The history of snooker is much newer
comparing to the history of the billiards game from which
the snooker game had derived. The snooker history dates back
to the end of the 19th while the billiards game has been
popular amongst royalty and the common people in many parts
of Europe since the 15th century.
The original billiard game was born as an indoor variation
of the croquet game. The first billiard game was played on a
wooden table covered by a green cloth with six pockets.
Instead of the cue stick, a wooden club was used and only
two balls were occupied. The object of the first billiard
game was to push the balls into a gate on the table and into
a small piece of wood called the king.
By the 19th century, there were several variations of the
billiard game. The snooker game had apparently developed of
a billiard variation called black ball, in which the
player's goal was to score points by potting a red and a
black ball alternately.
According to the common version of snooker history, Colonel
Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain who was stationed
in India in the 1870s is the inventor of the snooker game.
Around 1875, Chamberlain came up with the idea of adding
colored balls to the black ball game. The game then featured
15 red balls, a black ball, and a yellow, a green and a pink
ball. The game had accepted the name "snooker", which its
original meaning was an insult to novice players.
If Colonel Chamberlain is the main responsible for the
invention of the snooker game, the legendary billiard
champion John Roberts is responsible for spreading the
rumors on the new billiard game throughout England. Roberts
had learned the rules of the game from Colonel Chamberlain
during a visit to India and by the time he went back to
England he introduced the snooker game to his colleagues.
Ever since then, the snooker game is the most popular
billiard game in the UK.
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