highrun55,
You need to attract the non players and casual players. Whether everyone agrees or not, most of the time, the better players are there to make money, the rest are there to spend money, and that is the bottom line. If you want to get a buzz going with some free word of mouth advertising, do what I did at a little place I ran a long time ago that was suffering the same way. One night a week, take a big clear jar and put 10 $1 bills in it. When someone breaks playing eight ball, they can put $1 through a slot in the lid of the jar, and if they make the eight ball without scratching they win what ever is in the jar. You will be amazed how quickly the pot will grow, and this will just feed the frenzy for everyone to try more. The word will get out and draw people, because everyone has an equal chance to win, not just the better players. Paint a big sign on the window with shoe polish, say something like Break the Bank on Sat. Night. Always have the jar up behind the counter where people can see all the cash in it, even on the nights when you are not doing it, to remind them to come in on Sat night. Just a thought, we had a lot of fun with it. Here are a couple do's and don'ts you might want to consider.
Don't let the same person keep feeding the kitty rack after rack until they win, tell them that is not allowed so everyone has a chance to win.
Inspect the rack or rack them yourself, as to make sure of a good rack, and the eight ball is where it should be. (someone, will try to screw you)
Put their picture up somewhere when they break the bank.
After someone wins you could even take $10 or $20 of the winnings to start the next bank.
You need to attract the non players and casual players. Whether everyone agrees or not, most of the time, the better players are there to make money, the rest are there to spend money, and that is the bottom line. If you want to get a buzz going with some free word of mouth advertising, do what I did at a little place I ran a long time ago that was suffering the same way. One night a week, take a big clear jar and put 10 $1 bills in it. When someone breaks playing eight ball, they can put $1 through a slot in the lid of the jar, and if they make the eight ball without scratching they win what ever is in the jar. You will be amazed how quickly the pot will grow, and this will just feed the frenzy for everyone to try more. The word will get out and draw people, because everyone has an equal chance to win, not just the better players. Paint a big sign on the window with shoe polish, say something like Break the Bank on Sat. Night. Always have the jar up behind the counter where people can see all the cash in it, even on the nights when you are not doing it, to remind them to come in on Sat night. Just a thought, we had a lot of fun with it. Here are a couple do's and don'ts you might want to consider.
Don't let the same person keep feeding the kitty rack after rack until they win, tell them that is not allowed so everyone has a chance to win.
Inspect the rack or rack them yourself, as to make sure of a good rack, and the eight ball is where it should be. (someone, will try to screw you)
Put their picture up somewhere when they break the bank.
After someone wins you could even take $10 or $20 of the winnings to start the next bank.