I launched my nationwide pool hall finder today

jsw548 said:
I'm hoping that you folks will find my new site useful. Once you get to the home page, enter either a zip code or a city(and state), where you'd like to find pool halls.

What you'll see are the listings and map pins for all pool halls, in my system, within a 50-mile radius of the zip code entered.

All pool halls on this site have a minimum of 4 tables. There are over 1,000 listed, but I know there are still more out there, that just didn't come up in any of the searches I have done over the past several months.

If you notice a missing pool hall, that has at least 4 tables, there's a tab at the top to submit that, so I can check them out and get the listed on here.

I look forward to any feedback you care to provide, after you have checked it out. Thanks in advance.

American Billiards Association map link

Jeff
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Well… I have 10 pool halls full of 9’ tables within 20 miles from me, with Family Billiards in Clearwater about a mile from my house. An 11th is moving in.

I applaud your energy into this, but count me in the camp that questions the need. The first pool hall finder that I remember was Playpool.com from Ed Mercier. That was around 25 years ago. Google wasn’t as well known as the time.

I suppose I’ll input all of these pool halls into your site to help you out in your endeavor, but I’ll have to Google the addresses first.
 
Cornerman said:
Well… I have 10 pool halls full of 9’ tables within 20 miles from me, with Family Billiards in Clearwater about a mile from my house. An 11th is moving in.

I applaud your energy into this, but count me in the camp that questions the need. The first pool hall finder that I remember was Playpool.com from Ed Mercier. That was around 25 years ago. Google wasn’t as well known as the time.

I suppose I’ll input all of these pool halls into your site to help you out in your endeavor, but I’ll have to Google the addresses first.
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I added a few I didn't have, so please go back to the map and put in zip code 33708. If you know of any that aren't there, in that area, please let me know.
 
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jsw548 said:
If you look at the attached screenshot, I have entered the name of the that pool hall (top left). On right side, on the map, you'll see the red map pin that came up, representing that pool hall. I right-clicked on that map pin and it pops up what you see, which is the Geocode for that pool hall, on Googles map, exactly where it is. If this is still incorrect, then I'd contact Google directly and put in a support ticket.
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I'm only pointing out that Google shows it in the right place and your map doesn't, in the hopes that it constructively might help you identify a difference in the way you're representing location.

If I'm off base or that's not constructive criticism, apologies. I won't belabor the point, just thought you might not have realized your map is not representing what Google or all the other maps do.
 
jsw548 said:
It's ok, don't go through all of that effort. I'll specifically Google Clearwater and see if 21 pool halls, with 4 or more tables show up in my search.
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21? I have 9 within 20 miles, another 1 at 25 miles. That’s not counting anything in Tampa or across the Sunshine Skyway into Sarasota.

Family
Bankshots
Corner Pocket
CM’s
Stix Bayside
Crooked Cue
Long Stroke
Stix Oldsmar
Strokers
Stix Palm Harbor

I also know of a couple of bars with 4 bar boxes. But they’re not pool halls.

Brewlands in Tampa is 45 minutes from my house, so I don’t count it. But they’re opening one up in Clearwater/St Pete.
 
Cornerman said:
21? I have 9 within 20 miles, another 1 at 25 miles. That’s not counting anything in Tampa or across the Sunshine Skyway into Sarasota.

Family
Bankshots
Corner Pocket
CM’s
Stix Bayside
Crooked Cue
Long Stroke
Stix Oldsmar
Strokers
Stix Palm Harbor

I also know of a couple of bars with 4 bar boxes. But they’re not pool halls.

Brewlands in Tampa is 45 minutes from my house, so I don’t count it. But they’re opening one up in Clearwater/St Pete.
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So I added a few after specifically searching the Clearwater area and now have all of the ones on the list you provided. I also have 3 different Brewlands locations. 2 in Lakeland and 1 in Tampa. Thanks for your post.
 
Cornerman said:
Well… I have 10 pool halls full of 9’ tables within 20 miles from me, with Family Billiards in Clearwater about a mile from my house. An 11th is moving in.

I applaud your energy into this, but count me in the camp that questions the need. The first pool hall finder that I remember was Playpool.com from Ed Mercier. That was around 25 years ago. Google wasn’t as well known as the time.

I suppose I’ll input all of these pool halls into your site to help you out in your endeavor, but I’ll have to Google the addresses first.
Click to expand...
Man that’s freakin’ badass that you have that many options near you. Makes me understand why you might not see a need. Consider though, you might be the exception and not the rule.

For example, I don’t have anything in my radius. However, if I choose a direction and start connecting towns that run down a state route…

I don’t care if they’re just sports bars with barboxes. If they have four tables they prolly have a few folks that genuinely enjoy playing and work on their game.
 
VarmintKong said:
Man that’s freakin’ badass that you have that many options near you. Makes me understand why you might not see a need. Consider though, you might be the exception and not the rule.

