As many players may be only acquainted with one of the two codes which existed prior to the revision, a brief review of the chief points of divergence from each of these cannot fail to be of interest, and is now given.
No very drastic innovation has been adopted, it being the wish of the Council to avoid making any alteration of a revolutionary nature, which would radically affect the accepted traditions of the game, and a suggestion which was rather favourably received by the Sub-Committee to reduce the size of the" D "was for this reason not embodied in the final draft.
The revised Rules approximate very closely to the code formerly issued by the late B.C.C., but the main point upon which they differ is the method of procedure after a foul.
Under the B.C.C. Rules it was enacted that the offender's ball "shall be placed on the centre spot, the red shall be spotted, and his opponent shall play under the present continue from red, if off the Mr. A. Stanley Thorn, from the 'D'"; whereas, Rules, the opponent" may where the balls are left, the table, being spotted as if no foul had been made, or may play from hand, the red being placed on the spot, and the white on the centre spot."
This is a complete innovation, as under neither of the previous codes was the opponent accorded an option.
A uniform penalty for all fouls is common to the new Rules, and to the B.C.C. code, but in the old B.A. Rules varying specific penalties were exacted for certain specified fouls.
The limitation of misses (no player being allowed to make two misses in successive turns, unless he or the opponent scores after the first miss, or a double-baulk occurs) was a novelty to those players accustomed to the B.A. Rules, but was already familiar to users of the B.C.C. code, from which it was adopted with the alteration of but a single word. The new Rules compare very favourably with the B.A. code in point of brevity, the latter extending to forty-seven Rules, in addition to the definitions of the table, appointments, and terms used in the game, whilst, owing to the more skilful conciseness of wording, all these have been included in the 21 Rules comprising the revised code. This rigid economy of verbiage greatly facilitates easy reference, but was only attained by the exercise of the utmost care on the part of the Sub-Committee.
The chief alterations in the revised Rules of Snooker are those dealing with the" End of the Game" and "Snookering after a Foul."
In both the previous codes, when only the black ball was left on the table, and any player missed it, or ran in off it, the game was ended. Under the new Rules," When only the black ball is left the first score or forfeit ends the game, unless the scores are then equal, in which case the black is spotted; and the players draw lots for choice of playing at the black from hand. The next score or forfeit ends the game."
Under the B.C.C. code, a player being snookered as the result of a foul, was entitled to have any ball or balls taken up to enable him to play direct on the nearest ball playable.
This did not obtain under the B.A. Rules, which enacted that" no ball shall in any circumstances be taken up."Whilst it was agreed that this last Rule was undoubtedly a good one, it was considered a distinct hardship that any player should be liable to be snookered as the result of a foul. In order to obviate this undesirable possibility, without allowing any ball to be taken up, the following Rule has been incorporated in the revised code:- - " After a foul stroke, if the next player is found to be snookered with regard to all reds, or the pool ball ' on,' he is then ' on ' any ball he may nominate. If such ball is lawfully pocketed, it should be scored as if it was the ball the striker would be ' on ' but for being snookered, and he continues his turn as if he had actually pocketed that ball."
The present code has been condensed into 21 Rules, as compared with 32 in the old B.A.
code, and the resultant gain in ease of reference is achieved by conciseness of wording, as in the case of the Rules of Billiards.