How about a little honesty and fair play here....?

Let's suppose you do get a random shot (which can happen despite one's best intentions, especially in speed frames), and it just happens to lead to a fluked pot.

One very simple solution which we are all able to put into practise would be to simply foul (e.g. pot the white) and pass play back to the opponent.

It would be good to see more fair play in my opinion, rather than just moaning about the rules (which are, don't forget, the same for everyone).

i get annoyed more when i fluke than opponent, once i was in an Orig Semi vs buddytobud fluked a brown, had blue, pink and black left and instead of pinching an undeserved frame i just said i don't deserve to go through and good luck in final

would prefer the foul thing than a random shot everytime as at least then you deserve everything you may or may not get

its good when people do that, but not many people do unfortunately

because rank is on the line, back then it was all friendlies, nothing to lose so you didn't mind doing that, shame i miss those tbh, doesn't/rarely happens in ranked

That would of course be ideal. But if we're being realistic, this doesn't happen.

Let's put it this way- if years ago nick had made wood's proposal the rule (and never established the random shot as the accepted system), then spinner would be defending that system. It's not that big of a change, is it? Especially since we already have it for power.

^^ Wrong!

On Yahoo pool (the old version circa 2002) it was considered a foul and I always thought how unfair it was since, lets remember, no foul has been committed.

Seeing the random shot in practice was a huge part of the reason I became hooked on the site all those years ago, it simply ensures fairness all round.

However, as I have always said, and indeed is the point of these forums, I am more than happy to change my mind if someone quite simply suggests something as fair or fairer.

So far, nothing has come close.

A couple of options I think would work however :

Remove the announcement, and add a random amount of time from 1sec to 10 secs before the random shot is played, this way nobody would know what shots are random or which are played, so nobody could complain.

Or, pass the play to the opponent and then make their shot a random, then nobody can complain if it pots a red.

haha yeah, I used to play yahoo pool as well

But yeah, yahoo had this in place, because it makes sense!

How did anyone come up with a random shot anyway? "Let's make it as close to real snooker as possible- with a random shot!!"

It will never be like real snooker, because real snooker doesn't have a timer. So the logical thing to do is look for the game that has the closest resemblance.... power snooker!
Power snooker is the only timed snooker game I know of. What have the creators of power snooker determined to be the fairest punishment for not taking a shot within the time limit? A penalty and control passes to the opponent with the option of returning the shot.

It's obvious!

Doesn't premier league snooker have a shot clock on it as well? Also, the snooker shoot-out has a time limit too. They are both closer to real snooker than power snooker is!

Fair enough lol, I don't get much snooker outside of the big tournaments on TV here
What do they do when someone misses the shot time limit?

Edit: I'll answer my own question


Edited at 23:53 Tue 22/05/12 (BST)

I'm not sure haha. I think in snooker shoot-out it was ball in hand for the other player, which was the rule for any foul. Premier league I'm not sure, dgen will know.

I think if time penalties were to be called fouls (as in pool), then an extension system would be the logical accompaniment (also as in pool). All it has to be is a button at the side of the players name that adds 20s or whatever to the shot when clicked.

Yes, although I don't think extensions are a necessary requirement for implementing the foul system.

They wouldn't be necessary, would be a nice addition though for if you were in a really tough snooker and didnt want a foul called.

yup they have a 20 sec extension in Premier League, way extension could work is either have it set as 20 or whatever time your game room is.

but speaking of real snooker, i wouldn't mind a game where you can take long as you like on shots i know 90 secs is pretty much that but if people don't like it then don't join also then no random shot generator

When I originally started playing this game, if you didnt click yes you started to watch instead of commencing a game.
I think I actually created a thread about this issue too. The response I got was that it was so people werent clogging up rooms by sitting in a room. How that makes sense I still dont know.


On topic, I see nothing wrong with the random shot and would be completely against removing it. If I fluke a shot am I expected to foul and hand play back to my opponent? I dont. And I wouldnt if it was a fluke by random shot either because chances are I would have potted a ball anyway if I didnt run out of time.

We've now established that there are time fouls in every snooker game that has a shot clock- Premier League snooker, power snooker, and snooker shootout.

Premier League and Power Snooker give the shot to the opponent with the option of passing it back (just like every other foul). Snooker Shootout gives the opponent ball in hand.

Considering spinner and everyone else always want what most closely resembles real snooker, I think the right move is obvious!

bigger question how do you convince nick?

Nick has always been receptive to suggestions that make the game rules more like the real thing.

You seem to be completely missing the most obvious of points - this *isn't* Premier League snooker.

By all means, add that as a game type and have it be a foul not to take a shot within the allotted time but it is completely wrong to change an existing game type and would make it *less* like the real game, not more.

The fact is giving up a foul where no foul has been committed is unfair. That is a simple fact.

It would be no different to say anyone who hits the white at exactly 45 degree's cue angle has committed a foul, or someone who pots 2 pinks in a row (with a red in between, obviously) etc etc.

Here is the crunch question I have been waiting with - what is actually bothering the few complainer's is not the random shot, but flukes occurring from it.

Now - explain to me how we eliminate flukes?

This game is more like Premier League Snooker than real snooker. It has a timer for shots. So why not use the rules that exist in snooker games with timed shots instead of making up your own? A so-called "time foul" exists in every single timed snooker game, except on funky.

How do we eliminate flukes you ask? We don't want to eliminate flukes all together. We want to eliminate flukes from the random shot that give the offender an advantage. Here's another suggestion if you insist on this silly random shot invention:

no matter what happens on the random shot, the opponent gets control with the option of passing it back.

That way, you get to keep your random shot, but offenders can't profit from it!

Ok fair enough. How would we go about adding Premier LEague Snooker as a game type.

It would have to be a normal game of snooker, except we would have to install a time limit for each shot...... oh wait......