Snooker Championship

How to run it

The one tournament that keeps a proper score. A knockout bracket, a frame scored a ball at a time, and a record of who beat who — so nobody is arguing the next morning about the night before.

The format

1. The organiser makes the draw in the app. Everybody comes out of the hat, and a short field gives somebody a bye into the next round.
2. Ties are best of one, three or five frames, whatever suits the afternoon. Winner goes through, loser is out.
3. Whatever phone is nearest the table keeps the score. Tap whoever is at the table, then the ball they potted. A foul pays the other man four to seven and brings him in.
4. Call the frame when it is over. The app racks the next one and moves the winner on once he has enough of them.

Worth knowing

• Red one, yellow two, green three, brown four, blue five, pink six, black seven. The highest break is kept beside the record, so it is worth going for.
• Nothing is stored that can be worked out. The frames win the ties and the ties fill the bracket, so a wrong tap is taken back rather than argued about.
• Every frame counts towards the record, and the record is what the title means. Champion takes the points, the beaten finalist two thirds, the beaten semi-finalists a third each.

What you need

• A pool or snooker table — With its cues, chalk and triangle, which come with the table venue

Nothing here has to be bought.

If it goes badly

Last place racks every frame on the final night.

Add this to your event

Fayla builds the whole weekend around it — a scoreboard everybody can see, a shopping list that writes itself out of the things you picked, and one link for the group chat.

Who it suits

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