What products is pool missing?

Promotional Products

I think pool is missing promotional products...someone needs to develop and sell products designed to promote the sport and make new player come down to the pool room.
 
I think pool is missing promotional products...someone needs to develop and sell products designed to promote the sport and make new player come down to the pool room.
What do you mean by promotional product, give me an example, the apa comes to my mind. I do think that a number of players have tables at their house.how do u get players that have pool tables at their house to come to the pool hall. I have a table at my house
I am guilty of not going to the pool hall except for pool tournament. that's the only time anybody there anyway.
 
More exposure and advertising. What happened to the games aired on tv? I haven't seen one of those in about 10 years. Hell I can't find a game anywhere on my cable provider. Instead I have to watch this game underground crap on my computer. No thanks.
 
What is surprising is that you have not noticed that people have been trying what you are asking for DECADES. It has never taken off because every option created has been absolute crap.


.

I have noticed that other materials have been used... but as you've stated they have been sub par, that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. One of the reasons probably has to do with demand and popularity. If pool had the same audience as computers or cars then I'm sure something good would have been developed by now but there isn't the same demand nor is there the profits associated with it. Companies won't spend millions in R&D for pool cues because they won't be able to recoup the cost. Maybe that's just the reality of it and we'll never get away from the same materials but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist.
 
Idea to go shoot pool

What do you mean by promotional product, give me an example, the apa comes to my mind. I do think that a number of players have tables at their house.how do u get players that have pool tables at their house to come to the pool hall. I have a table at my house
I am guilty of not going to the pool hall except for pool tournament. that's the only time anybody there anyway.

LastDimeTaker,
Not everyone has pool tables but there are lots of people who dont have a lot to do and they dont think of going to the pool room unless you jar there memory some. If you had cheap flyers, take for free magazines that promoted the sport out there then guess what? Someone might see them and actually decide to go play pool. Guys with tables are going to do what guys with tables do. Its the guys that dont or the guys that dont know how good pool is that we should try to recruit.
 
I know a product that pool needs...


A sign with "house rules"!

I get sick of playing guys who, all of a sudden, point out a "bar rule" that gives them an advantage. Of course this rule always seems to come after a shot, disqualifying the shot or foul.

(I especially like the guys who say you have to call a pocket clean or bounce)
 
in reply to..

I want to say thank you for everyone that has responded. It has been really interesting hearing what people have to say. I have only been serious about playing pool for 1 year now so that's why I reached out to a community of pool enthusiast. I love what the sport has done for me and someday my goal would to be to change the game for the better.

I've learned a lot from listening to everyone. I started this project thinking that pool needed a better product. What it sounds to me like is that it needs to be promoted. To a younger group of people more specifically. It needs connectivity, a disrupt that can change the view of younger eyes and be appealing. I don't think the whole "hustling" part of the game is going to be a good model. That seems to be stereotyped a lot. I know the best advertising of the mid to late 1900's were movies. All about hustling. I'm not saying that's a part of pools history but it makes pool look more like gambling than a sport and I'm arguing pool should be a sport. The APA has made a good attempt at connectivity but the overall public image of the sport seems to be lacking something.
 
I want to say thank you for everyone that has responded. It has been really interesting hearing what people have to say. I have only been serious about playing pool for 1 year now so that's why I reached out to a community of pool enthusiast. I love what the sport has done for me and someday my goal would to be to change the game for the better.

I've learned a lot from listening to everyone. I started this project thinking that pool needed a better product. What it sounds to me like is that it needs to be promoted. To a younger group of people more specifically. It needs connectivity, a disrupt that can change the view of younger eyes and be appealing. I don't think the whole "hustling" part of the game is going to be a good model. That seems to be stereotyped a lot. I know the best advertising of the mid to late 1900's were movies. All about hustling. I'm not saying that's a part of pools history but it makes pool look more like gambling than a sport and I'm arguing pool should be a sport. The APA has made a good attempt at connectivity but the overall public image of the sport seems to be lacking something.

The only way to make pool "better" is to not give any one player an equipment advantage. Aside from variations in the wood and tip of a cue the basic equipment is roughly identical.

So, eeping the playing field equipmentally even is the best thing you can do for pool.
 
Cue evolution and the EGrip

I think pool cues have reached the apex of their evolution. I have never been a fan of change for the sake of change and unless the game changes into something that might only resemble billiards as we know it I can't see cues or tips changing, at least not the material they're made out of, the alternatives - it's been tried without much success. Maybe different tapers, different laminate configurations, different wrap matetial but the core and heart of the cue I think is where it will always be. I see in the future maybe a new material for bumpers and felt changes or advances every few years, something new and different, but cues are what they are.
Have any of you all seen that cue holder called the EGrip? When I first saw one I thought I might like one, but then I saw the price, for a cue holder? Thought I'd stick with other much used devices, like a chair. If you've seen this creation, what are your thoughts?
 
