History of snooker pool and pyramid pool. Life pool involved several colored balls used as both cue balls and object balls. In pyramid pool, there were 15 red balls and a white cue ball, and each player received one point per red ball potted. Along with the new games being developed, the table was taking steps toward its current state. Black pool was the next version created. Black pool was similar to pyramid pool, except that the black ball from life pool was added to the game and could be potted for more points. In 1875, at the British Army Officer's Mess in
Big Break player to remove one red ball from the table. Once the questions have been asked, the snooker player and Virgo discuss which of the red balls to discard, based on their positions after the break-off and so leaving those easier to pot. After the questions were answered, the remaining time was given over to the snooker player to clear the snooker table of the six reds minus those discarded. One red ball and each coloured ball represented a prize, ranging from champagne, short breaks, televisions, computers and games consoles. The black ball represented the Mystery Star Prize, often a holiday.