Snooker rules and refereeing
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  • Rules you must understand as a player
    • The Break
    • Frame, Game or Match?
    • Who takes the top scorer
    • Keeping score
    • When is the Frame over?
    • Understanding the 'Miss'
    • Understanding the 'Three Miss Rule'
    • Angled Ball (Pocket hook)
    • Seven Point Fouls
  • How do I .....
    • Rack the balls
    • Respot the colour balls
    • Re-spot the cueball after a Miss
    • Use the Ball Marker
    • Handle the rests and other furniture
    • Organise a tournament
  • So you don't like the call; now what?
  • Some information on the Equipment
    • The cue
    • The Balls
    • The Chalk
    • Videos about the table
    • The Cloth >
      • "Double Shaved"
    • The Spots
    • Scoring Software
    • Pocket Templates circa 1996
  • Guides for the Referee
    • Referee’s Guide to Positioning by Steve Fletcher
    • Referees Guide to What to Say, and When to Say it by Clive A Brown, January 2012
    • Calling the score
  • Variations of the game
    • The six -red game
    • Snooker Shoot Out
    • The 900 rules
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Calling the score is such a simple task, yet is rarely done properly.


The referee should call the current break total after every stroke when the table has come to rest and the player may proceed.


There are three reasons for this:

1)     Both players are left in no doubt about the current state of the game.

2)   
If the referee has made an arithmetic error, it is caught immediately.

3)    When the score is called, the referee has told the player that, in his opinion, the table is at rest and the player may proceed without fear of a foul being called because a ball is still moving or a ball has been improperly spotted.

Bear in mind that if no referee is present, the opponent acts as referee and should call the score.