Ball uniformity in the pool room.

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Lumocolor

AzB Silver Member
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CreeDo said:
Super common, basically pool halls seem to fall into two categories... "the owner shoots and gives a shit" or "the owner is not a player and just doesn't care". The first type has uniform sets, the second type will usually have several bad sets mixed with barbox balls or another brand.

Our league hall is the 2nd type and one set has a barbox cue ball mixed with the regular balls. I absolutely hate that.
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So you're saying that when ball goes they should change the whole set?

Local room i play at has 32 tables, the manager told me they change at least 12 cues balls every 3 months because it's the ball that takes more hits and gets damaged fastest, then comes the 1 ball which they have to change about every 6 to 8 months because it's often the head ball and gets smashed a bunch, the rest get replaced as needed. Everything they replace gets replaced by a new centennials ball, but i can't see any room tossing a whole set in the closet just to replace one ball.
 
jschelin99

jschelin99

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ctyhntr said:
Ever consider bringing your own set?
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This is an easy solution, and I'm not slamming you personally for your post, but...

Maybe it's just me, but the idea of having to bring my own pool balls to a pool hall is absolutely shameful for the pool hall owner. CreeDo is totally right: Some pool hall owners just don't give a crap. And yet they wonder why no pool players are spending money in their place.

What's next? Do I have to bring my own vacuum to clean the table?
 
cjr3559

cjr3559

AzB Silver Member
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Some people are more patricular than others. I ask the staff for a brush and clean the table before every session. In addition, I wipe down the rails and use a cloth to polish the balls a little, but that's about it.

Now that I think about it, I would be a little apprehensive to bring my own set of Centennials (or what have you) for the concern there'd be a stray nail sticking out in a pocket as someone previously stated. Until I get my own table I suppose dealing with mismatched sets is expected.

Still, we have our own cues, chalk and every other accessory known to man, why not bring your own balls and rack? Nothing worse than those flimsy plastic racks most halls provide. Actually, cheap racks are probably the main culprit for balls racking poorly anyway.
 
RRfireblade

RRfireblade

Grammer Are For Stupids
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I know someone that occasionally brings his set of balls to the room.

The issue though is that you can't play with new perfect balls every single time , so when you do get stuck with the house balls after being all dialed into the perfect set , your screwed. :)
 
The Renfro

The Renfro

Outsville.com
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I won't make this a full blown advertisement but The Accu-Rack System Templates were designed to combat this issue.... You can buy templates or you can buy new balls... I am selling the racks and even I would rather have a set of good balls over a template that compensates... The issue is ball sets are way more spensive than templates......

Chris
 
Patrick Johnson

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
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My pool hall lets me keep a set of Centennials there for myself. The house sets are also Centennials, but older - I switch back and forth to stay familiar with both. I like the newer set's polished surfaces, but I also like easier draw with the smaller cue balls in the older sets. They both rack well enough.

pj
chgo
 
softshot

softshot

Simplify
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in a bar league I play on.. one of the places there is only 1 table and it has not 1, not 2, but 3, 12 balls all from different sets and all slightly different shades of purple.. and they top it off by charging $1.50 per rack..:mad::mad::mad:
 
cjr3559

cjr3559

AzB Silver Member
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I've played on some bar tables that were in absolute deplorable conditions. As the previous post mentions, who cares if the balls are the wrong size, just be happy you're getting a complete set.

There's one bar in town that has the worst playing conditions in the world. This is tough to beat: A 3 x 6 coin op from the 1950s that's unlevel, is too close to the bar so striking bar patrons is a routine occurrence, there's no light to speak of, there's something like two 7 balls, several missing stripe balls, and the remainder are those super cheap "painted" kind and most are worn out beyond recognition so it looks like there are a half dozen cue balls on the table. As for cues and chalk, don't even ask. But hey, the table is free! I can't complain and just laugh to myself when we go there.
 
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derangedhermit

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I DID take a set of digital calipers to a couple rooms, and checked out maybe 8-10 sets of balls. Not a single ball met the minimum size for regulation pool balls. In most sets the balls were mostly about the same size, with a one or two balls of very different size. I assumed the 10-15 would be consistently smaller than the 1-9, but they weren't. Maybe I just didn't test enough sets.

