Johnny Archer's New Room

briankenobi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I will be heading down there sometime in 2022 and I am excited to see it. Rodney and Johnny are both friends so I want to support their endeavor. I am most interested in how the 7ft Brunswick tables play.
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I will be heading down there sometime in 2022 and I am excited to see it. Rodney and Johnny are both friends so I want to support their endeavor. I am most interested in how the 7ft Brunswick tables play.
For what they are they play great. The cushions are correct. They will be a good addition to the Bwick line-up
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i just dont get it ..... no pleasure in running a table on a bar table ... none. why do people like them?
They don’t need to know about pool.

Point is they are a activity for people while they are drinking. It ain’t pool(for that crowd)
 
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tomatoshooter

Well-known member
How many of us would be playing if it weren't for bar tables? I do agree, stepping up to a 9 foot Gold Crown with 4" pockets makes me feel like what I'm doing is more advanced and important but is it really? I suppose Daytona has more viewers than a half mile dirt oval but there ain't a single guy on the grid that wouldn't climb out of a late model with a big stupid grin on his face. Half of them would prefer it if the money was there.
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How many of us would be playing if it weren't for bar tables? I do agree, stepping up to a 9 foot Gold Crown with 4" pockets makes me feel like what I'm doing is more advanced and important but is it really? I suppose Daytona has more viewers than a half mile dirt oval but there ain't a single guy on the grid that wouldn't climb out of a late model with a big stupid grin on his face. Half of them would prefer it if the money was there.
Bar tables put cues in a huge number of hands and that’s not a bad thing. They have done more good for pool than bad.

While I’m not a huge fan of barbox’s they are still better than nothing. What’s funny is when I’ve been in dead stoke on 9’ tables and felt unbeatable on a barbox-sure enough there’s always someone capable of shooting my nuts off.

It’s easy to over rate yourself on a barbox. They are equalizers and I’ve beat a few people in them who I can’t beat on a 9’ table, what’s wrong with that?

Let’s play pool,
Fatboy<———-hasn’t met a pool table he didn’t like🤠
 

middleofnowhere

Registered
How many of us would be playing if it weren't for bar tables? I do agree, stepping up to a 9 foot Gold Crown with 4" pockets makes me feel like what I'm doing is more advanced and important but is it really? I suppose Daytona has more viewers than a half mile dirt oval but there ain't a single guy on the grid that wouldn't climb out of a late model with a big stupid grin on his face. Half of them would prefer it if the money was there.
Most are not old enough to remember when pool was all but dead. Brunswick bowling alleys were turning the pool rooms into banquet and meeting rooms. Without the advent of the bar tables there would probably be little or no pool at all today. Fact is. look how excited people get when a new room opens now.

There are still a lot of places in the country no big tables are to be found. Take away the bar tables and there is nothing. You never know what it was till it's gone. When I was a kid between Bowling alleys and pool rooms there must have been a few hundred big tables in my town. On date nights like Friday and Saturday after the movies young people still found themselves later playing pool. At some point it just changed though.

Kind of a chicken and egg thing. I don't know what happened first, the people stopped coming or the pool rooms started closing. Either way the game was dead. At some point pool moved to the bars and that kind of eliminated the young players. Not that it was not already there, but it became more then just a table in the corner with no light over it that a few people used.

The pool table was moved to a good spot in the bars. The pool table became a focal point in many bars. It was now you might as well say, an adult only activity. Bar leagues formed and bars even depended on league night as revenue generators. Pool was back, only different. The biggest thing was the quality of the tables. The bar tables got a real make over. No more junk, they were good playing tables. Fast forward to today with the Diamond tables and I would say things look good for the future of pool.
 

