Bar Games

[JAM]

Something about drinking brings out the competitive side in us, as long as there's a bar, pool table, dart board, or a deck of cards not too far off.

With the advent of digital technology, bars today are adding new games to complement their existing lot of traditional bar games, such as pool tables, darts, and pinball machines, hoping to draw in customers and having them want to stay for a spell.

Technology has only broadened the possibilities for bar games. Besides the usual mainstays, bars are increasingly adding Wii, the Nintendo's blockbuster video-game console.

Here's a quick, far from comprehensive, look at bar games through the ages:

Skittles: First found in English pubs, this one goes back to the third century, with German monks being the pioneers of this game. From what we can tell, it's an early variant of bowling and other games that involve setting things up and knocking them down.

I've never heard of Skittles. LOL! :embarrassed2:

Continuing:

Darts: Whoever thought that drinking, crowded rooms and throwing sharp objects would make for a good combination was a counterintuitive genius. What seems like a recipe for disaster has become the classic bar game for more than a century and remains competitive with the newfangled games today. Granted, we no longer use blowpipes for the darts, as they did in the early days, and rules may change from region to region and from bar to bar, but the darts game of today has remained remarkably similar to its origins.

Pool/billiards/snooker: Quintessential as darts may be to the bar world, there has yet to be a classic movie about it, like "The Hustler" or "Color of Money" ("Bullseye!" a 2006 film about a dart champion who retires after his father is killed in lawn darts, doesn't count). That's why we have pool. And you never have to travel far to find a pool table. They're not regulation size, you say? Go to a pool hall, sticklers, not a bar.

Trivia: This one also seemed like a doomed idea. Go to a bar, just so you can answer questions about things you haven't thought about since your high school history classes? But let players come up with vulgar team names and a chance to win a cash prize, and trivia contests in the state have taken off. Anna Liffey's has been going gangbusters with its Tuesday night trivia competition for years. McKinnon's Pub on Asylum Street has made Thursdays its trivia night for the last six months.

Pinball machines: Said to be a derivation of bowling, and the aforementioned German monk pastime of Skittles, pinball machines started showing up in bars shortly after World War II. Though they no longer have the cultural cachet that they once did, when they were the focus of rock musicals, they've adapted to the digital age and remain an enduring stable of drinking establishments.

Foosball: Remember that collective existential crisis we went through when Deep Blue, the IBM-created computer, beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov at his own game? "What hath the humans wrought?" we cried. Or something like that. That's nothing compared to our grief when robots will finally be able to beat us at foosball.

A couple years ago, we went to a bar in Denver named Paradise Billiards. Aside from the numerous 9-footers, they had big screens all over the room, where people could play poker with each other, i.e., poker tournaments. There were mobile joysticks for the competitors. There was a little gambling, under the table so to speak. Each person could pay $5 or $10 to play in a poker tournament, and the winner would win a little chunk of cheese. It was fun!

Source: http://www.courant.com/entertainment/hc-bargames.artmar14,0,4237158.story [Retrieved 14 March 2009]

In order to make a profit, pool alone just doesn't seem to bring as much profit as it once did, but people sure do enjoy playing it still. The bars of today, though, are quite different, with a variety of new games. I can remember playing PacMan in the bars, but today, there's digital pinball, golf machines with golf tournaments for money, and one bar in my area even has a weekly poker game for the patrons, with free trips as the prizes.

Angela Lacaprucia of Wethersfield is entertained by Linsie Esau of Hartford as he playfully brandishes a pool cue toward co-worker Tara Blackmon of Meriden (off camera) after he sank the eight ball at City Steam, a cool pool bar somewhere in New England. :smile:

 

[JAM]

Here's Paradise Billiards in Denver Colorado. This is one of the oldest pool bars around. This place used to host tournaments a couple decades ago, and Jimmy Mataya, Jim Rempe, Mike Sigel, and many others came to Denver to play pool.

Though pool is the main theme of this bar, there's a lot of other extracurricular activities going on to hold the interest of others. The food is great, BTW. They even have a house mascot dog, last time I was there.

I thought it was pretty cool how you could play poker on the big screen from anywhere in the bar with the mobile joy sticks. Fun place, this Paradise Billiards. After all these years, it's seems to still be going strong.

 

[JAM]

The pool rooms that I see that are successful and make money are the ones that are located near colleges and universities OR host league teams at their facilities.

Snookers pool room in Providence, Rhode Island, is a good example of location, location, location. There are over 30 colleges and universities within 30 miles of their location. Good food, good equipment, and other entertainment options like a separate music room for dancing, make this a win-win for the owner and the pool player.

Snookers website: http://www.snookerspoollounge.com/index.htm

BTW, Joe Tucker is the house pro and gives lessons at Snookers.

