Snooker 900
Variation of the game of snooker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snooker 900 is a fast-paced variation of snooker with special rules, created by Jason Francis. It is broadly based on the Snooker Shoot Out.[1][2] Francis wanted to provide extra televised events for his World Seniors Tour; liking the concept of the Snooker Shoot Out, he decided to extend the frame time to fifteen minutes instead of ten minutes, while all of the other rules of the Snooker Shoot Out were maintained. Fifteen minutes playing time is 900 seconds and so the Snooker 900 was born. Channel 5 in the UK televised four World Seniors Tour events between 2023 and 2024. In 2025 Francis announced that the streaming platform PlutoTV would cover future events with 24/7 dedicated coverage of all Snooker 900 events. It would televise events for amateurs, juniors, women, and disabled players, offering them prize money and exposure to snooker. Francis also staged a few events for legends and seniors, and it was in late 2025 that he began staging invitational events featuring top professional WST players. The broadcasting by Pluto TV and the participation of star professionals has established a formally recognised snooker series of invitational events which operates independently of, and outside of, the World Snooker Tour. In April 2026 Pluto TV and Channel 5 in the UK both showed live coverage of the inaugural John Virgo Trophy which was staged at the Goffs venue in County Kildare, Ireland. Francis also created the Snooker Legends series in 2009 and the World Seniors Snooker in 2018.[3]
Rules
Designed for fast-paced action rather than the traditional game of snooker in which frames often advance slowly through safety shots, snookers, and penalties, the rules are based on tightly timed frames and player shots.[4]
- A frame is played with a full set of standard snooker balls, reds and colours, but with a red spotted white cueball.
- Frames are limited to a duration of 15 minutes - 900 seconds, from which the snooker variation takes its name, and similar to Snooker Shoot Out, the frame is won on the number of points scored when the frame times out.
- A shot-clock throughout the frame allows each player a maximum of 20 seconds to take their shot.
- The cueball must either pot a colour or touch a cushion, failing which the shot is a foul.
- Following a foul, the next player may place the cueball (ball-in-hand) anywhere on the table.[5]
History
World Seniors Snooker 900
The Snooker 900 began on the World Seniors Tour when Jason Francis wanted to add more television events to the tour other than the World Seniors Snooker Championship. The inaugural 900 event was shown live by Channel 5 in the UK on 29 December 2023 at Epsom Racecourse and featured six players. Following group round robin matches and semi-finals, Stephen Hendry defeated Jimmy White 1–0 in the final.[6]. On 2 March 2024, Ken Doherty defeated Jimmy White 2–1 in Goffs, Ireland to win the second 900 title.[7]. In the following season, two more events were staged. On 8 September 2024, Igor Figueiredo defeated Jimmy White 2–1 in Hull,[8] and on 30 December 2024, Ken Doherty defeated Tony Drago 2–1 to claim his second World Seniors Snooker 900 title.[9].
The Crucible Cup
The Crucible Cup, not to be confused with the Crucible Theatre, the venue for the Snooker World Championship, was an inaugural event that took place on November 24 and 25 November 2025 at Snooker 900's home base at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading. The format is a straight knockout with the quarter-finals and semi-finals being the best of 11 frames, with 13 frames for the final. The event was broadcast live on the Pluto TV platform.[10]
Champions Week title
Jimmy White won the Champions Week title in the Snooker 900 series, which ran from 23–25 March 2026 defeating ten times women's snooker world champion Reanne Evans 5-3.[11].
John Virgo Trophy
The 2026 John Virgo Trophy was an invitational tournament played using Snooker 900 rules on 11–12 April 2026 at the Goffs venue in County Kildare, Ireland as a tribute to professional snooker player, pundit, and commentator John Virgo who died in February 2026. The tournament consisted of three of the "Class of '92" players Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Williams and seven time World Champion Stephen Hendry. O'Sullivan who was competing in a 900 event for the first time won the tournament by defeating John Higgins 6-0 in the final.[12] The match was broadcast live on Channel 5 and PlutoTV.[13]
Global Championship
O'Sullivan is to feature as a player along with fellow world champions Kyren Wilson, Shaun Murphy, Luca Brecel, Stuart Bingham and Ken Doherty along with senior players Alfie Burden, Joe Perry, and Jimmy White, in the first Global Snooker 900 Championship, scheduled to take place between May 12-17 2026 in Reading.[14] The championship is held with 20 qualiying players competing for a £100,000 prize for the winner, and includes a qualifying junior under the age of 18.[14]
Broadcasting
Pluto TV Snooker 900, a TV channel dedicated exclusively to Snooker 900, offers 18 hours a week to exclusively on Pluto TV and supported by Ronnie O’Sullivan and also includes excerpts from archived matches and O'Sullivan's 'Rocket Method' coaching series.[15] The channel began broadcasting to the UK, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland on 6 October 2025.[16] [15]
In November 2025 broadcasting was extended to France, Italy and Spain.[2] Snooker 900 competitions are generally broadcast from it home base at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading, Berkshire, England.[17]
