In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a mark of the highest skill in snooker. Ronnie O'Sullivan has described a player's first century break as the "ultimate milestone for any snooker player". Joe Davis made the first televised century break in 1962. O'Sullivan holds the record for the most career centuries in professional competition, with over 1,200. Three players have reached the milestone of 1,000 career century breaks: O'Sullivan attained it at the 2019 Players Championship, followed by John Higgins at the 2024 English Open and Judd Trump at the 2024 British Open. Overall, 13 players have surpassed 500 career centuries in professional competition. Neil Robertson holds the record for the most century breaks in a single season, having ended the 2013–14 season with 103. He and Trump, who made 102 centuries in the 2019–20 season, are the only players to have achieved 100 or more century breaks in one season. The most centuries by a player in a professional match is seven, a record held jointly by Stephen Hendry, Ding Junhui, and Trump. Tony Drago made the fastest recorded century in tournament play at the 1996 UK Championship, when he took 3 minutes and 31 seconds to score 100 points.

Rules

A century is a score of 100 points or more within one to the table. The player does this by potting and alternately, where the coloured balls are repositioned on their starting locations. After repositioning the coloured ball paired to the last red on the table, the six coloured balls are potted in order of their increasing value. Because a break is defined as series of consecutive by a player during a single, scoring 100 points over the course of a whole frame does not necessarily constitute a century break, as it must be done on a single turn at the table. Points for a foul shot by the opponent do not count in a player's break. Under normal circumstances, the highest possible century in snooker is 147 (a "maximum break"), composed of 15 reds (one point each), 15 blacks (seven points each) and the six remaining colours; yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black potted consecutively (two through seven points each for a total of 27). If for example only the least-valued colour (yellow, two points) would be used instead of the black ball, the break value would only be 72 points. This means that only a single century break is possible in a of snooker under a limited number of combinations, but it requires the potting of at least 25 consecutive balls (10 x (1 + 7) + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 100). To score one, there must be at least ten reds on the table when the player comes to play since if there are only nine reds left, only 99 (= 9 × (1 + 7) + 27) points may be scored. An exception exists if the opponent and leaves the incoming player on all the remaining reds. In such a situation, the player can nominate one of the other as a red, known as a "", which carries the same value as a red for just that shot, and therefore, a century break is still possible with only nine reds left. Breaks above 147 are possible (up to 155) when an opponent fouls and leaves a with all fifteen reds still remaining on the table, creating a situation identical to as if there were 16 red balls on the table. This has happened only once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a 148 at the qualifying stage of the 2004 UK Championship. A "century of centuries" refers to a total of 100 breaks of at least 100 points each. By December 2001, only 15 players had reached this milestone in professional snooker tournaments. With the increased occurrence of centuries compiled in professional competition in the past decades, another 27 players had achieved a "century of centuries" by October 2011, bringing the total to 42. By the end of the 2013–14 season, the total number of players reaching the 100 centuries threshold had increased to 52. In October 2018, there were 66 players that had reached the 100 century breaks marker. As of October 2024, there are 85 players with 100 or more career centuries.

Players with 500 or more

The following players are reported to have made 500 confirmed century breaks in professional competition, and at least the given threshold above this.

Records

Career

Season

Event

Consecutive