How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

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SquaredCue
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How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

Hello snooker enthusiasts,

This is a fun generic snooker topic for anyone, not directly SnookerQ related. The question to answer is the following:

What is the maximum number of standard snooker balls one can place on a standard snooker table so that all balls are resting on the table bed?

If you feel like thinking out loud, go ahead and post your way of calculation, however, it could be more fun if you post only the final result of your calculation first, letting other members post their number. Later on, we will discuss it and hopefully come to an agreement about the correct answer.

Please don't search the net for the answer.

The official dimensions and ball size can be found in the OFFICIAL RULES OF THE GAMES OF SNOOKER AND ENGLISH BILLIARDS.

GLHF!

trip2hell2
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Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:48 pm

Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by trip2hell2 »

2176

SquaredCue
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Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2021 12:17 pm

Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

Thanks for the effort, trip2hell2!

We need some more people to join with their final result. Come on, do your math and post your numbers.

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

bees.jpg
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edje
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by edje »

976

dan2909
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Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2021 11:56 pm

Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by dan2909 »

2302

Origin
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Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:18 pm

Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by Origin »

128000

ViPeR
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by ViPeR »

I have to be honest, this drove me nuts..... and in the end i gave up,
But i managed to balance 2 pinks on top of 2 reds..... :lol:
so my guess is 4 :roll:
table.png
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ViPeR
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by ViPeR »

Origin wrote:
Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:18 am
128000

was you stacking the balls like this steve :lol:


table 2.png
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MRaja
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by MRaja »

lmao!

Origin
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by Origin »

ViPeR wrote:
Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:36 am
Origin wrote:
Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:18 am
128000

was you stacking the balls like this steve :lol:



table 2.png
no , put reds along black cush and balls along length ways then calculated it

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

Origin wrote:
Sun Feb 06, 2022 12:25 pm
... put reds along black cush and balls along length ways then calculated it
That's a pretty good strategy to start with. You must have made a mistake in the calculation, though, as the number you posted is much too large.

As you will see, this method will not yield the correct answer because you are leaving too much empty space between the balls. Bee more thorough. ;)

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Wizard
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Location: Perth Australia

Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by Wizard »

I think we need to refer back to the original question here before we construct the great pyramids. Pretty sure the question referred to how many you can place "on the table" not several layers above it. My question would be do you mean how many you can fit on it or how many you can place on the table within the rules? There is then the question of the purple and orange balls from days gone by ( yes I am that old). Are we talking about the full size table because this is relevant to the answer also? What a dilemma!!

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

Wizard wrote:
Sat Apr 01, 2023 7:12 pm
I think we need to refer back to the original question here before we construct the great pyramids. Pretty sure the question referred to how many you can place "on the table" not several layers above it.
Exactly: "all balls are resting on the table bed"
My question would be do you mean how many you can fit on it or how many you can place on the table within the rules?
The rules define the table size and the ball size. The subtle snooker rules don't apply here of course. You have hundreds of snooker ball sets to work with.
There is then the question of the purple and orange balls from days gone by ( yes I am that old). Are we talking about the full size table because this is relevant to the answer also? What a dilemma!!
Sure, it's the full size snooker table, the only standard size. And the standard snooker ball size. You can use the purple and the orange of Snooker Plus but colours don't matter, only the number of the balls you place on the cloth.

Good luck!

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ZORRO
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by ZORRO »

2592
6 balls per 1ft, so 6x12=72 length then 6x6=36 width...so 72x36=2592.

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

ZORRO wrote:
Thu Apr 20, 2023 2:36 am
2592
That's a good approximation but you are leaving too much empty space between the balls.

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ZORRO
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by ZORRO »

Ah so you arrange the balls staggered rather than columns, like the honeycomb, hence the picture of the bees.
That`s a bit harder to calculate.

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

Yes, Zorro, that was my point with that honeycomb picture. For comparision, see how the red triangle would look like with the rows and columns method:
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Captain-Fantastic
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by Captain-Fantastic »

Hmmmm....so how can it be worked out then?... :?

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

Captain-Fantastic wrote:
Wed Apr 26, 2023 9:33 am
Hmmmm....so how can it be worked out then?... :?
distances.png
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ZORRO
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by ZORRO »

This is my last guess.....2,695....... :)

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

ZORRO wrote:
Wed Apr 26, 2023 12:17 pm
This is my last guess.....2,695....... :)
Your previous number was a little closer.

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ZORRO
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by ZORRO »

This is my last last guess :lol:
So...I`ll halve the number that I added because of the honeycomb affect.

2,644

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Captain-Fantastic
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by Captain-Fantastic »

What`s the answer....goddamit!!! :evil:

SquaredCue
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Re: How many balls can you place on a snooker table?

Post by SquaredCue »

I'm not the best googler but I couldn't find what I beleive is the correct answer anywhere on the net! This SnookerQ forum can be the world's first place to get it right! Let's go for it step by step!

First of all, the sizes. As we are looking for the maximum number of balls, we will calculate with the largest table size and the smallest ball size the strict rules allow:

Table size: 3569 x 1778 mm (plus or minus 13 mm) => 3582 x 1791 mm
Ball diameter: 52.5 mm (plus or minus 0.05 mm) => 52.45 mm

Let's begin with columns of balls put together in honeycomb style so that the balls are always touching. Starting from the lower left corner, 34 balls will fit in the first column and every odd column. With the half ball offset applied for the 2nd and all other even columns, 33 balls will fit there as shown in this picture:

Columns of balls, honecomb style
Columns of balls, honecomb style
sntmnobcols1.png (4.23 KiB) Viewed 24085 times
Somebody please help and calculate the number of columns that will fit.
How many odd columns? Let's call it Co.
How many even columns? Let's call it Ce.
So, the total number of balls that fit on the table this way is (Co * 34) + (Ce * 33) = ?

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