Snooker originated in the second half of the 19th century in India during the British Raj. In the 1870s, billiards was popular among British Army officers stationed in Jubbulpore, India, and several variations of the game were devised during this time. A similar game, which originated at the Officers' Mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in 1875, combined the rules of two pool games: pyramids, played with 15 red balls positioned in a triangle, and black pool, which involved potting designated balls. Snooker was further developed in 1882 when its first set of rules was finalised by British Army officer Neville Chamberlain, who helped devise and popularise the game at Stone House in Ootacamund on a table built by Burroughes & Watts that had been sent to India by sea. At the time, the word snooker was a slang term used in the British Army to describe new recruits and inexperienced military personnel; Chamberlain used the word to deride the inferior performance of a young fellow officer at the table.
Snooker originated in the second half of the 19th century in India during the British Raj. In the 1870s, billiards was popular among British Army officers stationed in Jubbulpore, India, and several variations of the game were devised during this time. A similar game, which originated at the Officers' Mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in 1875, combined the rules of two pool games: pyramids, played with 15 red balls positioned in a triangle, and black pool, which involved potting designated balls. Snooker was further developed in 1882 when its first set of rules was finalised by British Army officer Neville Chamberlain, who helped devise and popularise the game at Stone House in Ootacamund on a table built by Burroughes & Watts that had been sent to India by sea. At the time the word snooker was a slang term used in the British Army to describe new recruits and inexperienced military personnel; Chamberlain used the word to deride the inferior performance of a young fellow officer at the table.