IMO pool has always had the great games to play, "new" games were/are not the answer to bringing pool into mainstream world, they are just one man's egotistical dream.
The answer lies in the quality and manner it is presented to the world. The problem is with the people involved in the game, both the players and the promoters. Pool presents itself to the world as an unprofessional sideshow, and, unfortunately, that's how it is seen.
I wish BB the best of luck, but I believe that it is far from being the answer.
J
The only solution is promoting the game itself. Unless you're a fairly committed player, you cannot appreciate how difficult the game is, and how much skill the pros possess. There is no macro physical execution that is impressive to a non-playing public, such as basketball, football, or hell, even golf. Inventing some new game, with teams and stats and cheer leading squads...that's just fluffery, it won't work and if it does, it won't last.
The countries where pool is hugely popular are the countries where many, many more people actually play the game. I grew up in Taiwan as an expat, around the decade that pool was solidified into a national sport (early 90's to early 2000's). EVERYONE was at least a C player. I mean, there will be 50-table rooms (over a thousand rooms in Taipei alone), operating 24/7, mostly packed with students, young people, older people...every male in Taiwan could run a few balls. Everyone got their chin over their cue and stroked it like they meant it.
In that environment, you have something to work with. The government started promoting the sport, and schools started billiard programs. Wu Chia Ching was a product of public school pool programs, with the benefit of coaches and training etc. The Taiwanese public didn't get behind pool because of some slick packaging or marketing...they got behind pool because they actually played the game. As a result, there was a very deep pool of talent and you can see how well that worked out for them on the international stage, how many world titles and how deep the Taiwanese manage to run into almost any field they enter. They also have a thriving pro tour that gets live coverage.
You know, if Earl Strickland walked into my pool room tomorrow and started running racks on table 1, maybe 10% of the customers would even know who he is. The rest of the room, the 90%, could watch him run 5 racks of 9ball or 10ball and not be all that impressed, because they don't really play the game and they have no rubric to judge Earl's skill. I don't see how an invented, contrived game with purple and orange balls is going to change that.
-roger