How to Manage Snooker Table Sessions, Timing and Bookings

This guide is for owners and managers who already run a club and want tighter control of tables and time. If you are still deciding whether you need software at all, start with what snooker club management software is.

A snooker table session is one period of play on one table, from the moment the game starts to the moment the bill is paid and the table is free again. Each session should have a start time, an end time, a game type, a rate and a payment record.

Thinking in sessions, rather than in "customers", fixes a common gap: the table is the thing that earns money, so the table is what you track. A simple status model keeps every member of staff on the same page.

Most snooker clubs charge in one of two ways: a fixed price per game or a time-based rate. Many use both, for example a fixed price for a standard game and a per-minute rate for longer practice sessions.

Whichever method you use, write it down and display it. Players accept a bill they can predict.

A timed bill is the billable minutes multiplied by the rate per minute, after the club's pause, rounding and minimum rules are applied. Agree the order of those rules once and apply it to every table.

The example below uses "rate units" so it works in any currency. The rates are illustrative, not DigiNizam prices.

1. Record the start time. A timed session starts at 18:00.
2. Record pauses. Play pauses from 18:40 to 18:50 by agreement. Under this club's rule, paused time is not billed.
3. Record the end time. The session ends at 19:22. Elapsed time is 82 minutes; billable time is 82 − 10 = 72 minutes.
4. Apply rounding. The club rounds up to the next 5 minutes, so 72 becomes 75 minutes.
5. Apply the minimum. The club's minimum is 30 minutes. 75 is above it, so nothing changes.
6. Multiply by the rate. At 2 rate units per minute, the bill is 75 × 2 = 150 rate units.

Now take a short session of 12 minutes on the same table. Rounding gives 15 minutes, but the 30-minute minimum applies, so the bill is 30 × 2 = 60 rate units.

Two rules cause most disputes: whether pauses are billed, and whether the minimum is applied before or after rounding. Decide both, display them and make sure your system applies them the same way every time.

A pause should stop the billable clock only when the club's written rule allows it, and the session should stay open so it is not billed twice. A table change should move the running session, not start a fresh one.

• Pauses. Decide who can pause a table, for how long, and whether paused time is charged. Record the pause in the session, not on a sticky note.
• Table changes. If players move from Table 3 to Table 5, the session should carry its start time with it.
• Disputes. Show the player the session record: start, pauses, end, rate and rules. A printed receipt ends most arguments quickly.

Keep one source of truth for table status and mark a table as reserved the moment a booking is accepted. Double booking happens when bookings live in a phone, a notebook and someone's memory at the same time.

• Set a hold time. Decide how long a reserved table waits before it is released, and tell the customer.
• Use a grace period. A short grace period avoids giving a regular's table away for a two-minute delay.
• Block for maintenance. Mark tables with cloth, cushion or lighting problems as under maintenance so no shift assigns them by mistake.
• Fill gaps deliberately. A walk-in can take a reserved table only if the session will end before the booking. Agree that rule with staff in advance.

At peak time, a manager needs one screen showing every table's status, running time and next booking. That view lets staff see which sessions are about to end and who is waiting.

Three habits help on busy nights:

1. One person owns the table board during each shift, even if several people take payments.
2. Handover happens on the system, not verbally. The incoming shift sees running sessions and reservations as they are.
3. Rates and discounts are protected. Only roles with permission can change a rate or approve a discount, so busy counters do not improvise.

Start every session in one place, never backdate a start time without approval, and review short or edited sessions at the end of the day. Most timing losses come from small, repeated habits rather than one large mistake.

• Start the session when play starts, not when the customer pays.
• Use the same rate rules for every table of the same type.
• Require a reason for every discount and every manual change.
• Review the day's shortest sessions, edits and voids during closing.
• Compare session totals with the cash and credit recorded in the daily close.

Table utilisation is the share of available table time that was actually played: played hours divided by available hours (tables × opening hours). A club with 6 tables open 10 hours has 60 available table-hours a day; 33 played hours means 55% utilisation.

Utilisation by time of day shows when to run off-peak offers and when to schedule maintenance. A related measure, revenue per available table-hour, is explained in our guide to tracking snooker club sales, revenue and expenses.

DigiNizam's snooker club software follows the session from table to receipt: choose the table and game type, start the session, run the game or timer, finish, apply any discount, record cash or credit, print the receipt and release the table.

• Game types: Single Game and Double Game at configured fixed rates, and a Century timer with per-minute pricing, start, pause, resume and stop, minimum duration and rounding.
• Rates: configurable per branch, and per table for Century tables.
• Tables: table types, live status, availability, reservations and maintenance.
• Sessions: customer linking, payment, closure and session history.
• Control: discounts with mandatory reasons and approval limits, user roles and module-level permissions, and notifications for issues such as large discounts or maintenance.

Reservations and bookings are recorded by club staff. Online customer self-booking with deposits is not currently available; it can be built as a custom feature for an additional charge. Confirm your game types, pause behaviour, minimum duration and rounding rules during a demo.