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The tip of the cue must only make contact with the cue ball and is never used for striking any of the reds or colours directly. At the start of a frame, the object balls are positioned on the table as shown in illustration A. Starting with the cue ball in the "D", the first player executes a break-off shot by striking the cue ball with the tip of their cue, aiming to hit any of the red balls in the triangular pack. Coloured ball racking positions must be remembered with care, as each time a coloured ball is potted, it is immediately replaced to its starting position, which occurs multiple times per frame, whereas reds are not returned to the table's surface after being potted. If both players agree, the balls are returned to their starting positions and the frame is restarted (known as a "re-rack"), with the same player taking the break-off shot as before.

If successful, the value of the potted colour is added to the player's score, and the ball is returned to its designated spot on the table. In this situation, called a "re-spotted black", the black ball is returned to its designated spot and the cue ball is played in-hand, meaning that it may be placed anywhere on or within the lines of the "D" to start the tiebreak. At the end of each shot, the cue ball remains in the position where it has come to rest (unless it has entered a pocket, where it is returned to the "D") ready for the next shot. A foul can occur for various reasons, such as sending the cue ball into a pocket, or failing to hit the object ball. If the referee has also called a "miss"-meaning that the referee has deemed the opponent not to have made their best possible attempt to hit the object ball-the player has the option of having the balls replaced to their original positions and forcing the opponent to play the shot again. World Snooker. 11 January 2020. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021. Triple Crown events remain the most prestigious and historic in snooker, and they are the titles the players covet most.

The game continues until one of the players either pots the black ball to win the frame, or commits a foul (losing the frame). The process of alternately potting reds and colours continues until the striker fails to pot the desired object ball or commits a foul-at which point the opponent comes to the table to start the next turn-or when there are no red balls remaining. The game continues until every red ball has been potted and only the six colours and the cue ball are left on the table. At the start of the game, the red balls are racked into a tightly packed equilateral triangle and the six colours are positioned at designated spots on the table. The colours must next be potted in the ascending order of their values, from lowest to highest, i.e. yellow first (worth two points), then green (three points), brown (four points), blue (five points), pink (six points), and finally black (seven points); each colour remains in the pocket after being potted. The responsibilities of the referee include announcing the points scored during a break, determining when a foul has been committed and awarding penalty points and free balls accordingly, replacing colours onto their designated spots after they are potted, restoring the balls to their previous positions after the "miss" rule has been invoked (see Scoring), and cleaning the cue ball or any object ball upon request by the striker.

At the start of each player's turn, the objective is to first pot a red ball, unless all reds are off the table, or the player has been awarded a free ball, which allows them to nominate another object ball instead of a red. The player must then pot another red ball followed by another colour. A player could achieve a break of 15, for example, by first potting a red followed by a black, then another red followed by a pink, before failing to pot the next red. The total number of consecutive points (excluding fouls) that a player amasses during one visit to the table is known as a "break". Take frequent breaks, and don't try to complete the whole course in one day. Each segment of the string (bead) represents one point as the players can move one or several beads along the string. Hoops are contested in a fixed order, with a point awarded to the owner of the first ball to pass through the hoop in the correct direction.

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