From the Club Table to the Global Stage: WPBSA Launches App to Unite Snooker's Hidden Millions
A Sport That's Always Been Bigger Than It Looks
Walk into almost any working men's club, leisure centre or pub with a back room in Britain, and there's a decent chance you'll find a snooker table with someone on it. Two players, a set of balls, and a ritual that's been quietly repeating itself for generations — the satisfying crack of a break-off, the low murmur of concentration, the chalk dusted off a cue tip. Snooker has always had this dual life: a television spectacle watched by millions, and an everyday game played by millions more, almost entirely off the record. Until now, those two worlds have barely spoken to each other.
On 20th April 2026, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association announced the launch of Play Snooker, a new digital platform designed to do something the sport has never quite managed before — bring its grassroots players formally into the fold. Available to download on both Apple and Android devices, the app allows anyone who picks up a cue, whether they're competing in a Thursday night league or potting balls in their garage, to record matches, track their performance over time, enter organised competitions, connect with local clubs and coaches, and build a verified playing history within the sport.
Recognising the 100 Million
The numbers have always been staggering, even if the infrastructure to support them hasn't been there. An estimated 100 million people play snooker worldwide — a figure that comfortably places it among the most widely participated sports on the planet. Yet for the vast majority of those players, their records exist nowhere except in their own memories and perhaps a handwritten scorebook behind a club bar. Play Snooker aims to change that by providing local and global rankings, tournament entry pathways, and a genuine sense of structure around what has, until now, been largely informal activity.
Jason Ferguson, Chairman of the WPBSA, put it plainly: "Snooker is one of the most widely played sports in the world, but for a long time much of that participation has gone under the radar. Play Snooker helps bring that activity into view. It is about recognising players at every level and giving them the opportunity to be part of a shared global system, from grassroots through to the elite game."
That last phrase — from grassroots through to the elite game — feels significant. One of snooker's long-standing tensions has been the gap between the professional tour and the amateur game that feeds it. Unlike football or tennis, where structured pathways from junior club level to the top are well established and well funded, snooker's route from a local league to a ranking event has often felt opaque, even accidental. The likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby didn't emerge from a centralised youth development system — they came up through word of mouth, amateur competitions and sheer talent that eventually forced its way into view. A platform that creates visible, verifiable pathways could quietly reshape how the next generation of players are identified and nurtured.
Built for the Modern Game
The app has been developed in partnership with NAGRAVISION, the media, entertainment and sports division of the Kudelski Group — a technology company with deep experience in digital infrastructure for sports organisations. Morten Solbakken, EVP and COO at NAGRAVISION, described the platform as something built with both the player and the broader community in mind: "Play Snooker is designed to make participation more visible and better connected, by helping players, clubs, and fans engage more easily with the sport at every level, while supporting the long-term growth of the sport."
That reference to clubs is worth dwelling on. Grassroots sport across the UK is under genuine pressure — rising energy costs, ageing memberships, and the long shadow of the pandemic have left many snooker clubs fighting for survival. A platform that helps venues attract new players, promote their competitions and strengthen local engagement offers something tangible at a time when many clubs need all the help they can get. If Play Snooker can funnel even a fraction of casual players towards their nearest club, the downstream effect on the grassroots game could be considerable.
A Quiet Revolution, Cue in Hand
There's something fitting about snooker — a sport defined by precision, patience and the slow accumulation of points — taking a careful, considered approach to its own digital future. This isn't a flashy rebrand or a desperate pivot toward a younger audience at the expense of the sport's identity. It's something more practical and, in its own way, more ambitious: the attempt to give structure and recognition to a vast, dispersed community that has always loved the game, just without anywhere to show for it.
The World Snooker Championship at the Crucible will always be the sport's most visible stage. But snooker's heartbeat has always been found somewhere quieter — under fluorescent lights, on slightly worn baize, in clubs that smell faintly of wood polish and history. Play Snooker won't change what happens at those tables. It'll just finally start keeping score.
