Bonus Ball

Speaking of Bonus Ball, I thought y'all might like to see the first incarnation of the game. It appeared at the 1994 BCA Trade Show at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. The booth, which was right next to the Chevillotte carom billiards booth, was staffed by Mike Massey and Paul Potier. I bought a set of the balls (which I just unearthed during my move to Berkeley).

Here's the cover of the box:

bonus ball 001.jpg

And here is the cover (front and back) of the small rules booklet:

bonus ball 002.jpg
 
Bonus Ball 99 it was called back then.

The rule set is somewhat hard to understand the way they have them laid out and explained in the pamphlet included with the boxed set.

The scoresheet they included helps, though. Here is a picture of that scoresheet from my set...

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1455082611.725915.jpg

And the balls themselves...

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1455082658.302290.jpg
 
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Bob Jewett said:
Speaking of Bonus Ball, I thought y'all might like to see the first incarnation of the game. It appeared at the 1994 BCA Trade Show at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. The booth, which was right next to the Chevillotte carom billiards booth, was staffed by Mike Massey and Paul Potier. I bought a set of the balls (which I just unearthed during my move to Berkeley).
Click to expand...

Thats pretty cool. It just made me realize Saluc/Aramith are the only ones who made any real money from Bonus Ball. I bet they just love it when a guy comes to them and says "I have a great idea for a new game I need some custom ball sets"
 
Bob Jewett said:
Speaking of Bonus Ball, I thought y'all might like to see the first incarnation of the game. It appeared at the 1994 BCA Trade Show at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. The booth, which was right next to the Chevillotte carom billiards booth, was staffed by Mike Massey and Paul Potier. I bought a set of the balls (which I just unearthed during my move to Berkeley).



Here's the cover of the box:



View attachment 411706



And here is the cover (front and back) of the small rules booklet:



View attachment 411707
Click to expand...


What is that yellow thing in the attached picture?


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There was nothing really wrong with the game itself when you think about it.

I just didn't care for it and pretty sure a ton of others didn't like it much either. Kind of a goofy game for the most part. What was the point when we have so many other games that could have been played.

I did think that the Team aspect of it, with Jerseys and everything was pretty professional.

Should have left it at some other Format, like a mix of 8, 9 and 10 Ball, or other things, and it may just have caught on a bit better.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Did you get your set at the Trade Show or from a retailer? I'd think it would be a pretty hard retail sale to make.
Click to expand...


I found mine through a friend of a friend with every piece basically new and unused back in 2014. Literally new.


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JCIN said:
Thats pretty cool. It just made me realize Saluc/Aramith are the only ones who made any real money from Bonus Ball. ...
Click to expand...
Are you forgetting the contractor?:grin-devilish:
 
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ceebee said:
Bonus Ball shot itself in the foot when it nested in Las Vegas. Once it decided to be team sports & (represent ???) wear jerseys of different cities, the players should have lived in those cities or nearby, then you have a dozen different markets instead of one.... JMHO
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Actually if they'd really wanted it to succeed all they needed to do was have like a $25,000 added open tournament with like a $100 entry promote it that way. Instead they went all-in for $1 million+ on the team format and whoops, it was snoozerville. Plus average pool players had no reason to play it and thus no reason to buy ball sets.

Not to mention that putting out the special ball sets was pointless as well. Anyone that wanted to play BB could just use stripes and solids as the different color balls and the 8 as the bonus ball. Of course no one even did that. Shocking I know.

I guess it's not too different from the IPT gang thinking that 8-ball on crappy cloth was somehow a format that everyone would embrace when people go out of their way to avoid conditions like that. It seriously makes me wonder if anyone even tries this stuff out before they sink a bunch of money into it.
 
I started watching a bunch of matches on YouTube, I like the game but it's sad business how many balls rolled off on that table.
 
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