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
pool rooms went from having the owner there greeting you and helping you have fun. and keeping the tables clean and making the place safe and enjoyable.

to===

having a low paid person that didnt care or know anything about pool running the cash register and ignoring all the customers while he watched tv. tables were dirty and people were neglected and the places only had dirty tables to offer without any real service.

few businesses can make it with an absentee owner.
 

tomatoshooter

Well-known member
It was now you might as well say, an adult only activity.
I do see younger people playing in the pool halls so maybe the adults only isn't so strict. I'd still like to see them more places but most sports I can think of require travel to a tennis court, golf course, swimming pool, etc.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
You're pretty obviously a savvy guy, what's your opinion of partners? I'm not talking taking in an investor, I'm talking a 50%, equal decision making partner.

My father who was an old man and already retired when I was born always told me never go into business with a partner, one partner is one too many.

There are a lot of problems with partnerships beyond just having conflicts. For example one partner could become seriously ill or die and now you're dealing with his estate and family members.

Another bad issue is one of the partners could develop legal problems such as divorce, possibly even lawsuits that all of a sudden you're a part of. There's enough problems with unforeseen events in your own life without being linked to somebody else's.

Usually partnerships develop just because one doesn't have the money or the balls to do this on his own so he brings somebody in. Whatever the reason there's a lot of downsides that I would rather not have to deal with.
You know, marriage is a partnership and how do 50% of those do?
Good question, I owned two rooms on my own 100% and was a partner in two others. Without going into all the details let's just say I agree with your father. I guess I liked doing things my way and I had a good concept of how to run a successful business/poolroom. I really didn't want to be in the postion where I had to convince my partner what we should be doing. The only reason I took a partner in was because I couldn't afford to do it on my own. The first time around I ended up selling my share to the other partners, and the second time I ran the business and gave my partner his cut each month.
 

Biloxi Boy

Man With A Golden Arm
Pool is just like all other diversions -- its success depends upon recruitment. If we cannot get the kids involved before something else grabs them, our growth is stymied. As to the impact of barboxes/ bars on recruitment all one must do is ask oneself: If fifty years ago we caught shit for hanging in the pool hall, what will be the reaction, now, to a 15 year old announcing that he skipped school to hang in the bar? Very poor optics.
 

Mark V

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I went Back to Archers again last night at around 7:30. All tables were full except one of the coin ops. The girl working the bar was very pleasant and helpful. I banged around on the 7’er for 15 minutes until the 9’er opened up.

The general vibe was great, and busy to be a Thursday night. Mostly dudes as to be expected with a few unattached-appearing non-dudes at the bar. TVs EVERYWHERE.

My steak and cheese was delivered about 20 or so minutes after I placed my order. The bread was fresh and it was quite enjoyable.

I'm not sure what people thought of me. I hardly play these days. I was just so happy to be there I missed everything for the first 20 minutes. After I slowed down I started making more shots, some more challenging requiring a pretty good stroke. I played 8 ball against myself except for 1 game of 9 that I came within 1 bad roll on the 7 from running out. I didn’t want to tempt fate so I went on ahead and restarted my 8 ball miss one stroke one pattern. I played bad but still had a good time.

The 7' Brunswicks were very nice and played VERY well. The pockets felt just right. Far classier than any barbox. $1 per game, $5 for 6, $7 for an hour. I felt like $7/hr was stealing these days. I was glad to donate 45 minutes of play to the people waiting on a table when my 9'er opened up.

The 9' tables are ruthless and demotivating to any player below a C level. They’re obviously set up for one pocket. Anything down the rail not hit PERFECTLY has no chance, even more so than a diamond. Even slow rolling shots that should have fallen, while barely glancing the rail, have no chance. I could say a lot more but give me an accepting GC4 with 4 1/2 in pockets and I’m happy all day.

This room will be successful.

I want more big tables that are more receiving of ‘that was good enough to go’ shots.
 
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Nyquil

Well-known member
Has anyone played there? I saw vid pop up covering the layout etc. Reason I am asking is it looks like they went with some of the brand new Brunswick tables. Wonder how they play......
 
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