Bar box...how big?

S

Shakeysmooth

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Bar boxes in western Washington state are almost all 4' X 8', maybe 5-10% are 7-footers. Is this unusual? I've noticed the bar tables in Cal. and at national league tourneys are 7-footers, giving WA bar players an advantage playing on these "toy" tables.
 
Shakeysmooth...Across the country, most 8' barboxes have been replaced with 7' tables, simply because bar owners can get more tables in the same size area, meaning more $$$ in their pockets...that, and the fact that ALL national level amateur league play (regardless what league it is) is played on 7' tables.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Shakeysmooth said:
Bar boxes in western Washington state are almost all 4' X 8', maybe 5-10% are 7-footers. Is this unusual? I've noticed the bar tables in Cal. and at national league tourneys are 7-footers, giving WA bar players an advantage playing on these "toy" tables.
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no advantage

I don't see a clear advantage in going from an 8' to a 7' BB.I have known bar league players to state that they hate playing on any 7' table.

The big difference is in going from a Valley or like table to a Daiamond 7' table.The BCA uses Diamond tables at the WBCA regionals and at BCA national 8ball event.I have heard that the APA also uses Diamonds in Vegas.

There are 3 diamond 7' smart tables in Federal Way at a Casino.The Golden fleece in Kenmore is to get,I think -10 of the tables that came from the last 8 ball regionals in Licoln City-they may have allready been installed.Malarkey's in Tacoma has 10-7' Valleys.

I just remembered the name of the casino is PJ Pockets.
 
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A Bar Box is not a toy. Ask McCready, SVB, and many more top pros and road players. Johnnyt
 
In ten years your going to have a hell of a time finding a 9' table. They are going the way of the 10' table. Too much real estate ($$$$) needed to house them. Johnnyt
 
ya i thought most (valley) barboxes are 6 1/2 foot.. i have a 7 footer at my house and i can tell the diffrence when i goto the bar and play on the barboxes wich seem smaller even thought its only 6 ins bigger
 
Shakeysmooth said:
Bar boxes in western Washington state are almost all 4' X 8', maybe 5-10% are 7-footers. Is this unusual? I've noticed the bar tables in Cal. and at national league tourneys are 7-footers, giving WA bar players an advantage playing on these "toy" tables.
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I sure don't consider them "toys". I have a more break and runs (eight ball) on an 8 footer than I do on the bar boxes.
 
Johnnyt said:
In ten years your going to have a hell of a time finding a 9' table. They are going the way of the 10' table. Too much real estate ($$$$) needed to house them. Johnnyt
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I personaly wouldn't mind if the 8 footers went away.For me there are to many variables with pool equiptment right now.To have 9' tables,7'BB and the ocasional 12' snooker table would be perfect IMO.

I do agree that we are in danger of losing the 9 but I do not expect them to go away entirely.
 
DoubleD...I've rarely ever seen barboxes in a bar, that had 5 feet between them. Most places you're lucky if there is 3-4 feet. I've been told what I said by bar owners...perhaps THEY don't know what they're talking about! :rolleyes::grin:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

DoubleD said:
Scott,

I disagree with your logic. I haven't been to a bar that has enough tables for the 1/17th difference in space allocation to really matter. Basically a place would have to have 17 tables side by side to add a single 7 footer in the space previously occupied by the eight footers. On average each table takes about it's width plus five feet, plus five feet divided by the number of tables in a row. So four eight footers would take 41 feet; four sevens would take 39 feet.

I believe that the reason sevens are more standard is that they will fit in more places (places that are too small for eight footers), are cheaper to produce (making a sturdy seven footer is probably 20% cheaper than making a sturdy eight footer), easier to move and cost less to recover, replace rails, etc..

So, I firmly believe that the shift to sevens is pushed by vendors and manufacturers. Vendors have a much lower overhead in moving, setting up and upkeep. Manufacturers are making more on a seven footer than an eight.
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Table runs

In my experience, Washington is one of the only places that has 44x88 coin op tables. once you travel south near vancouver the 7 footers are the common size, as with the rest of the country..I found that I thought I played better on 9 foot tables and 8 foot BB because i had more runouts, but its because there is more room on the slate for the balls. I think the 7 footer was hard to get used to because the balls are always tied up from the small table area, but the advantage that this brings players that grew up on this sizeis they learn better how to manage clusters and breaking balls out etc. , dealing with problems etc. ,,,, just my $.02!!!!
 
Apa vegas

Scott Lee said:
The APA did use Diamond tables a couple of years. I believe they went back to Valley barboxes, but I haven't been to the APA national tournament in a few years now.

The 2009 APA singles and team tournaments used valley tables with Championship- "Mercury ULTRA" cloth. I did hear a rumor that they are going to go back to Diamonds?
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I haven't lived in New York State for twelve years but when I left in '97, 3 x 6 was the norm. I know some rules governing bar pool have changed since left, maybe that's one of them. They would be 3 1/2 x 7, in that case.
 
Co;orado Springs

Shakeysmooth said:
Bar boxes in western Washington state are almost all 4' X 8', maybe 5-10% are 7-footers. Is this unusual? I've noticed the bar tables in Cal. and at national league tourneys are 7-footers, giving WA bar players an advantage playing on these "toy" tables.
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In Colorado Springs the bar box has 40 x 80 playing surface which got most of the league play. The Corner Pockets chain had the 44 x 88 playing surface as their bar boxes during league play. Time for a cold COORS!! :)
 
smoooothstroke said:
I don't see a clear advantage in going from an 8' to a 7' BB.I have known bar league players to state that they hate playing on any 7' table.

The big difference is in going from a Valley or like table to a Daiamond 7' table.The BCA uses Diamond tables at the WBCA regionals and at BCA national 8ball event.I have heard that the APA also uses Diamonds in Vegas.

There are 3 diamond 7' smart tables in Federal Way at a Casino.The Golden fleece in Kenmore is to get,I think -10 of the tables that came from the last 8 ball regionals in Licoln City-they may have allready been installed.Malarkey's in Tacoma has 10-7' Valleys.

I just remembered the name of the casino is PJ Pockets.
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I haven't had the distinct pleasure of playing on a Diamond table. What kinds of noticeable differences are there between a 7' Diamond and a 7' Valley, for example? Noteworthy: I am well aware of the fact that Diamond is a far superior product, I am just curious as to what differences someone like me might notice right out of the gate.
 
Pushout said:
I haven't lived in New York State for twelve years but when I left in '97, 3 x 6 was the norm.
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Man, that really is a toy. What next, this? :
 

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