Any BUMPER POOL TABLE fans, fanatics, collectors, owners?

Hello my fellow AZB'ers....

I'm thinking of acquiring a classic slate bed bumper pool table and having it lovingly restored to better-than-new days (dare I attempt RKC or MG quality) and was wondering if this thread can get a few serious - or funny - inputs and ideas.

Let me first cover the WHY question before I get inundated with that one : a bumper pool table rekindles days of youth when the notion of fear grabbing that first cue and trying your hand at angles and accuracy never entered one's mind. Only smiles of what lay ahead. You know - like grandkids - and especially wives (that think this damn cue sport, game, hobby, fascination, waste of time, you know...) want nothing to do with that intimidating 8' or 9' piece of furniture - but oh, a bumper pool table?? Well that's different. We can even enjoy wine and cheese with friends over a fun game of couples bumper pool she says. Why yes, dear, that's a fabulous idea - why didn't I think of that!?

So - any ideas of a table worthy of "loving restoration" that can be passed along for generations?

K.




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Like Smitty's story of being hustled by a young amusement place "regular" on a bumper pool table, my very first encounter with anything billiard ball related was indeed a cheap fold away bumper pool table in the basement gameroom of my aunt Joann whom we visited mostly on holidays as an excuse to get all of the families together - like 4th of July, Thanksgiving and so on.

What Aunt Jo had in that basement along side the bumper pool table, were a few of the older Bally bingo pinball machines she loved to play - and all of us kids loved playing them too ---- and no one paid much attention to Mr Bumper Pool as she called it. As I remember, the damn legs were still too tall for most of us 4-7 year olds - so why mess with it. Must have been an adult game we figured. So after she sees me trying to figure the game out without knowing a thing about it and undoubtedly using the short cues practically over my head, she tells uncle Kenny to "fix the damn table would ya". So he does. With a hacksaw. He sawed like 6" off each leg and like magic we had ourselves a new game! We could reach the rails proper and use the cues like they were intended. We were fighting over those damn spotted balls and the cues - and whomever could squirrel away the red spotted ball would control the table - our rule back then

And of course that drew the attention of our parents when they couldn't get bingo game access - and the good times ensued.

Guess who's place we couldn't wait to get back to now - even for holidays like May Day and Spring Break

I think that's when I took to taking care of pool balls and seeing how nice i could get them to look - using uncle Kenny's car polish I remember.

Bumper Pool. It started it all.

Now look!


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