For example, I don’t have anything in my radius. However, if I choose a direction and start connecting towns that run down a state route…

I don’t care if they’re just sports bars with barboxes. If they have four tables they prolly have a few folks that genuinely enjoy playing and work on their game.
Click to expand...
I say I don’t see the need, because as others have pointed out, the Google search is already really good. Google and Yelp usually give the hours of operation or if they’re permanently closed. I travel quite a bit for business, and I used the poolhall search sites years (decades) ago, but once Google hit full stride in the 2000’s, they made those pool hall finders a bit obsolete. If this new site can include feedback and ratings by the users as well as information like league night, I’m sure players will find that useful.
 
jsw548 said:
Who knew that the folks on the AZ Billiards forum were tougher than critics on Reddit?
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Shrugging personal disappointment in the face of heavy criticism is another learned skill, and you can only get better at it by going through it many times. “Fail fast and fail hard” so that you get your product aligned with your customer base wants and needs as soon as possible. It will help you prevent wasting your time and money, and most importantly your mental energy. Burn out is a very real thing with entrepreneurial endeavors.

I have experience making products for this industry, and AZ people ask tough questions right away, which is a good thing for you as a developer.

Hope this helps.
 
jsw548 said:
I'm hoping that you folks will find my new site useful. Once you get to the home page, enter either a zip code or a city(and state), where you'd like to find pool halls.

What you'll see are the listings and map pins for all pool halls, in my system, within a 50-mile radius of the zip code entered.

All pool halls on this site have a minimum of 4 tables. There are over 1,000 listed, but I know there are still more out there, that just didn't come up in any of the searches I have done over the past several months.

If you notice a missing pool hall, that has at least 4 tables, there's a tab at the top to submit that, so I can check them out and get the listed on here.

I look forward to any feedback you care to provide, after you have checked it out. Thanks in advance.

American Billiards Association map link

Jeff
Click to expand...
Nice job, Man!!
 
nataddrho said:
Shrugging personal disappointment in the face of heavy criticism is another learned skill, and you can only get better at it by going through it many times. “Fail fast and fail hard” so that you get your product aligned with your customer base wants and needs as soon as possible. It will help you prevent wasting your time and money, and most importantly your mental energy. Burn out is a very real thing with entrepreneurial endeavors.

I have experience making products for this industry, and AZ people ask tough questions right away, which is a good thing for you as a developer.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
...and you addressed each legitimate question head on. Sounds like digiball is a great product.

For my part, I hope I did not come off as having "heavy criticism." I genuinely didn't understand why this was needed, how it is better than the one that already exists, and how it is updated better than google. If you are looking for investors or advertisers these questions have to be answered convincingly.
 
Cornerman said:
I say I don’t see the need, because as others have pointed out, the Google search is already really good. Google and Yelp usually give the hours of operation or if they’re permanently closed. I travel quite a bit for business, and I used the poolhall search sites years (decades) ago, but once Google hit full stride in the 2000’s, they made those pool hall finders a bit obsolete. If this new site can include feedback and ratings by the users as well as information like league night, I’m sure players will find that useful.
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You can't rain on my parade, not matter how hard you try. If Google works for you, that's awesome. I put this together as I found a need that Google didn't provide, so I'm happy with my decision. To each his own.
 
Dan White said:
I think a billiards site has more hardcore players than a reddit type site. I don't think it is out of line to question why this is needed. If there are benefits beyond google or other pool site websites then great!
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Hey Dan, you've been very vocal about all of the downsides of doing a site like this. Can you take a minute to let us know what you've done for the sport of billiards? I'd like to check it out to see where your critical eye comes from. Thanks in advance.
 
jsw548 said:
Hey Dan, you've been very vocal about all of the downsides of doing a site like this. Can you take a minute to let us know what you've done for the sport of billiards? I'd like to check it out to see where your critical eye comes from. Thanks in advance.
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You are being way too thin skinned about this. The only reason I posted more than once is because you are pretty much ignoring the questions that aren't "I love this idea"! Your only comment to me was that I was good to go since google found every pool hall in my area.

AGAIN, I wasn't pissing on your idea. I was curious about the questions I was asking. I guess it's the nature of written communications that you can't see the difference between curiosity and criticizing. Cornerman had the same question and you got insulted. He's done more for pool than either of us combined. For my part I just give my take on things based on my time playing. I have a couple of youtubes if you want to see them, but they are mostly made for certain discussions about aiming. I did just make a video on a neat reference point but I haven't uploaded it yet.

The question was what are you doing for pool that hasn't already been done. You said you "saw a need" for whatever you are doing. That's the kind of non-answer that results in more questions and makes me and cornerman look like we're badgering you.

I'll let it go. I don't really care anymore. If you can make it work and get sponsors then more power to you.
 
jsw548 said:
You can't rain on my parade, not matter how hard you try. If Google works for you, that's awesome. I put this together as I found a need that Google didn't provide, so I'm happy with my decision. To each his own.
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I’m not trying, if you bothered reading. Good luck. I gave you some suggestions.
 
Have you looked at goplaypool.com for how they do it?

Besides them, there are two other lists of rooms that are still being maintained, so far as I know. One is for snooker and one is for carom.
 
jsw548 said:
Thank you very much. I just added them. Weird, they were posting regularly to Facebook and then abruptly stopped in 2014.
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As an indicator of whether they are in business or not, you can look at the dates on reviews in Google Maps. And maybe Yelp. Easy Street does have a recent review.

A room that is open again after being closed from Covid is https://www.breakroomberkeley.com/
 
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