Cue balls were always the smallest.

I think the differences in size only make a difference when breaking (getting a tight rack).
 
a1712

a1712

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Great Tables & Balls

The Park Tavern in Waynesboro, PA, vacs and X-1's their Diamond's 3x per wk., every Mon. the tables get wet wiped w/Woolight, Aramith Tourney's get ran through the Diamond polisher, balls are rolled and leveled if needed, the chalk gets changed out, Delta-13 Elites get put out for League and Tourney's and it's 50 cents a game. Tables were completely set up by Glen Hancock. We have it good!!! Brian.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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derangedhermit said:
... Cue balls were always the smallest.

I think the differences in size only make a difference when breaking (getting a tight rack).
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As noted by others, if the cue ball is a different size it is easier/harder to draw/follow, sometimes by a lot.
 
CreeDo

CreeDo

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Tramp Steamer said:
In that case I'd like to order one nine-ball. I figure that ought to increase my chances of winning, dramatically. :smile:
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"I'll play you but only if I get the wild 8 and the breaks."

"OK, deal"

"And we have to play with my personal set of aramiths, not this lousy house crap."

"No problem man. Let's see 'em"

[Proceeds to pull out a one, a 9, and seven 8-balls]
 
CreeDo

CreeDo

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Lumocolor said:
I know you can buy 1 pool ball, now how does that keep the set uniform?? Do you buy a dozen 1 balls till you get the one that matches the exact size and weight of the one youre trying to replace????

I thought the whole point of the original post was to complain on how replacing 1 ball at a time makes broken sets.
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Nope, the OP never mentioned anything about replacing balls 1 at a time.

I believe he's just tired of playing in halls where balls are different sizes. This usually doesn't happen because a thoughtful manager replaced an excessively worn ball with a matching brand new one. It's because a careless manager doesn't have a single brand name for all his tables, the balls are a mix of hand-me-downs, barbox balls, centennials and aramiths... and some careless employee mixes them up and now you can't get a tight rack.

What do I expect the manager to do to keep it uniform?
I dunno, that's his job to worry about. That's why he gets the big bucks.
But it can't be 'mission impossible' because I play in several halls where
all the balls are uniform and freeze up fine when racking.
 
D

derangedhermit

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Bob Jewett said:
As noted by others, if the cue ball is a different size it is easier/harder to draw/follow, sometimes by a lot.
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Do we know with some certainty that it is the difference in size, not the difference in weight, that affects draw/follow? If two balls have the same density, a quite small change in diameter makes a rather large difference in weight.
 
hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
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derangedhermit said:
Do we know with some certainty that it is the difference in size, not the difference in weight, that affects draw/follow? If two balls have the same density, a quite small change in diameter makes a rather large difference in weight.
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There are a lot newer threads than from 2012 about this :wink:

It's the mass not the size. Although if you have a size difference that pretty noticable, the contact point of the two balls won't be at the equator, causing the object ball to be pushed up a bit if the cueball is smaller, and casing it to be dug into the slate if the cueball is larger.
 
Icon of Sin

Icon of Sin

I can't fold, I need gold. I re-up and reload...
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The poolhall I play at on Thursdays has 25 Valley Boxes with bad cloth and every rack of balls is a mix-match set of at least three different types of balls. I shoot here due to Masters league, which I am probably going to leave again soon as I dont enjoy playing on these conditions.

The poolhall I enjoy frequenting and a lot of the local good players hang out use Brunswick Centennials for every table which are gold crown 3s with 860.
 
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iapoolguy

AzB Silver Member
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In being a former room owner......customers by mistake mismatch balls on a regular bases . They will play rotation games like 9-ball with half the rack in the plastic transfer carrying ball tray. Then when they are done, grab the wrong tray from the table next to them and you now have a mixed set.Yea it would be nice to have all the same sets forever but balls do need to be replaced due to age in general.newer sets and older sets make a mismatch that is not easily seen when the racks are turned in.
As far as coin-op tables go...most coin vendor's cant spell pool anyway...there employees don't even no the difference in ball brands.Best thing a player could due is help a room owner out by helping to keep them from getting mismatched.
 
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