History of snooker History of snooker The game of snooker is a cue sport which emerged in its modern form in the late 19th century, with roots going back to the 16th century form of English billiards. Billiards was popular among the British Armed Forces stationed in India. As billiards was only a two player game, new games such as life pool and pyramid pool were developed in order to accommodate more players. Eventually, these two games were combined to form snooker. Billiards was first played in the 16th century. It was known as a "gentleman's game" because of its popularity among royalty.
Champion of Champions (snooker) Champion of Champions (snooker) The Champion of Champions is a professional non-ranking snooker tournament. It was held in 1978 and 1980 and was then revived in 2013 by Matchroom Sport. The reigning champion is Ronnie O'Sullivan. The Champion of Champions features winners of World Snooker events over the preceding 12 months, with the field topped up, if necessary, from the current World Rankings. In 2015 the tournament had a prize fund of £300,000, of which £100,000 goes to the winner. The event was created in 1978 by boxing promoter Mike Barrett. The event was contested by four players at the