A Purple Five Ball Makes No Sense to Me

I hate the purple 5 and the black and yellow 9ball. The only "TV" set that has ever been acceptable to me was the originals with pink 4 and brown 7.

Thanks to high definition, there is no need for the color changes.
 
You're missing my main point. Which is: IF PURPLE SUCKED FOR THE FOUR BALL WHY IS IT FINE FOR THE FIVE BALL. If they made the five ball some other bright weird assed color I'm fine with it. IF IT SUCKED FOR THE FOUR WHY IS IT FINE FOR THE FIVE. That's my question.
It's not the same shade of purple. The problem wasn't purple per se, it is that the traditional shade is so dark that it looks black in poor lighting. Same with the maroon 7, in bad lighting it's hard to tell apart from the red because the latter just looks dark. The seven is supposed to be brown anyway to complete the classic Crayola colors, it's just that at the turn of the 20th century making a brown that worked with the manufacturing tech of the time resulted in a rather red shade of brown. The pink and lighter brown weren't pulled from nowhere, either. They are the same shades used in snooker sets.

Doesn't excuse putting purple on the wrong ball, though. That's inexcusable.

The best color combo for my money is the Predator Arcos set. The purple is bright enough and the brown distinct enough while still keeping largely to the classic color scheme. Too bad they're overpriced and have the dumb logo instead of the number on one side.
 
Last edited:
I don't care what color balls they use, It would just be nice to show a graphic at the bottom of the screen that shows which is which.
They do.

Screen Shot 2022-02-16 at 9.32.11 AM.png
 
I view all the different variations of ball colors, racks,cue designs & whatever else related to pool to be marketing.
If theses didn’t change who would need to buy more ?
Many of these things would last a person a lifetime.
We wouldn’t have any sponsors to support the meager money to be made.
It is marketing, you are right.

However the colors of the balls is a sacred thing that should not be modified, changed or molested.🙏🏼

That are very few things in this world that fall into this category, pool balls are special

Fatboy😀
 
You're missing my main point. Which is: IF PURPLE SUCKED FOR THE FOUR BALL WHY IS IT FINE FOR THE FIVE BALL. If they made the five ball some other bright weird assed color I'm fine with it. IF IT SUCKED FOR THE FOUR WHY IS IT FINE FOR THE FIVE. That's my question.

OK, maybe purple isn't that good of a color for TV so change the four ball to pink to make it stand out more on TV. I'm OK with that.
A black and Yellow Nine Ball doesn't bother me either. Can't deny that it does stand out on the table.
HOWEVER, if purple sucked on the four ball why is it acceptable on the five ball? Orange is very vivid color and shows up great. DO THE CHINESE MASTERS AT PREDATOR HATE ORANGE? What other reason could Predator have to make this stupid change.
I agree 100%!!! When I first saw the purple five on a telecast, I spent most of the time shaking my head at the change. Also, one of the announcers kept calling the purple five "the four ball." I like the change to a lavender four that one set had (don't recall the company).
 
Last edited:
I would get the 4 and 5 confused. I am not sure but it seemed like Shane shot them 5 then 4 and neither the referee or opponent noticed. I wasn't paying real close attention but the graphic at the bottom indicated he was on the 5 but he was on the pink ball and I could have sworn he just shot the purple ball. Hmmmmm
 
