Snooker Variants

Rules

Stevedore

This game combines the skills of both Billiards and Snooker. It was invented in the University of London Union snooker room in 1969 by Steve Avery, the University Snooker champion in that year.

Equipment: A standard billiard table. One ball of each colour from a set of Snooker balls, i.e., yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black, red, and a white cue ball.

Players use a cue, to propel their cue ball across the table, to score points by a) pocketing balls (hazards), or b) hitting other balls, one of which must be the red ball (cannons).

Figure 1

Balls: The balls are spotted as shown in Figure 1. These are the standard Snooker ball positions, with the exception of the single red ball, which is located behind the black ball, against the foot cushion. Whenever the red ball is potted, it is replaced in this position. If another ball prevents the red ball from being placed against the cushion, the red ball is positioned on the highest possible spot. Each ball has the value shown in Figure 1, as in Snooker. The red ball, however, has a variable value. Once a player has scored 20 points in an inning, he is allowed to pot the red ball, thus doubling his inning score (after any other points made in the shot are added). The red can be potted only once during an inning. So, a player should decide carefully when to make the attempt to double his score. After the red has been potted legally, or until a player has scored 20 points in an inning, potting the red, or striking it first, is a foul, causing the player to lose the entire score made during the inning, or to give 10 points to his opponent, whichever is the greater.

Players: Any reasonable number of players can play, either individually, or in teams.

Figure 2 - Scoreboard

Duration: Play lasts for an agreed length of time, or until one player or side reaches an agreed number of points. A game is known as a frame. Because inning scores can be high, the usual minimum target is 200 points (Figure 2). Mediocre players may play up to 500 points, while experts may agree upon 1,000.

Stringing: Players string for order of play, i.e., each plays a ball up the table from the "D", and the choice goes to the player, whose ball stops nearer to the bottom cushion. Playing order is kept throughout the game.

Start: The player who breaks places the cue ball at any point in the "D", and plays the first shot. The black ball must be the target on the break. Thereafter any ball, except the red (until 20 points have been scored), can be the target. When his turn is ended, the second player plays from the position left.

Making a shot: The striker uses the tip of his cue to hit the cue ball in the direction of another ball. Chalk is applied to the cue to improve contact. The cue ball must be struck, not pushed; and, at the moment of striking, the player must have a foot on the floor.

Balls must not be forced off the table.

Cue ball in hand: When bringing the cue ball into play after it has been pocketed (either legally or illegally), it must be placed within the "D". The shot must be played in a forward direction.

No shot may be made directly at any ball within the baulk area. A ball located exactly on the head string is not considered to be inside the baulk area, and may be struck. If all the object balls happen to be within the baulk area, the black ball is respotted.

Rests: Players may use a rest to support the cue for a shot.

Distraction: The non-striker must not do anything to distract the striker.

Inning: The shots comprising a player's turn are called an inning. Each time a player scores from a shot, he is entitled to another shot. Only when he fails to score, or commits a foul, does he forfeit his turn. All points scored up to that time are scored for the inning, unless a foul has been committed.

Pocketed balls: Any object ball that is pocketed is respotted immediately. When the cue ball is pocketed, it is brought back into play from the "D".

Scoring: The striker scores points for winning hazards (pot), losing hazards(in-off) and cannons (caroms). All points accumulated in a shot are counted.

A winning hazard is to pocket an object ball. A losing hazard is to pocket the cue ball, after striking an object ball with it. A cannon is to strike more than one object ball, the last of which must be the red ball, with the cue ball.

Points are scored as follows:
In-off the yellow, green or brown ball - 2, 3, or 4 points respectively.
Pot the yellow, green or brown ball - 2, 3, or 4 points respectively.
Pot the blue, pink or black ball - 5, 6, or 7 points respectively.
Pot the red ball (after a minimum of 20 points have already been scored in the inning) - doubles the current inning score.
Cannon with two balls - 2 points.
Cannon with three balls - 4 points.
Cannon with four balls - 6 points.
Cannon with five balls - 12 points.
Cannon with six balls - 24 points.
Cannon with seven balls - 48 points.

