Equipment
- Chalk
- The tip of the cue is "chalked" to ensure good contact between the cue and the cue-ball.
- Cue
- A stick, made of wood or fibreglass, the tip of which is used to strike the cue-ball.
- Extension
- A shorter baton that fits over, or screws into, the back end of the cue, effectively lengthening it. Is used for shots where the cue-ball is a long distance from the player.
- Rest
- A stick with an X-shaped head that is used to support the cue when the cue ball is out of reach at normal extension.
- Rest head adaptor
- An attachment that slips onto a conventional rest head to make a spider or just to give a slightly different bridge.
- Hook rest
- Identical to the normal rest, yet with a hooked metal end. It is used to set the rest around another ball. The hook rest is the most recent invention in snooker.
- Spider
- Similar to the rest but with an arch-shaped head; it is used to elevate and support the tip of the cue above the height of the cue-ball.
- Swan (or swan-neck spider)
- This equipment, consisting of a rest with a single extended neck and a fork-like prong at the end, is used to give extra cueing distance over a group of balls.
- Triangle/Rack
- The piece of equipment is used for gathering the red balls into the formation required for the break to start a frame.
- Extended rest
- Similar to the regular rest, but with a mechanism at the butt end which makes it possible to extend the rest by up to three feet.
- Extended spider
- A hybrid of the swan and the spider. Its purpose is to bridge over large packs of reds. Is less common these days in professional snooker but can be used in situations where the position of one or more balls prevents the spider being placed where the striker desires.
- Half butt
- Usually housed underneath the side of the table, the half butt is a combination of a table length rest and cue which is rarely used unless the cue ball needs to be struck in such a way that the entire length of the table is the actual obstacle.
- Ball marker
- A multi-purpose instrument with a "D" shaped notch, which a referee can (1) place next to a ball, in order to mark the position of it. They can then remove the ball to clean it; (2) use to judge if a ball is preventing a colour from being placed on its spot; (3) use to judge if the cue ball can hit the extreme edge of a "ball on" when awarding a free ball (by placing it alongside the potentially intervening ball).
- The Cloth
- The cloth is usually a green baize with a directional nap. The nap will affect the direction of the cue ball depending on which direction the cue ball is shot and also on whether left or right side (spin) is placed on the ball. Even if the cue ball is hit in exactly the same way, the nap will cause a different effect depending on whether the ball is hit down table (towards the black ball spot) or up table towards the balk line. The cloth on a snooker table should never be vacuumed as this can destroy the nap, especially if the vacuum head has beater brushes. The best method is to brush the cloth in a straight line from the balk end to the far end. Multiple brush strokes are fine as long as they are straight in direction (i.e. not across the table). Some table men will also then drag a dampened cloth wrapped around a short piece of board (like a two by four) to collect any remaining fine dust and help lay the nap down.
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