This is a good example of how a pool room/bar can be successful. I have only been here a few times, but each visit was fun and memorable. The food is unreal. Try Regina's homemade Italian meatballs. YUMMIE!

When the smoking ban hit Providence, Snookers didn't want that to stop the players from enjoying their smokes. They built an outdoor deck, to include a bar and seating area. One can stand outside, smoke a cigarette, and peer in the window, getting a bird's-eye view of the action on the pool tables.

 

[JAM]

Though I think Snookers in Providence, RI would be successful without hosting pool tournaments, they still give back to the pool community by having the annual Ocean State Championships.

Ginky has won it many times. He must love this locale. The 2005 Ocean State Championship finals came down to Ginky and Allen Hopkins one year. It was some of the BEST pool I have ever seen in person for a finals game. Neither one of them could make a mistake. It was phenomenal, and the winner could have gone either way. In this end, it was Ginky first, Allen second, and Joe Tucker third. What a great tournament.

Snookers is definitely a pool player's bar, among other things.

 

[JAM]

Everybody has a favorite place to shoot pool. I have some that are only a memory today, as they are not longer in existence.

It is hard for me to day to pick a favorite, but I think anyone who's been to Q-Master in Virginia Beach, VA can agree that it is a pretty sweet pool spot. There's a whole room of bar tables, another room of 9-footers for social shooters, and in the back room, there's bleacher seats and another slew of 9-footers.

Host of the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship, Barry Behrman's Q-Masters Billiards is, IMHO, the best place to shoot pool on the East Coast, bar none.

Whether you're a social shooter, league player, aspiring pro, professional player, or road agent, Q-Master has a little something for everyone. :smile:

Website: http://www.q-masters.com/index.php

 

[JAM]

Most locals in the D.C. Metropolitan Area are aware of the weekly Wednesday night 9-ball tournament at Orange Ball Billiards in Rockville, MD. For $20 entry fee, it's a great way to shoot pool, mingle with other pool folk, and have fun.

Orange Ball offers FREE POOL during the day if you buy lunch. I think this is a great way to attract customers for any pool room owner.

Q-Master in Virginia Beach has the same offer -- FREE POOL during certain hours.

I think if I owned a pool room bar, this would be one way to keep people coming back and win new customers.

 

[Rich R.]

Jam, I just have a small correction.
Barry Behrman's Q-Master Billiards is in Virginia Beach, not Norfolk.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Nice thread, very interesting spin on bar games. It is good to see the pics, Paradise billiards in Denver has changed owners and the name has changed also but it still much like it was, or at least i am told.

 

[JAM]

Billiards has always been a popular game, but for the past few decades it's been on the rise more than ever. And Western Massachusetts is home to many parlors and bars where a good game can almost always be had.

Sadly, one of the area's most notable pool places, Boston Billiards in West Springfield, closed earlier this year. The club, which had 32 pool tables, was a billiards destination in the area for 15 years. But despite its closing, pool remains very popular in the region.

"It stays popular because it's one game where everyone can compete equally," said Thomas A. Lucchesi, who co-owns Ivory Billiards in Holyoke with his brother, Paul F. Lucchesi III. "It doesn't matter whether you're young or old, or a man or a woman. Everyone can play and have a chance to be good at it. Of course you can be the worst player in house and still have fun. You can be missing the most and still be laughing the hardest."

Ivory Billiards has been in business since 1947 and is located at 151 Chestnut St. There are 17 tables at the pool hall: eight 7-foot pool tables, eight 9-foot pool tables, and one 10-foot billiards table. What differentiates Ivory from some of its competitors is having numerous Amateur Pool Association teams playing on league nights, Sunday through Thursday.

"The A.P.A. is a fantastic league," Lucchesi said. "It gives out $1.5 million in prize money every year. That's a lot for an amateur league."

Now, that's what I call a nice pool bar! Pool has always seemed to rock in New England. I guess it gets so cold up there, that pool continues to be popular game to play inside where it's warm!

Ivory Billiards website: http://ivorybilliards.com/

 

[JAM]

Jam, I just have a small correction.
Barry Behrman's Q-Master Billiards is in Virginia Beach, not Norfolk.

Thank you so much for the correction, Rich.

 

[JAM]

Nice thread, very interesting spin on bar games. It is good to see the pics, Paradise billiards in Denver has changed owners and the name has changed also but it still much like it was, or at least i am told.

What is the new name, Cuebuddy?

I really enjoyed my time there at Paradise Billiards in Denver. The whole area is pretty nice. The people in the pool room were some of the most nicest folks I've ever met on the road. I really did have a good time there.

 

[tigerseye]

Love to see poolrooms across the country with a little story behind them. This thread is very refreshing to me. Thanks JAM=)
U should write a book about Keith and the poolrooms....

 

[Cuebuddy]

What is the new name, Cuebuddy?

