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.
World Snooker Tour events with a 72-player field, drawing the top 64 players from the "Q School" "Order of Merit" who did not qualify for the "Main Tour", in addition to a maximum of eight wildcards. World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour is a circuit of snooker tournaments organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) for their members. To compete as a professional player, players must be WPBSA members. Historically a player just needed to become a professional member of the governing body to participate in events, which was attained by formal invitation by an existing current member, and