During a normal game of snooker one of the players makes a break of eight points, during which he pots the yellow ball four times.

competition/games/snooker.yellow New

New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.

Problem

During a normal game of snooker one of the players makes a break of
eight points, during which he pots the yellow ball four times.  How is
this possible?  What is the smallest break in which the yellow is
potted four times, and what is the largest?

>Here's a neat little puzzle I came across some while ago:
>
>During a normal game of snooker one of the players makes a break of
>eight points, during which he pots the yellow ball four times.
>
>How is this possible?

-- Paul Cockburn <paul@mazarbul.demon.co.uk>

Sorry, Paul, but you've ruined a far better problem.  The real question
is "What is the smallest break in snooker in which the yellow is potted
four times?"  To which I like to add "and what is the largest break in
which the yellow is potted four times?"

-- Stan Armstrong

[ Editor: the first sentence is the editor's summary.  The "break of
2" postings from the same January 1998 thread are in
competition/games/snooker. ]

Show solution

145?

Take a 147 break (yellow is potted once), start with a free ball:
yellow (as red), then yellow, (this adds 3 points and two yellow balls)
and replace one of the black pots by a yellow pot (this deducts 5 and
adds the fourth yellow)

thus 147 + 3 - 5 = 145

-- Herman Hiddema ("Shimrod") <csg824@wing.rug.nl>

[ Editor: no answer to the eight-point break or to the smallest break
was found in the collected postings. ]