Badsnookerplayer wrote:1. You must nominate a colour, play away from the red ball and hit the nominated colour ball.
2. You can nominate the touching colour and play away from it without moving it. Or you can nominate a different colour and play this instead.
I am pretty sure this is correct but happy to be corrected.
Both points absolutely correct Player.
My own personal note to add....for some reason, in social games, it seems to me that most players are compelled to declare "Touching ball!" anytime the White comes to rest touching another ball no matter the situation. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, it is a true statement, but you can also yell at the top of your lungs, "The sky is blue!" after every shot if you wish. Like myself toward my opponent when he unnecessarily declares touching ball, people will just look at you like you are crazy is all.
Professionally, what will happen is that the Referee will examine the state of the balls, whether White is touching or not, but will only verbally declare, "Touching ball" if it is relevant to do so. So the question then is, "Well, then, when is it 'relevant'?"
If a Red has just been potted so that the ball on must now become a colour then if White ends up touching another Red at rest, it is irrelevant and not declared. However, the Referee will examine and determine in his own mind that White and Red are in fact touching while not verbally declaring such. He will do this as a matter of habit just in case the follow up shot turns out to be a "Foul and a Miss" situation....then the Ref knows that balls must be touching when he resets.
Likewise, if Red is the ball on and White came to rest against a colour, the Ref will take note but not verbally declare and for exactly the same reason.
Last thing that I will emphasize on your second point, BadSnookerPlayer:
"2. You can nominate the touching colour and play away from it without moving it.
Or you can nominate a different colour and play this instead."
This is a case where the player is obligated to make a verbal declaration lest the Referee will nearly certainly call a Foul. If the ball on is colour and White ends up touching, say, Yellow, the Referee will declare "Touching ball!" So say the player just jacks up over the Yellow and pots the Green. The Referee will call, "Foul!" The player may protest, "It was obvious that I was playing toward the Green!" The Referee (if he wants to be a nice guy) can explain, "Well, it was even more obvious that you were playing AWAY from Yellow so how can I possibly know what colour is your intention unless you tell me?"
It is ALWAYS a good idea to declare verbally when touching a colour, whether the intent is the touching ball or some other ball; eliminates any possible doubt.
And a last personal note.....in a social environment, declaring "Touching ball" is supposed to come with a certain etiquette that seems to have fallen by the wayside with most all of the players in my club. Few people seem to know their personal responsibility when a touching ball situation occurs. So in an effort to educate the masses, following is the etiquette explained to me when I learned the game thirty some years ago.
In a Refereed situation, if the Referee declares "Touching ball", then it is touching ball and that is all there is to it. But in a self-refereed game between two players, either player can make the verbal
statement, "Touching ball". It is usually the striker who will make this call, but not necessarily. Notice I use the term "statement" and "call" and not the more authoritative "declaration" because the referee duties of a non-refereed frame should rightfully be by agreement of the players, therefore the initial statement, "Touching ball!" is really just a statement to say, "I believe the balls are touching; you are welcome to check them if you wish." In a manner of speaking, this is really a question, and awaits an answer from the opponent. So the opponent (if he tends to be a distrustful sort or if the original player is known to be nefarious) may amble over to view the situation and agree or disagree. But usually, the opponent won't even bother to examine and will just reply with, "Touching ball!", in essence, saying, "I agree with what you say that you see. Go ahead and play your stroke."
Even though I have explained this (seemingly obvious to me) etiquette numerous times, most often, I will state, "Touching ball" then wait about five seconds or more before I go ahead and play my shot to a silent response.