Bonus Ball - Thoughts After It All...

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Chuck Fields said:
Stripes, solids and an 8 ball work just fine for the game. And phones have clocks and timers.
IMO they had a good grasp on how to make something with flashy looks that gets peoples attention. If they wouldnt have tried to create a new game it might have had more of a following IMO. Nobody can say one way or the other of course, but I think they were on the right track with everything else.
Chuck
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How about just good old 8-ball with the team concept.... The Dolphins hate The Jets... SOOO you put teams in both cities and hype it... Knoxville TN hates Tuscaloosa, some folks in Tuscaloosa remember to hate us back soooo maybe there u go.... Oklahoma City and Dallas... DC and anywhere not DC.. We already have tons of built in rivalries.... How hard would it really be to exploit them.... State lines and North vs South always sells... Am sill trying to work out a league based on Accu-Stats TPA but this is the direction I am looking... Somebody should beat me to the punch so I can work on the stuff I am behind on LOL.....

Chris
 
The Renfro said:
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How about just good old 8-ball with the team concept.... The Dolphins hate The Jets... SOOO you put teams in both cities and hype it... Knoxville TN hates Tuscaloosa, some folks in Tuscaloosa remember to hate us back soooo maybe there u go.... Oklahoma City and Dallas... DC and anywhere not DC.. We already have tons of built in rivalries.... How hard would it really be to exploit them.... State lines and North vs South always sells... Am sill trying to work out a league based on Accu-Stats TPA but this is the direction I am looking... Somebody should beat me to the punch so I can work on the stuff I am behind on LOL.....

Chris
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Ive been talking about it since the late 90s when the PBT folded. Heres a post I made in 2006.
All the big sports like football, baseball, basketball, nascar etc that have huge followings are popular based largely on entertainment value, and that goes beyond the game itself. How many people who watch nascar regularly drive a race car? How many people who watch football every week put on the pads and have team games for fun? But with pool, its already a participation game, and it could be a spectator sport if done right. Thats what I think BB had going for it with the flash. It could have gotten peoples attention. But once youve got it, you have to be able to keep it, and you cant do that with the standard tournament format. Bonus Ball did more right than wrong IMO, but their wrongs were terminal.
Chuck
 

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And here..... :thumbup:
Chuck

So go get some sleep Chris..... :D
 

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JAM said:
And another thing, all this Top Secret crap and "everything stays in Vegas" nonsense is getting old. If you don't want to share what's happening, then save it. Don't come on this forum with a little teaser and say there's more to come at a later time, leaving us all hanging. Either spill the beans or keep it to yourself. Nobody likes to be taunted. This past Mosconi Cup aftermath, all the so-called "secrets," on this forum was stupid, to give one example. It was more Eddie Murphy's "I got my ice cream" saga. Gimme a break.
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You mean posts like this one?

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=4902997&postcount=712
 
The game itself was great imo. The players had and more importantly showed emotion and the game being played had a big role in bringing out the emotion imo. Shot clocks in strategic situations, tough offensive shots under pressure with carom and combos required for continuations and banks and tough cuts for scoring, safeties, strategy... The game was good imo and the players showed genuine excitement which is always better for entertainment.

One of the best things about bonusball was having the players miked also. Even a non pool player could get into the Jeremy Jones/ Earl Strickland exchange or the Scott Frost/Tim Kennedy dialog.

The commentating was great too. No stifled voices with nothing really to say.


I liked the game and I would love to see it return.
 
JAM said:
And another thing, all this Top Secret crap and "everything stays in Vegas" nonsense is getting old. If you don't want to share what's happening, then save it. Don't come on this forum with a little teaser and say there's more to come at a later time, leaving us all hanging. Either spill the beans or keep it to yourself. Nobody likes to be taunted. This past Mosconi Cup aftermath, all the so-called "secrets," on this forum was stupid, to give one example. It was more Eddie Murphy's "I got my ice cream" saga. Gimme a break.
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I Couldn't Agree More Jen,,,,,!!!!!

Alan.
 
SakuJack said:
You mean posts like this one?

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=4902997&postcount=712
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Look, I realize it is your sole mission on this forum to troll other members as often and as much as possible, but anybody who has read this forum for any length of time is well aware of who and what the "Boxing Brits" is all about. If you want to flame people, you gotta do better than that.

Go back to trolling John Barton. You're not a good match for me. In fact, I really don't care to ready anything you write. It's usually troll trash, sad to say.

Try contributing some other pool news to the forum and redeem yourself instead of constantly going after others asking them why and trying to corner them into a fight. It's not very becoming, unless you like this sort of thing. Therein likes the rub.
 
JAM said:
Look, I realize it is your sole mission on this forum to troll other members as often and as much as possible, but anybody who has read this forum for any length of time is well aware of who and what the "Boxing Brits" is all about. If you want to flame people, you gotta do better than that.

Go back to trolling John Barton. You're not a good match for me. In fact, I really don't care to ready anything you write. It's usually troll trash, sad to say.

Try contributing some other pool news to the forum and redeem yourself instead of constantly going after others asking them why and trying to corner them into a fight. It's not very becoming, unless you like this sort of thing. Therein likes the rub.
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How am I trolling? You complain about and criticise people for posting hints and not discussing things openly, and yet there is a recent post from you doing exactly that. I think it's relevant to the discussion, and I'm sure others do, too.
 