I really enjoyed my time there at Paradise Billiards in Denver. The whole area is pretty nice. The people in the pool room were some of the most nicest folks I've ever met on the road. I really did have a good time there.

I think the changed to Hanks. I never spent allot of time there but when I would stop in it was the perfect pool hall for me. There was always a game of golf going on in the corner,being played on a 12 foot snoooooker table with the classic old men.

 

[JAM]

Love to see poolrooms across the country with a little story behind them. This thread is very refreshing to me. Thanks JAM=)
U should write a book about Keith and the poolrooms....

Thanks, Tigerseye. Hey, how about sharing some of the pool rooms in your area? Aren't you close to that annual bar table tournament pool room that sells out every year?

Years ago, there was a place in Durham, NC named Sports Room, I think it was. We were on the road and happened to walk in there during the middle of the day.

In the back room, there were a bunch of older gentlemen playing poker on a snooker table. In the front room, the tables were vacant, with no action. I will never forget that they had a house parrot, a big old green bird with a red head. LOL! :grin-square:

So my road partner says to the house man, "Anybody want to play some 9-ball?" So the house man says he'll try him some. I was a little green about who's who in pool back then, but this house man played strong. He might have been a top player, for all we knew.

Soon we were stuck a couple C-notes. The house man always has the advantage, I guess, as they know the table rolls. Finally, though, it looked as if my friend was going to win a game. He had kind of an odd angle to make the 9-ball, but it was doable. He fired at it and the cueball scratched. :frown:

Right at that moment, the parrot yells out, "Good shot." I thought my friend was going to choke that bird. He unscrewed his stick, and we drove out of town, a little lighter in the pockets. :embarrassed2:

 

[ShootingArts]

funny story, great thread!

JAM,

Funny story about the bird, great thread!

Even in my little rambles I have stumbled across a few unknowns that were monsters particularly given home field advantage. The bird doing the commentary would be just too much. I'd have to go pluck all of it's feathers if it didn't shut up!

Hu

Thanks, Tigerseye. Hey, how about sharing some of the pool rooms in your area? Aren't you close to that annual bar table tournament pool room that sells out every year?

Years ago, there was a place in Durham, NC named Sports Room, I think it was. We were on the road and happened to walk in there during the middle of the day.

In the back room, there were a bunch of older gentlemen playing poker on a snooker table. In the front room, the tables were vacant, with no action. I will never forget that they had a house parrot, a big old green bird with a red head. LOL! :grin-square:

So my road partner says to the house man, "Anybody want to play some 9-ball?" So the house man says he'll try him some. I was a little green about who's who in pool back then, but this house man played strong. He might have been a top player, for all we knew.

Soon we were stuck a couple C-notes. The house man always has the advantage, I guess, as they know the table rolls. Finally, though, it looked as if my friend was going to win a game. He had kind of an odd angle to make the 9-ball, but it was doable. He fired at it and the cueball scratched. :frown:

Right at that moment, the parrot yells out, "Good shot." I thought my friend was going to choke that bird. He unscrewed his stick, and we drove out of town, a little lighter in the pockets. :embarrassed2:

 

[9BallPaul]

Nice thread, JAM

Paradise Billiards is now called Hank's -- even if the sign outside still announces it as Paradise. Tough times all over. In any case, this is the old Familly Fun Center that has been the center of Denver's pool universe for 50 years. Sadly, I don't think that's s0 any longer.

I'm not even certain that Denver has a pool universe, but if it does, I guess it's found out south in a joint called Table Steaks, a combo restaurant and pool hall with about thirty tables total, many of them Gold Crowns.

At the old Fun Center, I saw Eddie Taylor, Bill Staton, Buddy Hall and countless others. The top local sticks were Andy Hudson and Bill Stroud. Andy was strictly a stay-at-home players who kept a good marriage, job and family life. Stroud enjoyed going on the road.

Paradise seems to me a real shabby place. The service is surly and the guys playing golf (or some variation of it) on the corner snooker table are in their own little world. I've never been able to spark much conversation at that table.

When I was in high school, I'd sneak out my Dad's car to go to the Fun Center for post-midnight action. Don't keep those hours anymore, so I don't know if Hank's is as busy late at night. I'm guessing they must be, because something is keeping the doors open and it ain't the afternoon and evening crowds.

 

[Dartman]

Something about drinking brings out the competitive side in us, as long as there's a bar, pool table, dart board, or a deck of cards not too far off.

With the advent of digital technology, bars today are adding new games to complement their existing lot of traditional bar games, such as pool tables, darts, and pinball machines, hoping to draw in customers and having them want to stay for a spell. ...

I remember when Golden T and NTN came out. Big time popular.
The subject "Bar Games" brings back memory of a Bar Game Olympics we did at our place in TN around 8 or 9 yrs ago.
Events were 8ball, 501, foosball, golden-t and shuffle bowling. We ran this over 5 Sundays and had a great turnout.
Players earned points in each event and we awarded a gold, silver and bronze medal to the top 3 at the end.
Good fun for all involved.

