CueLab / Referee & Rules
Refereeing is part judgement, part rule-book. CueLab treats both with the same caution: we cite the rule, then we say what judgement referees typically apply, and we flag the cases where the two are notoriously different.
Pick the foul type and the situation. CueLab tells you the penalty, who scores it, and whether the ball stays where it is, is re-spotted, or returned to its original position. We follow the official WPBSA / WSF wording for the foul itself; common-usage notes are flagged separately.
Penalty points always go to the opponent, never to the player at the table. The cap on a single foul is 7 (the black). Unsportsmanlike conduct is the only exception — the referee can award any frame or match points they think fit.
"Miss" handling and "unsportsmanlike conduct" are interpreted by the referee on the day. CueLab captures the wording; it can't tell you what yours will do.
Type a situation in plain language ("snooker on final black", "touching ball", "miss declared") and CueLab returns the relevant rule summaries from our index.
Each match summarises the rule, then notes the most common interpretation issue. Treat the summary as a starting point; the official rulebook is the final word at the table.
We index ~30 common situations. If your keyword doesn't match, try a different phrasing (the index uses small plain-English titles).
Modern snooker rules say a referee calls "miss" only when the escape is unreasonable in any direction. CueLab presents the factors, lets you weight them, and prints a "this position is most likely to be called a miss" verdict — for the players, not the referee.
"Miss" calls are rare (less than 1 per 100 frames at tour level) but they happen. Modern officials weigh how much effort the player put in, the difficulty of escape, and whether the cue ball moved at all from its rest position.
Whether a referee actually calls it depends on the referee's reading of the players in front of them. The same position can be judged differently by two referees.
Click the swatches to "pot" them and watch the score and cumulative breakdown update — useful for teaching the colours order, planning a colour-clear sequence, or sanity-checking a frame score.
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The colours MUST be potted in ascending order (yellow → green → brown → blue → pink → black) when on their spots. If you pot them out of order on a snooker-style restart, the rulebook says you must re-spot the potted colour and continue from the next in sequence.
This tool doesn't know the table state — only the value side. Use it as a reference while you think about a colour clearance or to teach newcomers why the order matters.
Pick a colour. CueLab shows its spot position on the table (illustrative), and tells you what the re-spotting rules say about its value vs the size of the "D" or spot zone.
A handful of situations force a referee to consider a "restart" — a new frame from a clean table (or replay of the same frame with the balls replaced). CueLab walks through the four common reasons.
Restart rules differ between governing bodies (WPBSA, WSF, IBSF, ACBS). CueLab cites the WPBSA / WSF wording at the time of writing. For other federations check the rulebook you play under.
These are rare situations; the procedure is almost always at the referee's discretion in consultation with the players or tournament director.