This thread is very interesting to me. My first set were Centennials. I still love them and think they are beautiful! A great tradition for sure. That said, I like MANY other color and style sets for no other reason than it makes the table more fun. If I'm going to go to a tournament, I like to know what balls will be used and practice with those, but for home and play with friends and family, I like a lot of variety just because. Here is my take on the sets i own:
Centennials - stunning, traditional, play great, IF I could only own one set, these would be it.
Predator Arcos II - I like the variety and these are the best playing set I have ever owned. Others disagree, but I really like them and the colors and the Cat logo are cool. Everyone who plays them on my table really likes them as well. The Arcos Triangle Cue ball is the best in the universe! IMHO
Aramith Tournament BLACK - These are favorites among friends who don't know a lot about pool. They just look so cool that they grab your attention on the table. They take a little getting used to because some of the stripes are hard to determine due to the black background, but they are just so cool that it's worth the effort. I like the black measles cue ball as well.
Elephant Beautiful Balls - These are the marbled ones and they are the favorite of my wife, daughter, and every lady who has ever seen my table. Obviously these meet a design aesthetic for the ladies! I play them in the rotation and they are a good set. The cue ball is not a favorite. I ordinarily replace it with an Aramith Measle ball.
Elephant Traditional - These were on clearance for $30 so I bought them. They are worth $30.00. Suitable for use in a pool hall or maybe some arts and crafts.
Vigma Stars & Stripes - If you have never seen this set in person, you are not allowed to comment. They are really stunning. I play them every summer in July and my friends who are either current or former military think this is the best thing they have ever seen on a pool table! Vigma balls play great and really stay clean.
Dynasphere Tungsten - sort of like the Elephant Beautiful set in that the ladies all say "Oh wow! Those are really beautiful!" It's always nice when the ladies say that. :-) for $50.00 they play great and are very high quality. Again, they are just in the rotation every few weeks for a few days.
29 Ball Color Set - Rare and hard to find. They play "ok" but are far from the quality of anything else I own. Still, I play them often because there are just so many different color combinations. Red / Pink for valentines, Green / Red for Christmas, Yellow/ Green for St Patricks, Black / Orange for Haloween, and so many more. I have at least seven of Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Brown, Pink, and Black. The cue ball has a cool eagle on it. Again, these are fine for home play for fun.

I own several other novelty sets for specific games, but that is a different discussion.

Bottom line, I just enjoy variety. I eat a variety of foods, have several different cars, have a lot of different cloths and shoes, and I like all of them. I'm surprised by how passionately some folks are about their love or disgust over just a set of pool balls! Just have fun.
 
It is marketing, you are right.

However the colors of the balls is a sacred thing that should not be modified, changed or molested.🙏🏼

That are very few things in this world that fall into this category, pool balls are special

Fatboy😀
Totally agree, apparently some of us are pretty set in our ways .
Simply trying to point out a positive to this madness
 
With all due respect I have to disagree. I would say very few players don't know the correct colors by number. More to the point I believe the majority of the audience that will tune in are pool enthusiasts and know which colors are correct.
No disrespect taken. I agree with what you said. You’re talking about “players”, the post I responded to said “people”. I get the whole tradition of it. I also don’t see a need for change. The change, however, is such a minor one to me. We’re getting free access to some of the best pool in decades and we want to complain about the balls. It all seems so trivial to me.

I remember a regular poster saying something along the lines of “I can’t imagine any serious players wanting to use a ball besides aramith”. It was in a post about the predator arcos balls. He hadn’t even tried them! They play fantastic! Some people need to be more open to change. Pool is growing in front of our eyes and all we want to do is complain about it.
 
You're missing my main point. Which is: IF PURPLE SUCKED FOR THE FOUR BALL WHY IS IT FINE FOR THE FIVE BALL. If they made the five ball some other bright weird assed color I'm fine with it. IF IT SUCKED FOR THE FOUR WHY IS IT FINE FOR THE FIVE. That's my question.
Simple, at this point pink 4 is considered part of their brand. I guarantee there was a meeting in a boardroom with marketing in there and the word brand recognition was used at least once.

I absolutely love the black stripes but there's no way I will buy them with a purple 5. Now if they had any kind of brains at all they could have made the 4 purple and the 5 pink. Not many people play with a pink 4 unless they bought a set to look like the ones on TV, or they are playing on TV themselves.
 
I was told JB pushed some heavy coin at them to combat a rare form of dyslexia endemic to CTE users.
(I talk to myself periodically) :)
AFAIC what you are looking at is a manufacturing error.
 
Simple, at this point pink 4 is considered part of their brand. I guarantee there was a meeting in a boardroom with marketing in there and the word brand recognition was used at least once.

I absolutely love the black stripes but there's no way I will buy them with a purple 5. Now if they had any kind of brains at all they could have made the 4 purple and the 5 pink. Not many people play with a pink 4 unless they bought a set to look like the ones on TV, or they are playing on TV themselves.
Remember in snooker the pink is the 6 ball.

Pink balls shouldn’t be allowed in pool, or brown balls. Those are snooker colors.

Thinking about this have they messed with snooker ball colors? Probably not, us pool players get no respect and our balls molested!!!! This will not stand!!!!!

Seriously
Fatboy🤯
 
Back
Top