Snooker The sport has become increasingly popular in China. The origin of snooker dates back to the latter half of the 19th century. In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India and several variations of the game were devised during this time. One such variation originated at the officers' mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in 1875, which combined the rules of two pocket billiards games, pyramid and life pool. The former was played with fifteen red balls and one black positioned in a triangle, while the latter involved the potting of designated coloured
Rules of snooker by omitting the longest row of balls in the rack. Snooker balls, like the balls for all cue sports, are typically made of phenolic resin, and are smaller than American pool balls. Regulation snooker balls (which are specified in metric units) are nominally 52.5 mm (approximately inches) in diameter, though many sets are actually manufactured at 52.4 mm (about in.) No weight for the balls is specified in the rules, only that the weight of any two balls should not differ by more than 0.5g. Some recreational sets (which are usually not measured metrically) are in. (about 54 mm) up