Of all the billiards table games, snooker is the best, although pool is probably more popular. Snooker tables range from foldaway snooker tables to full size 12ft snooker tables or slatebed snooker tables. The differences are that the smaller tables top and foldaway snooker tables are made with a wooden playing surface, usually mdf these days, and the larger have a slate playing surface, often referred to as slatebed or slatebed snooker tables. You can even have a snooker dining table, so you can utilise your dining room for both eating and playing snooker on after dinner, how cool is that?

Snooker tables have a playing area of 12ft or 6ft (3.66m x 1.87m). The height is 2ft 9 1/2 inches to 2 ft 10 1/2 inches (85-87.6cm). The slate is put on top of a large substantial wooden frame due to the weight of the slate, with the large tables having 8 legs to spread the load. The slate is covered by a tightly stretched green (usually) woollen cloth.

Snooker and billiards tables have a cloth covering the playing surface, which has a nap, a slightly raised surface, which has a direction; it is smoother or 'with the grain' going from the baulk end (the D end) to the black spot end and coarser or 'against the grain' the other way round. This is why when caring for your table you must always brush from the D to the black spot, to keep the integrity of the nap. Note this is not the case with American pool, where high quality pool cloth is usually made of a nap less weave such as worsted wool, which gives a much faster roll to the balls. The faster or slower a cloth is, affects the amounts of swerve and deflection of the balls. Snooker table cloth traditionally has always had a directional nap, upon which the balls behave differently when rolling against the direction of the nap.

Pool tables do not usually have a nap, they usually have 'speed ball cloth' with no nap, thus no deviation of the balls. Billiards tables are the same as snooker tables and do have a 'nap'. An American pool table also has bigger pockets than a snooker table and also bigger balls, 2 and 1/4 inch balls, whereas snooker balls are 2 and 1/16 inches, and English pool balls are 2 inches. The balls in billiards are the same size as snooker balls.