Each additional ball struck in a cannon is worth the total of all the previous balls involved in the cannon. Thus, a six-ball cannon, with the red being the sixth ball, is worth 24 points. Cannons count only if the red ball is struck by the cue ball. Any ball struck by the cue ball, after it has struck the red ball, does not count in the cannon, even if the red ball is struck by the cue ball a second time subsequently.

If a player intends to play a particularly forceful or complex shot, he must announce this intention, so that the referee or other players can pay close attention to the results of the shot.

Playing the same scoring shot twice consecutively is not allowed. For example, potting the black ball twice in succession is a foul. If, with the second shot, however, a cannon is also scored, or another ball is also potted, the black may be potted legally. The same principle applies also to losing hazards and cannons with the same balls.

Combination shots: With the exception of striking the red ball first, until 20 points have been scored in the inning, any type of combination shot is allowed. A ball that is potted does not need to be the first ball struck by the cue ball.

On the other hand, for losing hazards, where the cue ball is potted in-off an object ball, it is the first ball struck that determines the outcome of the shot.

Figure 3

For example, if the following, albeit unlikely, series of events occurred: 1. Cue ball strikes green ball; 2. Cue ball strikes pink ball; 3. Cue ball strikes red ball; 4. Cue ball drops into a pocket; 5. Green ball strikes blue ball; 6. Blue ball drops into a pocket; The score would be thus: 4 points for the three-ball cannon + 3 points for the in-off the green ball + 5 points for pocketing the blue ball. The total score for the shot would therefore be 12 points (Figure 3).

Playing the red ball: Only when the inning score has reached 20 points may the red ball be struck first; otherwise it is a foul shot. The red ball can then be played onto another object ball in a combination shot, to pot that ball, just like any other object ball.

After the inning has reached 20 points, potting the red ball doubles the inning score at the end of the shot. This might be a straight pot of the red ball, or any type of combination shot.

For example, if a player has scored 18 points in the inning, he can play the cue ball onto, say, the yellow ball, and cannon into the red ball, which then drops into a pocket. He scores 2 points for the cannon, making his inning score 20, which is doubled to 40 for potting the red ball. If the cue ball also drops into a pocket after the red ball has dropped, he scores 2 points for the in-off yellow, thus making the inning score 22, which is doubled to 44 points.

Careful consideration must be given to the decision as to when to pot the red ball. If there are easy opportunities on the table to increase the inning score, you may decide to take them before potting the red. You may then, of course, be left in a position where there is no easy scoring shot, in which case you might lose the chance to double your score. This is the most exciting and nerve-wracking aspect of Stevedore.

After you have potted the red ball, and doubled your inning score, the red ball reverts to its former 'dangerous' status. If it is struck first, or pocketed again during the same inning, it is a foul, and your entire inning score is lost.

Fouls and penalties: A striker, who makes any foul shot, loses his turn and any score he has made in that inning, or 10 points, whichever is the greater. For example, if a player makes a foul shot, when his inning score is 10 or more, he simply ends his inning, and scores nothing. If he makes a foul shot, when his inning score is 9 or fewer, however, he not only loses his inning score, but also gives 10 points to his opponent(s).

The following occurrences are fouls:
Missing all object balls;
Potting the cue ball in-off the blue, pink, black or red ball;
Striking the red ball first, if the inning score is less than 20 points;
Potting the red ball, if the inning score is less than 20 points at the end of the shot;
Potting the red ball more than once in the same inning;
Potting the same object ball for two consecutive shots, unless another score is also made in the same shot;
Potting the cue ball in-off the same object ball for two consecutive shots, unless another score is also made in the same shot;
Making a cannon with the same object balls for two consecutive shots, unless another score is also made in the same shot;
Touching the cue ball more than once in a stroke;
Forcing a ball off the table;
Not playing out of baulk from the "D" correctly;
Making a push shot;
Playing with both feet off the floor;
Playing the balls before they are still;
Striking the cue ball with anything but the cue;
Playing the wrong ball;
Playing out of turn;
Playing from outside the "D", when required to play from within it.

The rules of Stevedore may be distributed freely, provided that no alterations are made to them, and this copyright message accompanies them unchanged.
© Avery Productions Ltd 2001. All rights reserved.