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LastDimeTaker,
Not everyone has pool tables but there are lots of people who dont have a lot to do and they dont think of going to the pool room unless you jar there memory some. If you had cheap flyers, take for free magazines that promoted the sport out there then guess what? Someone might see them and actually decide to go play pool. Guys with tables are going to do what guys with tables do. Its the guys that dont or the guys that dont know how good pool is that we should try to recruit.

My train of thought is based on me being a pool player a very good customer considering how much money an time i put into it. I dont ever think about people who dont play pool. Now when i ran my business i bought all kinds of advertising even had a bill board biggest waste of money ever. The reason my pool hall did good was i love pool and i would play with every body. I catered to the guy who came in the one right in front of me. I did not ignore the guy already a customer to chase a potential customer thats how u lose customers. I know a lot of people want pool to grow but I think they lose sight of whats right in front of them. Your book did you write it for me a pool player that wants to improve or for a person that might play pool...my point is this u want to know what pool is missing ask your customers. When i read ur comment promotional product i was curious i thought u had something like the apa on ur mind.
 
GPS wires in the cloth

Something I've thought about for a long time. Cloth makers today have the ability to weave micro wire into cloth. What if a pool table was covered in such a cloth so that micro wires, (think thinner than existing fiber strands/hair/etc.) were woven into a grid pattern. Then using gps or other technology, a "picture" of the table could be taken with precise positions of the balls/layout etc.

All kinds of data could be gathered in addition if something was built into the balls as they rolled across the micro wires. From spin rates/ball speeds/skidding/etc..

I think the data could be unlimited, but perhaps very few people would be interested. I'm sure it would be ridiculously expensive as well, but just something I've thought about.
 
Something I've thought about for a long time. Cloth makers today have the ability to weave micro wire into cloth. What if a pool table was covered in such a cloth so that micro wires, (think thinner than existing fiber strands/hair/etc.) were woven into a grid pattern. Then using gps or other technology, a "picture" of the table could be taken with precise positions of the balls/layout etc.

All kinds of data could be gathered in addition if something was built into the balls as they rolled across the micro wires. From spin rates/ball speeds/skidding/etc..

I think the data could be unlimited, but perhaps very few people would be interested. I'm sure it would be ridiculously expensive as well, but just something I've thought about.

Much easier, technically speaking, to have an overhead infrared laser grid.
It would be awesome for TV broadcasting and training.
You could even have a built in IR reflective pattern in the balls to show how they spin as they carom off of each other.
 
whatever it takes to get a lot of women around the poolrooms. If there were a lot more women around pool that would make hanging out at the poolroom so much better when there isn't anything going on.
 
I would like a more modern looking cue case that isnt completely plain, but at the same time doesn't look like something that John Wayne would carry. It should also be fairly light weight and have places to store various modern pool inventions such as a dedicated jump cue and cue extension.
 
I'm not sure about the comparison to golf technology because with all the advances in that sport the average player's handicap hasn't gone down. All it did was make short courses obsolete for the professionals, and make long courses short. And the governing bodies have seen the error of their ways so now once a technology in golf does create a major advancement that makes it "easier" the governing bodies put the kibosh on it, as well they should. Such was the case with square grooves and bouncy club faces.

And golf and pool aren't the only sports that put limitations on technology. Professional baseball still requires bats be made from wood.

As mentioned, there have been technological breakthroughs in pool, some successful (phenolic balls) and some not so much (fiberglass cues). Cushions and cloth have also gotten better.

Generally speaking, in sport advancements that make the game less expensive or conditions more consistent without diminishing the skill required stand a chance of meeting with some success.

One of the things that I appreciate about pool is the allegiance to tradition.
 
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nuggets, pretzel nuggets, that's what we need
 

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Necessity is the mother of invention, if its not necessary, its rarely changed. That said, having a better way to pay per game would be nice, instead of everyone trying to keep up with 4lbs of quarters. Perhaps an electronic token that could be set up with your information and charge your account or card when you put it on the table or in a slot on the side of the table so they wouldn't interfere with play. Having slots would also keep the order of whose next, with an led appearing behind the token next in line once the game is over.
 
""Something I've thought about for a long time. Cloth makers today have the ability to weave micro wire into cloth. What if a pool table was covered in such a cloth so that micro wires, (think thinner than existing fiber strands/hair/etc.) were woven into a grid pattern. Then using gps or other technology, a "picture" of the table could be taken with precise positions of the balls/layout etc.

All kinds of data could be gathered in addition if something was built into the balls as they rolled across the micro wires. From spin rates/ball speeds/skidding/etc..

I think the data could be unlimited, but perhaps very few people would be interested. I'm sure it would be ridiculously expensive as well, but just something I've thought about.""


You are likely thinking of some sory of metal wire cloth or wire mesh material? Try looking up Belleville Wire Cloth in Cedar Grove, NJ I believe they have prototyped a few things along these lines.
 
I would like to see theme songs applied to each ball.

I believe the technology is there and it would be really cool to have the ball you are shooting announce its challenge via song. then you knock it down and go to the next song/ ball.
 
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