Multiple balls in one shot?

[chadtrent]

Had a situation come up recently. I was shooting at the black. The blue was hanging in the side pocket. I made the black and the cue ball traveled on and knocked the blue in. What is the ruling on this? We discussed it and as it was just a friendly game we ended up spotting both balls back but I only took the points for the black.

I'm pretty new to snooker. I feel like this is a rule I should know but I can't find the answer anywhere.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Had a situation come up recently. I was shooting at the black. The blue was hanging in the side pocket. I made the black and the cue ball traveled on and knocked the blue in. What is the ruling on this? We discussed it and as it was just a friendly game we ended up spotting both balls back but I only took the points for the black.

I'm pretty new to snooker. I feel like this is a rule I should know but I can't find the answer anywhere.

I think this is covered in the official rules:
http://www.wpbsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/official-rules-of-the-game.pdf

But to save you some time.... It is almost always a foul to pot two colors (or colours) simultaneously. You should have forfeited 7 points (for the highest color involved) and lost your turn. It is also a foul to pot a red when playing a color. (In snooker, a red is not a color. Strange game.)

There is one case in which it is legal to pot two colors on the same shot. It involves the "free ball" rule which can be used if your opponent snookers you on a foul shot. Then you can declare any ball that is not "on" to be the same as the ball on. Example: your opponent fouls with only the last three balls on the table. You are snookered on the blue. You nominate the pink as a "free ball", pot it and the cue ball goes on to also pot the blue. Not a foul. You get five points and the pink is spotted while the blue stays down. If you had not potted blue on the shot, you would get five points for the pink which was temporarily blue and the pink would respot. Then you could shoot the blue for a second five-point score.

 

[chadtrent]

Thanks. It's so rare that I play it that I doubt this situation will ever come up again anyways. But now I know. Wouldn't have mattered as I think I still lost by 30 points.