Isn’t pool supposed to be dead?

[sudocrushms]

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

I've been seeing this in MSP also (granted we're getting into slushy, gross season so people don't want to be outside yet).
It's nice to see the halls filling up.

 

[philly]

As an aside, I play almost every day in a smallish room that opens at 10am.
9 9foot Diamonds and 7 7foot Diamonds. Every table is taken up by 11:30. The 9 footers fill immediately.
Good to see.
I understand it's packed in the evenings too.

It seems to me that the billiard marketplace is thriving also.
Many changing out their tips for the latest and greatest at 50 bucks a pop including installation. Most use $20 pieces of chalk.
Good to see.

 

[u12armresl]

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.

And you know you're in the super minority. I look at 30 teams in a place and everyone is drinking pitchers of water and the cheapest appetizer.

 

[Jaden]

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

If you want the recipe for a successful pool hall it's simple. Have lots of bar boxes, in house league every night you can and Sunday day tourneys and be in a college town for Friday and Saturday nights.

If you have the above and properly promote it, you will have a successful pool hall in the US. Hell, if you have any 2 of the above, you should have a successful pool hall provided your lease isn't exorbitant.

 

[Lowell]

And you know you're in the super minority. I look at 30 teams in a place and everyone is drinking pitchers of water and the cheapest appetizer.

Eh most of the teams in our in house league buy at least a bucket of beer and a couple orders of food. But we have a lot of people with disposable income.

I usually buy a few beers but rarely food.

 

[jalapus logan]

Yes, pool is dead. There were only 11,000 or so players in Vegas last week. That's merely enough to populate a small down. And Griff's didn't have a table to rent nor could I sign up for the tournament because it was booked. Might as well take up disc golf.

 

[BlueRaider]

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.

There's a great room near my house with a mixture of 8' and 9' Gold Crowns. The owner owns the building and has for many decades. The problem is he's getting up there in age--late 70s I believe--and I worry about its future after he's gone. Hopefully he has a succession plan in place. I'd hate to see it go because 9' tables outside of it are a rarity in my city. But for right now, I feel lucky to have access to it.

 

[vintagecollectibles831]

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

Leagues are very popular. Cash tournaments, not so much though.

This local pool hall here in Austin TX, called The Grand. Very nice pool hall, with all 9 foot Gold Crowns, I believe. They have league 4 or 5 times a week, but never any cash tournaments.

Lots of people here in TX love to play pool. I can see that much.

Speaking of cash Tournaments, this pool hall on the south side called, Betsy's, has a really good Sunday night tournament. No handicap. 9 ball, race to 4 in winners, and 3 in losers, and they get a full capped 32 player field every Sunday. There might be 50 or more players if it were not capped at 32 players though. If you do not get there at 6pm, for 7pm start, then you might not get a spot. $10 entry, and no green fee. Pretty awesome.

 

[JasonATX]

Leagues are very popular. Cash tournaments, not so much though.

This local pool hall here in Austin TX, called The Grand. Very nice pool hall, with all 9 foot Gold Crowns, I believe. They have league 4 or 5 times a week, but never any cash tournaments.

Lots of people here in TX love to play pool. I can see that much.

Speaking of cash Tournaments, this pool hall on the south side called, Betsy's, has a really good Sunday night tournament. No handicap. 9 ball, race to 4 in winners, and 3 in losers, and they get a full capped 32 player field every Sunday. There might be 50 or more players if it were not capped at 32 players though. If you do not get there at 6pm, for 7pm start, then you might not get a spot. $10 entry, and no green fee. Pretty awesome.

I need to go back to the Grand. I love that place. I played an 8 ball league there a while back. Betsy's is great, but way too far South as is the Warehouse.

If you haven't and can handle smoking, make it up to Skinny Bob's. They have tournaments every day outside of Wednesdays and Thursdays.

 

[mdc]

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

I agree alcohol and socializing are factors but I’d like to point out that many of these people had their own cues. You may be able to see some evidence of this zooming in to the photo. If your primary goal is drinks with friends, seems like you could accomplish that playing with a house cue. I’m not saying owning your own cue necessarily makes someone a serious player, but it does represent an investment of resources. When I started playing in the early 90s, it was mostly serious players and students of the game who had their own equipment, recreational players rarely did.

 

[mdc]

If you want the recipe for a successful pool hall it's simple. Have lots of bar boxes, in house league every night you can and Sunday day tourneys and be in a college town for Friday and Saturday nights.

If you have the above and properly promote it, you will have a successful pool hall in the US. Hell, if you have any 2 of the above, you should have a successful pool hall provided your lease isn't exorbitant.

This place has no bar tables, most are 8’ Diamonds with 3 9’ Olhausens. It’s just down the road from a pretty big school, but I’d say there was a mix of ages. I’m told they do have leagues most week nights, but I don’t know about tournaments.

 

[Jaden]

This place has no bar tables, most are 8’ Diamonds with 3 9’ Olhausens. It’s just down the road from a pretty big school, but I’d say there was a mix of ages. I’m told they do have leagues most week nights, but I don’t know about tournaments.

Yeah, I wasn't claiming that's the only way for a pool hall to be successful just that that's a sure way for it to be.

 

[skip100]

People who shit on leagues are always shocked to see how vibrant, popular and fun leagues are. League players fill pool halls and buy stuff, unlike the dying breed of hustlers and gamblers who hang around looking for an easy mark.

 

[WildWing]

In the Mid-Atlantic, more pool rooms have closed than opened since the 1990s. Lots of reasons for it. But there were lots of local tournaments in the 90s and early 2000s. Not so much anymore.

 

[iusedtoberich]

I just got to Philly, local room was busy with bangers, and about 10 action players rotating through a bunch of games

 

[straightline]

Pool zombies know better.

 

[Mensabum]

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.

Livin' the dream!!

 

[Mensabum]

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)

The local 'league' hall sells booze and food. During the matches, most of the players I see are drinking soda and trying to win. The barmaids echo this sentiment. Afterwards, which runs right around 10:30 ish, all bets are off. Place turns into a bar and social hang out. They stick around afterwards playing catch up bcuz so many of these players know each other and have been in leagues of one sort or another a long time. They have all 4 leagues represented there and it's tough finding a parking place on weekdays during league play hours.
Place only has Five - 4&1/2 by 9's now. Owner pulled 2 of the 9 footers, rearranged the ones still there and put in 3 more bar boxes where the 9 footers were. It's all about the money.
I look at the big table I play on knowing it's days are as numbered as my own.