Brent Ellem wrote:Is it illegal to wear earbuds while playing snooker?
Hi, Brent. Like many great documents written throughout history, the Rules of Snooker are a
minimalist document. In a nutshell, that means that anything not specifically forbidden in the Rules is not forbidden. This most often comes up in questions about the rests, such as "Can I play a stroke with the rest if I can't reach it so it just lays on the table without a hand on it?" or "Is it legal if a player decides to NOT use the rest and just leaves it on the table during the stroke?," or more recently, "Was it a legal stroke when Kyren Wilson used BOTH the spider and the rest to play a stroke?" The answer to all these things, and your question as well by the way, is that there is nothing in the Rules to forbid it, therefore, it is perfectly legal.
HOWEVER, if you are referring to the professional game that you watch on telly, those players have additional rules they must follow that are BEYOND the official Rules of Snooker. Things such as their conduct around the table like smoking and drinking and swearing. These are not "illegal" by the Rules of Snooker, but still the Players are not allowed to do such things by the agreement they made as a Professional Snooker Player. I would guess that professional play does not allow for use of personal entertainment devices during the course of a match (it would certainly appear to the viewer to be "unprofessional"), but I don't know that for certain.
So in a casual, friendly game down at pub, you are perfectly fine to head bop to your favourite tunes on your ear buds, as well as smoking and drinking and swearing (insofar as the venue owner allows, his or her Rules trump any other). Have at it and have fun knocking the balls around!