BTW - you got a pick for the first Saturday in May?

 

[JAM]

Paradise Billiards is now called Hank's -- even if the sign outside still announces it as Paradise. Tough times all over. In any case, this is the old Familly Fun Center that has been the center of Denver's pool universe for 50 years. Sadly, I don't think that's s0 any longer.

I'm not even certain that Denver has a pool universe, but if it does, I guess it's found out south in a joint called Table Steaks, a combo restaurant and pool hall with about thirty tables total, many of them Gold Crowns.

At the old Fun Center, I saw Eddie Taylor, Bill Staton, Buddy Hall and countless others. The top local sticks were Andy Hudson and Bill Stroud. Andy was strictly a stay-at-home players who kept a good marriage, job and family life. Stroud enjoyed going on the road.

Paradise seems to me a real shabby place. The service is surly and the guys playing golf (or some variation of it) on the corner snooker table are in their own little world. I've never been able to spark much conversation at that table.

When I was in high school, I'd sneak out my Dad's car to go to the Fun Center for post-midnight action. Don't keep those hours anymore, so I don't know if Hank's is as busy late at night. I'm guessing they must be, because something is keeping the doors open and it ain't the afternoon and evening crowds.

Pool rooms -- I mean "real" pool rooms -- do not seem to be as plentiful today as they were years ago.

Paradise being named "Hank's" is kind of funny for me. The place where I first learned how to play pool was a "Hank's." :grin-square:

Interestingly, the pool bars in my area, even when action was prevalent, only had one, two, maybe three tables in them. Route 1 in Maryland was where all the bar table action was. You could start at one end of Route 1 right at the D.C./Maryland line and work your way to Baltimore on weekend nights. There were ring games of 9-ball in a lot of places in these 1- and 2-table bars. We used to grind the bar tables, hoping to get enough cheese to hit the trotters at Freestate Raceway.

And if we were at Freestate Raceway and went bust, we'd hit the bars on Route 1 and try to grind a little cheese back in our pockets with the ring games.

When I went down South playing pool for the first time, the thing that really stuck out for me was how many pool tables they had in the bars. From North Carolina all the way to Florida, there were bars with 10 and 20 bar boxes in them. It was non-stop action, with unsung pool greats named Groundhog, Rocky Creek, Roanoke Red, Meat Man, et cetera.

In order for a bar to make it today, economically speaking, I guess they need to incorporate the digital games to keep their customers happy.

With Diamond Smart tables, the "rack boy" is a thing of the past, a distant memory. Jackie Gleason used to be a rack boy in New York City, which is where he got his start playing pool.

 

[JAM]

I remember when Golden T and NTN came out. Big time popular.
The subject "Bar Games" brings back memory of a Bar Game Olympics we did at our place in TN around 8 or 9 yrs ago.
Events were 8ball, 501, foosball, golden-t and shuffle bowling. We ran this over 5 Sundays and had a great turnout.
Players earned points in each event and we awarded a gold, silver and bronze medal to the top 3 at the end.
Good fun for all involved.

BTW - you got a pick for the first Saturday in May?

Bar Games Olympics. I like it! I could never get good at that shuffleboard. I knew some people who were champs at it. You don't see to many shuffleboards anymore.

At my bar hangout, we'd always have a Derby pool. Everybody would pay 10 bucks, and we'd put the names of all the Derby entrants in a hat. You couldn't pick the horse. You just had to pull the name out of a hat. One year, I won both Derby pools, as I somehow managed to pick the same horse's name in each one.

I haven't seen the full Derby roster, but so far, I was learning towards Midshipman, though I think he's got hurt.

I will miss SmorgassBored this year. We used to always exchange our picks for the Derby each year. :frown:

 

[Dartman]

Bar Games Olympics. I like it! I could never get good at that shuffleboard. I knew some people who were champs at it. You don't see to many shuffleboards anymore.

At my bar hangout, we'd always have a Derby pool. Everybody would pay 10 bucks, and we'd put the names of all the Derby entrants in a hat. You couldn't pick the horse. You just had to pull the name out of a hat. One year, I won both Derby pools, as I somehow managed to pick the same horse's name in each one.

I haven't seen the full Derby roster, but so far, I was learning towards Midshipman, though I think he's got hurt.

I will miss SmorgassBored this year. We used to always exchange our picks for the Derby each year. :frown:

Derby starters are still a coin flip. Looks like Old Fashioned is the early consensus pick.
We'll know more once March is done.

On the bar game thing we did - it was all about fun and everyone enjoyed razzing and being razzed -
especially in foosball. Luckily we never had a problem getting press.
Here's a newspaper promo from the event -