Isn’t pool supposed to be dead?

[mdc]

Walked in to this place near my apartment 10pm Tuesday night, not one table available. I used to work at a pool hall when I was younger (back in the 90s). We had about the same number of tables as this place, ~20-25. We were never this busy on a week night. Is it booze? We didn’t serve alcohol. Was told it was league night so about half the tables were reserved for them. Came in last night also and it was the same.

 

[j2pac]

Walked in to this place near my apartment 10pm Tuesday night, not one table available. I used to work at a pool hall when I was younger (back in the 90s). We had about the same number of tables as this place, ~20-25. We were never this busy on a week night. Is it booze? We didn’t serve alcohol. Was told it was league night so about half the tables were reserved for them. Came in last night also and it was the same.View attachment 887203

Nice to see.

 

[JasonATX]

That's how most of the pool halls in Austin are on league nights. There's usually a waitlist after 7pm or so.

There are a bunch of different leagues here, but the APA league here is large enough that they split into a North and South division.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Just left Felt in Denvertown, many tables, nearly all were being played on.
League night, yes. But seems to be busy all the time. Lots of happy players, just not me...I dogged an 8 ball and suffered.

 

[BuffaloSlim]

Very nice. My Monday and Thursday league nights here look about the same with one place having 22 tables and the other with 25. I'm sure the full bar and good food for a hall probably help with filling the places up

 

[trob]

League pool is doing great.. pro pool is doing better than it’s been doing in decades. Just play pool support the game anyway you can and Don’t listen to the negative people

 

[fogboundturtle]

it is an older gentleman and gentlewoman sport. In my local pool hall, the average is way more toward retirement than young people.

 

[mikemosconi]

Pool participation is a very different dynamic today than, say, both post pool movie boom years of 62 to 69 and 87 to 2000.
Today league play dominates the pool room scene. Seven foot tables have all but taken over many, many rooms that still exist or even those that are opening as new.
Women are as much a part of the pool scene as men in many instances- just like you see in public gyms today .
The 1960s scene and the initial stages of the 1980s pool scene was 9 foot tables, men dominating the arenas, younger solo guys spending hours in rooms learning the skills, gambling, etc.
For the most part, it is just different, probably neither more dead or alive in terms of total participation- can’t comment on exact numbers because no such valid count exists.

Most of the older guys left in the game - 65 to 80s in age now either play in their own homes if they have a table or go to senior center and community center places that still have dedicated small billiard spaces and those dedicated billiard spaces in such centers are also dwindling bc the demand for space usage is pushing out the pool tables. In high retirement dominated states like Florida - many gated living communities still have a members rec building where one or two tables still exist - most are still used by the male65 to 85 group but the numbers of players are dwindling every year and many tables are coming into disrepair due to lack of support by HOA boards.
I have personally experienced every one of these pool participation developments and now am very happily back to a home table Gold Crown situation with an option to go to a room of choice when desired.

 

[slide13]

I swear pool is on an upswing.

Just anecdotally, I've been going to the same place for about 15+ years now. It's a small half restaurant and half pool area near to but not in the downtown area of a college town. I used to be able to roll in on any Saturday or Sunday afternoon and have at least half of the 8 9ft Diamonds available. The others were taken up by regulars who I knew or recognized or college kids, families just banging balls around.

Lately though, it can be tough to get a table there on a weekend afternoon. Not only are there more casual players I'm seeing a lot more players taking it seriously, bringing their own cue (often just a single cue in a 1x1 case), etc.

It's great to see, it's really the first time in the last 15 years I've noticed such an uptick in new players coming in and taking it serious.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

Walked in to this place near my apartment 10pm Tuesday night, not one table available. I used to work at a pool hall when I was younger (back in the 90s). We had about the same number of tables as this place, ~20-25. We were never this busy on a week night. Is it booze? We didn’t serve alcohol. Was told it was league night so about half the tables were reserved for them. Came in last night also and it was the same.View attachment 887203

yes its booze, league players buy tons of buckets and shots
pool tables just are there to get people in the door having fun and spending money through socializing

 

[Biloxi Boy]

If yours is half full, appreciate it, and enjoy it while you have it. If it is half empty, very little will fix it. The truth is, as Mike was saying above, pool has changed. Somewhere in the last 20 years, we made some big turns and our old world of pool is not even visible in our rear view mirrors. What happened? I am not smart enough to figure the whole thing out, but seems to me much of it was financial.

