The tournament was played using a variation of the traditional snooker rules. The draw was randomised before each round. All matches were played over a single , each of which lasted up to 10 minutes. The event featured a variable ; shots played in the first five minutes were allowed 20 seconds while the final five had a 15-second timer. All awarded the opponent a . Unlike traditional snooker, if a ball did not hit a on every shot, it was a foul. Rather than a
coin toss, a
lag was used to choose which player . In the event of a draw, each player received a shot at the . This is known as a "blue ball shootout". The player who the ball with the from inside the and the blue ball on its spot with the opponent missing won the match. 64 players contested the tournament, which was shown on Sky, the first time that Sky has shown a World Snooker event live since 2004.
Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: • Winner: £32,000 • Runner-up: £16,000 • Semi-finals: £8,000 • Quarter-finals: £4,000 • Last 16: £2,000 • Last 32: £1,000 • Last 64: £500 • Highest break: £2,000 • Total: £130,000 ==Tournament draw==