From the very beginning, somewhere in France in 17th century, cue sports did separate to variety of different games. One of those games is snooker, first presented in the end of 19th century, and we will try to find some answers on the question to how this game was created. We asked Mr. Peter Ainsworth, who is author of the many publications which are dealing with the history of the billiard games, how was the game of snooker actually invented?
• From which game snooker did emerged, (was it variation of Black Pool or Pyramid) and how … in which sequence coloured balls were added, and which one was added as the last one?
– Modern snooker is a combination of two existing games which were played on a billiard table in the mid-1800s, Pyramids and Pool. Snooker seems to have started life in the early part of 1882 at the Indian hill station of Ootacamund (Ooty) and its appearance there coincides with the arrival of Sir Frederick Roberts, newly promoted to Commander in Chief of the Indian Army, and his personal staff, who included a young Lieutenant called Neville Chamberlain.
– In its earliest form, snooker was designed as a gambling game. There were four coloured (pool) balls set along the centre line of the table, with the pyramid of 15 reds inapproximately the same position as they appear today. The idea was to first pot a red (wortha monetary stake agreed in advance) which would entitle to player to try and pot a pool ball, each having a different monetary value. If successful, the player would be paid the agreedsum by every other player in that game, which could be up to a dozen people! The similarities to the modern game of point scoring between two opponents is obvious, but the original game involved a fair amount of luck, there being no safety strategy, and a great deal depending on the opening you where left when it came to your turn at the table. This set the game apart from billiards and other games which were much more dependant on skill, and which therefore always favoured the better player
About the beginning of the game
• Who did named the game “snooker” (and why) and who played the game the most in the early days and also, who is most deserving for the creation and development of the game? When (and where) was snooker (as a game) mentioned for the first time?
– It is pretty certain that the game was named by Neville Chamberlain. In a letter to the “Field” magazine in 1938, he claims to have first given this name to a pool game in 1875. Chamberlain had only joined the Army a little over a year previously, and was stationed a Simla with the 11th Infantry (also known at the Devonshire Regiment) which was under the command of his uncle. During the rainy season of 1875, his battalion moved to Jubbulpore inpreparation for their return to England, and while here Chamberlain is introduced to the term “snooker” by an artillery officer.
– It was fairly well-known that snooker was a name given to a first-year cadet at the Woolwich Academy, which was the centre for artillery training in England, however, the term was new to Chamberlain and he found it amusing to apply it to a version of black pool which was being played in the officers mess at the time. The exact nature of this game at Jubbulpore is not known as it did not survive, but we know that it was not related to the game played today as Black Pool did not involve a pyramid of red balls.
• Some other people are mentioned as snooker inventors, as a Compton Mackenzie and Captain Gordon. What was their role in the history of snooker?
– There were a number of people who claimed to have introduced snooker, although they have generally stopped short of claiming to have invented it. Frank Smith, in Australia, is one, and Frank Meerton in England, is another. However, none of the other claims predate that of Neville Chamberlain and they usually refer to the game being shown to them by Indian army officers.
– One of the most interesting characters in the story of snooker is Captain John Gordon, who was another officer assigned to the staff of Sir Frederick Roberts at Ooty in 1882. He seems to have been so enthusiastic for the new game that he named his horse Snooker, which was entered into various races in India between 1883 and 1884. It seems certain that Captain Gordon had a hand in the early development of the game, but unfortunately he met an untimely death in 1887, so his part in the story was never fully revealed.
• How did the rules of the game developed (who did publish first rules of the game) and whether they differ from today’s?
– The first rules of snooker were developed by the games committee at the clubhouse in Ooty in 1882. This would have essentially been a committee established to resolve disputesarising from gambling between officers, which was common arrangement for all military messes at this time, although with this also being a civilian outpost it would almost certainly have included non-military members. It seems likely that Chamberlain himself would have had a hand in drafting the first rules, although he would not have been alone in this task.
– The progression of the rules thereafter is interesting. In 1885 Chamberlain handed a copy of the Ooty rules to a well-known English professional billiard player called S. W. Stanley, who had just been appointed the court billiards tutor to the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, the pair having met at a dinner in Calcutta before setting out of a tiger hunt. It is a common misconception that Chamberlain gave the rules to John Roberts at this meeting, and that Roberts subsequently introduced the game to England, but this is not the case.
– Stanley did not return to England until 1887, when he decided to give up billiards and try his hand as an actor. It was not until 1889 that he took up the game again, and this coincidedwith Burroughes & Watts introducing a game called “Four Jolly Snookers” which was clearly a copy of the game being played at Ooty, but removing the gambling element to make itsuitable as an after-dinner game at a country house. It seems likely that Stanley, at sometime after his return to England, handed over to Burroughes & Watts the rules given to him by Chamberlain.
– In a direct link to Chamberlain’s original concept of the game being named after a first-year recruit, the Burroughes & Watts rules describe each player as being a “snooker” until a red ball is taken. The modern definition of a snooker, being the cue ball obstructed by another ball, does not appear until later.
– By 1900 the game had become sufficiently popular that the Billiard Association decided to produce an official set of rules to bring together all the variations which had appeared around the country since Burroughes & Watts introduced their rules. The Billiard Association version had six pool balls, positioned on the table as they are now, and completes the conversion from Chamberlain’s game to the modern version, and for the first time, the game is now suited to two players matching their skill against each other.
• How did game spread throughout the world?
– From England, the game spread throughout the Commonwealth countries, mainly between the wars, but as billiard tables have become more commonly available in other countries, the game’s wider appeal is now being appreciated.
Read more about the Origins of Snooker
Snooker Croatia 
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