popularity of snooker, Davis introduced a variation known as "snooker plus" in 1959, which added two extra colours, but this version of the game was short-lived. In 1985, an estimated 18.5 million viewers stayed up until the early hours of the morning to watch the conclusion of the World Championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, a record viewership in the UK for any broadcast on BBC Two or any broadcast after midnight.

In the same year, the 1969 World Snooker Championship reverted to a knockout tournament format, with eight players competing. The prize money for professional events increased, with the top players earning several million pounds over the course of their careers. Over the following decade, the number of professional tournaments increased, with 44 events held in the 2019-20 season. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the professional tour was confined to events played within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The main professional tour is open to both male and female players, and there is a separate women's tour organised by World Women's Snooker. Players including 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy have claimed that a 128-player professional tour is financially unsustainable. Each segment of the string (bead) represents one point as the players can move one or several beads along the string. These rules are similar to the ones used today, although rules for a minimal point penalty were imposed later. The process of alternately potting reds and colours continues until the striker fails to pot the desired object ball or commits a foul-at which point the opponent comes to the table to start the next turn-or when there are no red balls remaining.

A player could achieve a break of 15, for example, by first potting a red followed by a black, then another red followed by a pink, before failing to pot the next red. The referee then tosses a coin and the winner of the toss decides who takes the first strike. 39 Another duty of the referee is to recognise and declare a stalemate when neither player is able to make any progress in the frame. The tip of the cue must only make contact with the cue ball and is never used for striking any of the reds or colours directly. These are shots that are designed to make playing a legal shot harder, such as leaving another ball between the cue ball and the object ball. This game requires careful planning and precise shot execution. In some games, three successive fouls in a row is a loss of game. The total number of consecutive points (excluding fouls) that a player amasses during one visit to the table is known as a "break". A maximum break in snooker is achieved by potting all reds with blacks, then potting all six colours, yielding 147 points; this is often known as a "147" or a "maximum".

’t break the bank? The table has six pockets: one at each corner and one at the centre of each of the two longer side cushions. The colours must next be potted in the ascending order of their values, from lowest to highest, i.e. yellow first (worth two points), then green (three points), brown (four points), blue (five points), pink (six points), and finally black (seven points); each colour remains in the pocket after being potted. 1978 World Snooker Championship was the first to receive daily television coverage. A Women's Professional Snooker Championship (now the World Women's Snooker Championship) was created in 1934 for top female players. Players will often play on even when there are not enough points available for them to win, hoping to force their opponent into playing foul shots by laying snookers. However, lower-ranked professional players struggled to make a living from the sport, especially after paying tournament entry fees, travel, and other expenses.

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