AMF and Brunswick really cashed in on the Hustler movie and the resultant surge in the popularity of pocket billiards among the general public beginning in 1961 and lasting for only 8 years in reality. The height of the pool explosion was 1964-66. Many homes added pool tables to their home recreation settings during that period. The folding leg tables, which were sold in the hundreds of thousands, almost exclusively featured non- slate playing surfaces. Early folding leg tables made in the early 60s featured hardwood surfaces, as the years went on, Sears, Montgomery Ward etc. jumped in too- and the tables kept degenerating to particle board surfaces. I remember Sears advertising their "honeycomb" table beds- whatever that meant!
The Vietnam war, sending almost all of our non college attending pool playing male (18 to 24) population into the "selective service" beginning in 1965 or so was a big factor in diminishing the attendance at public pool rooms and thus causing mass shut downs in the industry until by the early 70s many of the rooms that opened post Hustler movie 1961 were closing their doors.
Early baby boomer males ( 1945- 1950) by 1970 were either returning from the Vietnam era conflict and getting married, those who did not serve were graduating colleges and universities and also moving on with their lives in many ways. Sadly, almost 60,000 soldiers never returned home and many more returned with physical or mental issues that kept them away from the game as well upon return.
I remember our first folding leg table in my home in 1963, a 7 footer, and I remember taking to the game at a very young age on that table. I also remember by 1972 how long I had to drive to find a pool room that was still in business, when in the 1960s there was a very nice room within walking distance to my home. Hats off to ALL the people who kept the game alive from the early 70s to the mid 80s pre COM movie. Without them, that huge pool scene surge post 1986 would not have been anywhere near the success that it was.