Snooker Break Calculator

147 points — achieved by potting all 15 reds each followed by the black (15 × 8 = 120 points), then potting all six colours in ascending order (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black) for a further 27 points. This is recognised by the WPBSA, the sport's official governing body, as the maximum break under standard rules.

Multiply the number of reds still on the table by 8 (each red is worth 1 point, and the black that follows it is worth 7, so a red-black pair is worth 8), then add 27 for the fixed value of clearing all six colours at the end. Add that total to whatever has already been scored in the current break to get the maximum possible break from that position.

Because the maximum-value strategy is to nominate black (worth 7 points) after every red (worth 1 point) for as long as reds remain on the table, since black is the highest-value colour. 1 + 7 = 8 points per red potted this way.

Once all 15 reds are cleared, the six colours are potted once each, in a fixed ascending order: yellow (2), green (3), brown (4), blue (5), pink (6), and black (7). Added together: 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 27.

Any break of 100 points or more. It's a widely recognised milestone in snooker — professional players' century-break counts are tracked as a career statistic, and many amateur players treat their first century as a significant achievement.

Under standard rules, no — 147 is the maximum. The one recognised exception is a "free ball": if a player is fouled while snookered and no red is available for a direct shot, the referee can award a free ball, effectively creating an extra scoring opportunity before any red has been potted. This can raise the theoretical ceiling to 155, but it has only happened twice in recorded professional competition, so this calculator models the standard 147-point case rather than the rare free-ball exception.

It depends on how many points you've already scored in this break. This calculator works it out for you: it takes the points still needed to reach 100, subtracts the fixed 27 points available from the colours phase, and divides what's left by 8 (rounding up) to give the minimum number of reds you'd need to pot, with the black, to guarantee reaching a century.

A break is the running score a player builds in one uninterrupted visit to the table (it ends when they miss, foul, or the frame finishes). A frame is a complete game, made up of one or more breaks from both players, won by whoever has more points when all the reds and colours are gone (or by concession/other rules in specific situations). This calculator is about break potential, not the overall frame score.

Yes — a break ends when the player misses a shot, commits a foul, or the frame situation changes turn (for example, running out of balls). The points scored in that break are still added to the player's frame total, but the running break count resets to zero for their next visit to the table.

During the reds phase, a player alternates: pot a red, then pot any one colour of their choice (which is re-spotted afterwards so it stays in play), then another red, and so on. Only once every red has been potted do the colours get potted once each, in the fixed ascending order (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black) without being re-spotted.

Because the combination of reds remaining and points already scored you entered would produce a maximum possible break over 147 — which isn't achievable under standard rules in a single break. Double-check your reds remaining count and your current break score; if you're calculating a frame total across multiple breaks rather than one continuous break, this calculator isn't the right tool for that.

Yes, under the standard rules of snooker there are always 15 reds racked at the start of a frame. If reds have already been potted in this visit or an earlier one in the same frame, enter however many are still left on the table now, not 15.

No — a colour potted between reds is worth its own individual value (yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6, black 7), whichever the player chooses to nominate and successfully pot. This calculator's maximum figure assumes black (the highest value) is chosen every time, since that gives the true ceiling — a real player might choose a lower-value, safer colour instead, which would reduce their actual maximum below this calculator's figure.

Several professional players have made multiple official maximum breaks in their careers — the WPBSA maintains the full historical record. This calculator doesn't track individual player records; it's a general-purpose maximum-break planning tool for any position.

No — this calculator is built for standard 15-red snooker. Six-red snooker and other variants use different ball counts and scoring structures, so the 8r+27 formula and the 147 maximum do not apply directly.