Thin, knock-off, Magic Ball Racks are junk

iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I played in a big open event this weekend. It had the very thin magic ball rack knock-off racks. I think the ones ebay has for a pack of 5 or 6 for $10.

Total junk. They would not rack the balls tight at all. They creased. They folded. They were brand new too. I've had 2 or 3 genuine Magic Ball Racks for about 15 years now, and they are still as good as new.

We were playing on 3 month old Diamond bar boxes, with new Aramith tournament balls too. We had a 3 point rule on the break. Everyone was smashing the racks, and many of the breaks were illegal. On a fast Diamond barbox with new balls and cloth. This was an open 64 player event with about 10 700 players, and a 1/3rd of the field was 600.

Worst racks ever, do NOT buy.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I played in a big open event this weekend. It had the very thin magic ball rack knock-off racks. I think the ones ebay has for a pack of 5 or 6 for $10.

Total junk. They would not rack the balls tight at all. They creased. They folded. They were brand new too. I've had 2 or 3 genuine Magic Ball Racks for about 15 years now, and they are still as good as new.

We were playing on 3 month old Diamond bar boxes, with new Aramith tournament balls too. We had a 3 point rule on the break. Everyone was smashing the racks, and many of the breaks were illegal. On a fast Diamond barbox with new balls and cloth. This was an open 64 player event with about 10 700 players, and a 1/3rd of the field was 600.

Worst racks ever, do NOT buy.
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Accu-racks give Magic Racks the 7
 
Accu-racks are the best imo, but I've had good luck with the knock- off magic racks. I bought a pack of six maybe five years ago. No issues and I still have two of them, one still unused.
 
For clarification, there is the original "Magic Ball Rack" (trademarked), designed in Japan (and I think manufactured there, but unsure). This is the one that started the trend 15 some years ago. It was originally paper based the first couple of years, and then switched to its current plastic based. It has been distributed by CSI in the USA for the past 10 years or so. This rack works perfectly, and lasts for many years, in my experience.

The rack I'm referring to in the first post is a knock-off. It is much thinner. It does not work. I don't know the brand. I think its the one all over ebay in a pack of 6.
 
InsertCleverNameHere said:
Unpopular opinion I know but all of them are trash. Not a fan of templates at all.
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I'm a 14:1 player and enjoy practicing at my local hall, but trying to get a tight rack on some of those tables for a good break shot is damn near impossible. I bought a plastic template that is imo too thick. Can affect roll lines and certain shots when working clusters I've found. I prefer the thinner cloth jobbies, but would be happier if tables were maintained better and I didn't need one. Lol. Hard to do in a public establishment, so I'm stuck using templates for now. Lol.
 
Yep they are junk. But they do work in some cases oddly enough not too badly. I think if you have a good table and good balls, they work badly. If the table racking area has divots and rolls off, they work better LOL

If anyone wants to cheap out, don't. Those racks are cheaper than many chalks now, and last as long LOL
 
iusedtoberich said:
For clarification, there is the original "Magic Ball Rack" (trademarked), designed in Japan (and I think manufactured there, but unsure). This is the one that started the trend 15 some years ago. It was originally paper based the first couple of years, and then switched to its current plastic based. It has been distributed by CSI in the USA for the past 10 years or so. This rack works perfectly, and lasts for many years, in my experience.

The rack I'm referring to in the first post is a knock-off. It is much thinner. It does not work. I don't know the brand. I think its the one all over ebay in a pack of 6.
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Last year, I bought the following Magic Rack at Seyberts:

Screen Shot 2024-01-08 at 9.01.25 AM.png


....and the middle ball in the back row is always loose when racking a new set of Aramith Tournaments for 14.1. I believe it's also loose when I rack for 9-ball. Now, I always check that middle, back ball, and 19/20 times it's loose. It's very rare that I can get it tight. I've tried loading the balls in different orders, but no luck.
 
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Many tournaments in the Phoenix area provide a template rack at every table and players are required to use them. It 100% saves time.
Ten seconds and the rack is good. Done. Beats the heck out of bothering my back bending over trying to get the balls to touch for a minute or more and in the end just throwing my hands up and saying F4#@ IT.
 
DeadStick said:
Accu-racks give Magic Racks the 7
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I bought the Accu-rack first, and I couldn't get to rack reliably at all, the balls would not stay in their slots at all, especially the last two. Sent it back and got the magic rack, no comparison. The Magic Rack locks all the balls into place, no problem at all. Diamond table, Aramith Tournament balls.

-dj
 
7stud said:
Last year, I bought the following Magic Rack at Seyberts:

View attachment 736867

....and the middle ball in the back row is always loose using a new set of Aramith Tournaments. Now, I always check that middle, back ball, and 19/20 times it's loose. It's very rare that I can get it tight. I've tried loading the balls in different orders, but no luck.
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I never tried the full rack. Only the 9 ball diamond and 10 ball rack triangle, which for me have both been excellent. Sorry you had issues with the full rack.
 
DJKeys said:
I bought the Accu-rack first, and I couldn't get to rack reliably at all, the balls would not stay in their slots at all, especially the last two. Sent it back and got the magic rack, no comparison. The Magic Rack locks all the balls into place, no problem at all. Diamond table, Aramith Tournament balls.

-dj
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Interesting - I haven’t had that problem with the diamond-shaped 9-ball template from Accu-Rack.
 
DJKeys said:
Maybe I just got a bad one. It was more like cloth than mylar, just didn't work well for me-

-dj
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They’re definitely a type of thin cloth, which is why I like them. No creases, and can be ironed if necessary. And they're easier to pack in a case.
 
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My preferred templates are the following....
___________________________
Dynasphere Templates...
Accessoires_360x@2x.png

And/or
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Mezz Turtle rack...
s-l1200.jpg
 
The 2 pictured above are a little thicker than the magic rack, so yes the turtle & dyna dont flex as easily as the magic does.
The trade off is they dont crease as easily as the magic rack does.
I can get a tight rack with any of the 3 racks being mentioned , however I find with the magic rack, I have to do more adjustments with my fingers to get the balls to stay put.
 
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