Originally planned as a newsletter for the fledgling organization SNAPP (Southeastern Network of Amateur Pool Players), before the first issue was published, excitement surrounding the publication generated so many requests for advertising that the publishers decided to discard the newsletter format in favor of a full-fledged slick magazine.

Magazine founders, Rick Boling and "Kreole" Freddie Yates put together the first bi-monthly issue (Volume 1, Number 1, August-September 1989) of Make It On The Snap in the summer of 1989, and it was an immediate success. Traveling to pool tournaments and various popular pool halls around the Southeast, representatives of the magazine began selling subscriptions, wholesale distribution packages and advertising, while the publishers worked on adding to the editorial staff and gathering stories from the field. By the time the second issue (October-November 1989) was published, a staff of professional editors, writers and contributors had been assembled, including such pool luminaries as Buddy Hall, Grady Mathews, Benny "The Goose" Conway, Ray Martin, Mike Massey, David Howard, Floyd Baxter, and Gene "The Glove" Catron.

To the left is the cover of the first issue. Below is the masthead for the second issue.

With the third issue (featuring Johnny Archer on the cover), strong word-of-mouth took the magazine national, with pool halls across the country selling multiple copies of each issue and subscriptions pouring in from all over the US. The first international subscription request came from Britain following publication of the fourth issue (now quite rare, featuring Brian Atchley on the cover), and the publishers were forced to come up with international mailing rates. From there, subscription rates snowballed, with requests coming in from all parts of the country and the world, even from as far away as Australia.

By the end of its first year of publication, the editors realized they had erred in starting off with an odd-months issue, so they took the opportunity to rectify this and also to redesign and rename the magazine. The first issue of the second year (September-October 1990) carried a new and sleeker logo featuring the new shortened name: Snap Magazine. This "California" issue also began a tradition of unique and creative cover designs, for which the magazine eventually became famous. The first of the newly designed covers featured a group of bikini-clad bathing beauties on a beach with oversized beach/pool balls and 9-ball umbrellas. Being in Florida, the cost of a photo shoot in California was prohibitive, so the cover was shot on the beautiful, pristine beach of St. George's Island, southwest of the magazine's headquarters in Tallahassee.

Long before the magazine went out of business, back issues had become collector's items, selling for many times the original cover price. In fact, copies of the first issue were in such demand that the magazine was forced to publish a reprint of it. The reprint was limited to 1,000 copies, and each copy was numbered to enhance its value and distinguish it from the originals. Some years later, a flooding incident at the storage facility where the remnants of the business were stored destroyed hundreds of back issues, posters and other merchandise, thereby increasing in value all remaining Snap Magazine memorabilia. Today, complete sets of the magazine's 13 issues sell on the Internet for up to $1,500 (http://www.billiardmemorabilia.com/publications1.html), while certain rare issues like the original Volume 1, Number 1, and the scarce Volume 1, Number 4 sell for up to $150 each. Other issues can often be found on eBay for prices ranging from $40 to $100 and more. Some of the early, more valuable issues featured cover photos of up-and-coming pool players who later became famous, such as Johnny Archer, Richard Lane and Belinda Beardon.

In addition to the extremely rare Brian Atchley issue (Volume 1, Number 4) and some of the earliest issues (of which few copies remain) others are of high value mainly due to their content and cover designs. Of these, perhaps the two most coveted are The Collectible Cues issue (Volume 2, Number 5) and The Johnston City issue (Volume 2, Number 6).

The Collectible Cues issue featured a never-before-seen glimpse into the incredible cue collection of the Glenn Family, considered at the time to be the largest and most valuable collection of rare and exotic cues in the world. One of the aspects of this issue that made it an instant collector's item was the cover, which featured a rare photograph of a 1977 Gus Szamboti cue and its matching case built by famed case maker, Fellini. This combination was essentially priceless at the time, since it was not for sale, though some collectors placed a value on it in the neighborhood of $40,000. The issue also contained a wealth of information for cue collectors, including articles on: how to go about starting a collection of rare cues; the investment aspect of collecting; the controversy over using ivory in cue construction; how to care for collectible cues; the $85,000 "King James" cue built by Meucci for Jim "King James" Rempe; investing in rare snooker cues; and pointers on how to store and protect collectible cues from thieves.

The cover of the Johnston City issue featured a rare photo of the famous "Pit" where the real action took place in Johnston City, and another of a priceless copy of a program from Johnston City. The feature story, The Great Pool Jamboree - Johnston City: 1962-1972, written by Pauline Masterton, spanned four full pages, with rare photos taken at the tournaments of players in their youth or prime. These included Minnesota Fats, Harry "The Horse" McConnell, Buddy "The Rifleman" Hall, Ronnie Allen, Martin "Omaha Fats" Kaiman, Tom Cosmo, Grady "The Professor" Mathews, Danny Diliberto, and Bill "Mustache" Incardona. Pauline's article has become legendary among billiard aficionados and memorabilia collectors, and is the main reason this issue is one of the most sought after in the history of The Snap.