SakuJack said:
How am I trolling? You complain about and criticise people for posting hints and not discussing things openly, and yet there is a recent post from you doing exactly that. I think it's relevant to the discussion, and I'm sure others do, too.
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The only thing you believe is relevant to any discussion is arguing. That's what you try to incite in most of the threads you write in. I am quite sure others will agree with that, too.

Carry on, Pal. I'm done with you. Got bigger fish to fry.
 
JAM said:
The only thing you believe is relevant to any discussion is arguing. That's what you try to incite in most of the threads you write in.
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Yes, I'm the one trying to start arguments around here. Not like, oh, I don't know, the person who posted this...

JAM said:
And another thing, all this Top Secret crap and "everything stays in Vegas" nonsense is getting old. If you don't want to share what's happening, then save it. Don't come on this forum with a little teaser and say there's more to come at a later time, leaving us all hanging. Either spill the beans or keep it to yourself. Nobody likes to be taunted. This past Mosconi Cup aftermath, all the so-called "secrets," on this forum was stupid, to give one example. It was more Eddie Murphy's "I got my ice cream" saga. Gimme a break.
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Not argumentative at all... :sorry:
 
SakuJack said:
Yes, I'm the one trying to start arguments around here. Not like, oh, I don't know, the person who posted this...



Not argumentative at all... :sorry:
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This ---> HERE.

Have a nice day! As I said, I have bigger fish to fry today. We have a lot going on in D.C. today. LOL
 
I'm so tired of this subject... Honestly, if it were awesome there would have been no denying it. I personally thought it looked silly and cheesy but if it was the truth, it wouldn't have mattered. I thought it looked dumb, kind of like trick shot or speed pool. When friends who don't play pool ask me, is that what you do? Just trick shots? I answer with a disappointing "no". I would have done the same if Bonus Ball took off.

Truth is, pool isn't going to work in the mainstream no matter how you brand it. And if you cannot sell the people who actually enjoy watching pool, you won't be able to sell the people who don't.

What about supporting the pros? Should we support what we don't like if it helps pro pool players? I don't think so. I would love to have a pro tour. I would love to put money in the pockets of pros, but I won't blindly follow and support something I don't like. If a good friend of mine needed to work and came to me with an idea I couldn't get behind, I wouldn't support it. Say it was a girl and she wanted to strip or go into porn, I wouldn't support it even though it would help her situation temporarily, I think it would do worse for her in the long run. The same was how I felt for this game.

But it wasn't me... I'm wasn't you... It wasn't the people of AZ, it was bound to fail and did. Let's move on.
 
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I kinda think that Lenny and other are on the right track on what might have worked better.

Face it, 8 ball is the most played game. IPT had that part right, for the folks to become interested in the game on TV, they should know the game being played.

For us pool fanatics, it didn't matter as much. But the market has to be bigger than just us. I prefer to watch and play one pocket but does it have an ice cube in hell chance of making it in the mainstream? No.

I wish everyone the best of rolls,

Ken
 
cleary said:
I'm so tired of this subject... Honestly, if it were awesome there would have been no denying it. I personally thought it looked silly and cheesy but if it was the truth, it wouldn't have mattered. I thought it looked dumb, kind of like trick shot or speed pool. When friends who don't play pool ask me, is that what you do? Just trick shots? I answer with a disappointing "no". I would have done the same if Bonus Ball took off.

Truth is, pool isn't going to work in the mainstream no matter how you brand it. And if you cannot sell the people who actually enjoy watching pool, you won't be able to sell the people who don't.

What about supporting the pros? should we support what we don't like if it helps pro pool players? I don't think so. I would love to have a pro tour. I would love to put money in the pockets of pros, but I won't blindly follow and support something I don't like. If a good friend of mine needed to work and came to me with an idea I couldn't get behind, I wouldn't support it. Say it was a girl and she wanted to strip or go into porn, I wouldn't support it even though it would help her situation temporaryly, I think it would do worse for her in the long run. The same was how I felt for this game.

But it wasn't me... I'm wasn't you... It wasn't the people of AZ, it was bound to fail and did. Let's move on.
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As mush as it pains me, I must admit that I agree with my esteemed colleague, Cleary, on this one -- it looked cheesy with a capital "C." The small crowd in the stands, the girls, the lighting. It looked much like one of those badly dubbed, odd-ball game shows from Asia.

Lou Figueroa
 
real bartram said:
If the players loved the game
How come no one ever matches up at it
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Or promoted it.

Never saw one player outside of Vegas teaching it or playing it.

No roadshow to drum up interest. Why didn't the players show up at tournaments in bb gear?
 
real bartram said:
We all know the pros really didn't love this game
Come on guys be real
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Chris,

Here is a game the best players would love and everyone would recognize.

Professional 8 Ball.

Simply add an extra row of balls at the rear of the rack.
Red balls, yellow balls, and the 8 ball.

Try it. I think you will like it. Not so easy.

Bill S.
 
This is like the Captain of the good Ship Titanic, all of a sudden appearing on deck, and ordering the Crew to make the Deck Chairs look ship shape. Just after the iceberg was struck, and the Titanic was in sink mode.

Bonus Ball was another IPT that started out with good intentions, but FAILED.
 
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lfigueroa said:
As mush as it pains me, I must admit that I agree with my esteemed colleague, Cleary, on this one -- it looked cheesy with a capital "C." The small crowd in the stands, the girls, the lighting. It looked much like one of those badly dubbed, odd-ball game shows from Asia.

Lou Figueroa
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So, is it done?

(I ask, because the WPBLTV website is still up, and leads the reader to believe that only the 2014 session has finished.)

-Sean
 
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