The pool room model of old just doesn't float anymore. The proliferation of legalized gambling now satisfies a need that was met, in so many different ways, for so many years, by our pool halls. Also, life today is fast, getting faster, and pool is slow. For us old cats, the pace suited us -- pool and pool halls were comfortably slow, just like us -- shoot a few games, shoot the shit, and shoot a few more games. What kid today could possibly want to invest his time in such a way?

Without recruitment, everything will fail.

 

[Biloxi Boy]

In other words, borrowing from the World War I-era song that rose to popularity after the war "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)" our question becomes "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em in the Pool Hall (After They've Played World of Warcraft?). Mine's not quite as catchy as the original, but y'all catch my drift.

 

[Lowell]

it is an older gentleman and gentlewoman sport. In my local pool hall, the average is way more toward retirement than young people.

Average age of a league player in APA NYC is probably 35-40.

But there are definitely a lot of young people into pool. That being said, most of the young people I see at the pool hall are casuals playing "bar rules" and not people who view it as a hobby.

 

[fastone371]

yes its booze, league players buy tons of buckets and shots
pool tables just are there to get people in the door having fun and spending money through socializing

If what you say is true you don't play in very competitive leagues. The leagues I see a lot of the players are drinking alcohol and if they do its only a couple of drinks for the most part. Like most activities that involve alcohol you always have those few that have way more than everyone else but that's not the norm. And this is coming from the beer capital of the world (or used to be at least)

 

[Rusty in Montana]

I'll admit I'm the only old guy who drinks alcohol during a pool league game , however my teammates make up the difference for me which I'm ok with that .
I will enjoy a glass of cranberry juice or just water which I bring in my own Tumblr , which there is anyone else who does as the bar tenders all know me and realize I won't be sneaking in booze from somewhere else .

With my win loss record in league play I probably help with alcohol sales so they can work up the nerve to play me ha ha !

 

[u12armresl]

The leagues help keep bars doors open, but think about the little money they are making (most of the players aren't buying food, and maybe just a coke or single beer) paying $1 or $1.50 a game vs. $10 to $15 an hour. Sucks for the owners, and guessing you have to split the quarter drop with the vendor and the league too.

 

[fogboundturtle]

The leagues help keep bars doors open, but think about the little money they are making (most of the players aren't buying food, and maybe just a coke or single beer) paying $1 or $1.50 a game vs. $10 to $15 an hour. Sucks for the owners, and guessing you have to split the quarter drop with the vendor and the league too.

I don't know how it is in the US but where I live (in Quebec), it's the gambling lottery machine that keeps the pool hall alive and pays the bill. The pool is only because the owner likes pool. We get between 20 and 30 players 3x a week to play in tournaments but the money the lottery machine are bringing is so much more than what pool players are bringing on a busy night.

 

[George the Greek]

I don't know how it is in the US but where I live (in Quebec), it's the gambling lottery machine that keeps the pool hall alive and pays the bill. The pool is only because the owner likes pool. We get between 20 and 30 players 3x a week to play in tournaments but the money the lottery machine are bringing is so much more than what pool players are bringing on a busy night.

We have the same here in Nova Scotia at all the Dooly"s and the machines keep the doors open.

 

[Lowell]

The leagues help keep bars doors open, but think about the little money they are making (most of the players aren't buying food, and maybe just a coke or single beer) paying $1 or $1.50 a game vs. $10 to $15 an hour. Sucks for the owners, and guessing you have to split the quarter drop with the vendor and the league too.

My team probably spends $150 to $200 on food and drinks per league night.

For a slow night like a Wednesday, that's not too bad.

 

[JasonATX]

I don't know how it is in the US but where I live (in Quebec), it's the gambling lottery machine that keeps the pool hall alive and pays the bill. The pool is only because the owner likes pool. We get between 20 and 30 players 3x a week to play in tournaments but the money the lottery machine are bringing is so much more than what pool players are bringing on a busy night.

Even Skinny Bob's here is like that. They may actually have more machines than pool tables.

My team probably spends $150 to $200 on food and drinks per league night.

For a slow night like a Wednesday, that's not too bad.

My league teams are similar, but we are outside of the norm. It's a running joke when I have friends visit me at league that I tell them to look for the team with the most buckets. I'd also say that in general APA spends more than BCA.