Snooker accessories include: chalk for the tip of the cue, to help apply spin on the cue ball; various different rests such as the swan or spider, for playing shots that are difficult to play by hand; extensions for lengthening the cue; a triangle for racking the reds; and a scoreboard, typically attached to a wall near the snooker table. The nap affects the speed and trajectory of the balls, depending on the direction of the shot and whether any side spin is placed on the ball. Also backspin, back-spin, backward spin. Mr. R. B. Wormald writes thus respecting them in 1873: - Being driven by stress of weather to take shelter in a sequestered hostelry on the Berkshire bank of the Thames, he found four persons immersed in the fame of Whist: "In the middle of the hand, one of the players with a grin that almost amounted to a chuckle, and a vast display of moistened thumb, spread out upon the table the ace of trumps; whereupon the other three deliberately laid down their hands, and forthwith severally handed over the sum of one penny to the fortunate holder of the card in question.

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); at this stage of the game, each colour remains in the pocket after being potted. The player to take the first strike in the tiebreak is chosen at random, and the game continues until one of the players either wins the frame by potting the black ball or loses the frame by committing a foul. After the swabbers were dropped (and it is probable that they were not in general use in the eighteenth century), our national card game became known simply as Whist, though still occasionally spelt whisk. In Captain Francis Grose’s "Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" (1785), swabbers are said to be "The ace of hearts, knave of clubs, ace and deuce of trumps at Whist." The Hon. Daines Barrington (writing in 1787), says, that at the beginning of the century, whisk was "played with what were called swabbers, which were possibly so termed, because they who had certain cards in their hand were entitled to take up a share of the stake, independent of the general event of the game." This was probably the true office of the swabbers.

Points accumulated by potting successive object balls are called a "break" (see Scoring below). A traditional snooker scoreboard resembles an abacus and records the points scored by each player for the current frame in units and twenties, as well as the frame scores. 39 Another duty of the referee is to recognise and declare a stalemate when neither player is able to make any progress in the frame. Snookers are shots designed to make it difficult for the opponent to play a legal shot on their next turn, such as leaving another ball between the cue ball and the object ball. If there are not enough points remaining on the table for a player to potentially win the frame, that player may offer to concede the frame while at the table (but not while their opponent is still at the table); a frame concession is a common occurrence in professional snooker. While pool tables are common to many pubs, snooker tends to be played either in private settings or in public snooker halls. Snooker referees are an integral part of the sport, and some have become well-known personalities in their own right.

The laws adopted by these Clubs in 1864, which have by this time (1874) found their way into all Whist circles, deposed Hoyle, and are now the standard by which disputed points are determined. Shortly after this, the celebrated EDMOND HOYLE, the father of the game, published his "Short Treatise: (1742-3). About Hoyle’s antecedents, but little is known. Book with the Zeal of a primitive Father. If the scores are equal when all object balls have been potted, What is a billiards club the black is used as a tiebreaker in a situation called a "re-spotted black". London: A and C Black. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 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 being potted, restoring the balls to their previous positions after the "miss" rule has been invoked (see Scoring below), and cleaning the cue ball or any object ball upon request by the striker.