Least expensive price per hour you can remember

ArizonaPete said:
In the front of Evon's Pool Room in NYC, the old men played 8-Ball for .05 cents per game and Evon racked each game. In the back room, he had two 9 foot tables where my buddies and I played. He charged .25 cents/hour. This goes back to the late 40's and early 50's. I'd go to the movies on Saturday where admission was .10 cents and a small bag of popcorn was .05 cents. They played double features then with a News reel and at least one cartoon. Sometimes a serial.
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you win..lol
I use to get burgers for ten cents..cheese was another nickle, something don't change..now its a buck for the cheese..an ten to see the film
 
I started playing in 1966 at Nick's Pool Room in Gloucester Mass. Shoe shine parlor in front, creaky old oak floor, stinky nasty toilet and No girls allowed! .60 cents an hour....Those were great times in America, seems like I am living in another world now, what a mess....
 
40 cents/hour at the Cal student union, 64-67. Around 1964 I also saw 60 cents/hour/table at a commercial pool hall in Santa Barbara -- Gold Crowns with gold cloth.
 
Rack boy

I was a rack boy in my early teens. New State Billiards in Lowell, MA...about a dozen tables. I racked after every game and took the dime left on the rail - taking the dime before I racked. Which Odd-Ball was the game of choice...a 15-ball rack with money on the odd-numbered balls...long lasting game. Although there were 9-ball money games.

For pay I was allowed to play for free 'down back' when it wasn't busy. No overhead light and no cue ball...used the 1-ball for a cue ball.

Mid 1960s room moved around the corner and in came a few Gold Crowns with gold cloth...and no rack boys...it was all timed at 60 cents/hour. Much more 9-ball play.

The end of an era.
 
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Blue Hog ridr said:
Can't remember that far back. We are at $10 at one hall and $12 and change at another for wrecked up Connelly tables with poor lighting.
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Yikes that is crazy. When I started going to pool halls in the early 90s I paid around $4 an hour and that's what I still pay. The only time I have to play is on the weekends. I play for free from 11am-5 Friday and Saturday and I pay $5 to play noon to 5 on Sunday.

A place in Charlotte opened up a few years ago. 18 Diamond Pro Ams, but they charged $10 an hour per person I think. Needless to say they went out of business in a few months.
 
the real estate boom has made pool very expensive relative to other things adjusted for inflation.

in 85 it was $1.50/hr days after 7pm $1.90/hr in a good joint. which works out to $7-$9/hr (i didnt use a calulator) in todays $$$.
 
The Warehouse in Austin still has FREE pool from 11:00 AM through 4:00PM on Mon-Thurs.

But back in my youth, $0.50/hr was fairly standard.
 
Mid 1980's I paid $1 an hour. 9 foot Gold Crowns. That was where I practiced for so many hours in college. That low rate in part contributed to my skill by allowing me to afford a lot of practice time.


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Back in the late 70's, I played in a small pool room in Harrison, AR. The price was 10 cents a rack. When you wanted a new game, you bumped your cue on the wooden floor, the rack boy would come out and racked the balls. Then collected 10 cents from each player. (the rack was kept behind the counter)
Too bad I did'n play onepocket back then!!
 
Everything around here was by the rack when I started playing. It was 10 cents per- game for two people. When the game was over you hollered rack. I remember when all tables would be going all day playing double check, 31, snooker, 5 and 10 and 6 ball. Almost everyone in the poolroom gambled back then.
 
im a meager 25 and never payed less than 2 bucks an hour in a room, but the place we gamble in boulder has free pool until 10:30 everyday on the valleys. so for all you coloradans, if you wanna gamble on the barbox don't be shy. 5 dollar tournament on mondays too, fun time. rich cunningham used to own it but he's now got better things to do so it's anybody's game. sundown saloon on the pearl street mall. but as far as the cheap pool, im envious of this 60 cents an hour talk!
 
1.00 an hour in the mid 60s. They had Willie Hoppe 2 piece house cues when they opened , they lasted about 3 days.
I also remember 10 cent a rack with a one handed guy racking . You might make the nine ball 1 out of a thousand times and when he got off work he played penny a point gin and I never saw anyone beat him.
I always thought he was holding out , which with just one hand would have been worth the price of admission.
Like everyone else , I sure miss those days.
I remember when I started running a full rack of nine ball occasionally and thought there was no one in the world who could beat me.
I had not a clue , but it was a lot of fun.
 
St. Louis '60's table fee

All the places where I played charged $.60 an hour. A few places charged by the rack ($.10) but they were too rough for me. Most communities had laws that forced pool halls to close at 1:30 AM. Affton Billiards was (is) located in an area that had no time restrictions. Prices were $.60 an hour until midnight and then went up to $.80 an hour. As the other places closed, the action would shift to Affton - the joint would be jumping until 6 or 7 in the morning. No wonder I never got up before 2 in the afternoon.

Big Al, Propietor
 
"I remember when a nickel bag cost a nickel and a dime bag cost a dime. You know how much condoms cost back then? I dunno, we never used 'em!"
 
Before 4pm at my local club it's the equivalent of three dollars per hour. ...Every day. That's now in 2012 btw!!! :)

Beat that someone!!!!! :grin:
 
yes now I remember per rack

yes now I remember per rack .05 and .25 per hr. per head in the 50's


dougster26 said:
Back in the 50's, the owner of the pool room in my home town, use to walk around and rack every game. The price per game was .05 cents.
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Beads

I walked into a room a few years ago and no beads? Couldn't figure it out at first then I saw those large balls above ....no more straight pool.
whammo57 said:
I can remember .90 per hour at Sports-O-Rama in mattydale, NY in the early 60's.

We played straight pool and there were beads on the wire over every table. Most pool halls don't have beads and I can't find anyone else but me that knows how to keep score with them.

We played 9 ball, a quarter on the 9 and a dime on the 5.

8 Ball was only played in a bar.

great days

Kim
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i remember 10 cents per rack.....always would have the balls reracked within a couple of miniutes from yelling..."RACK"....squeaky wooden floors and brunswick tables with cigerette burn marks etc........the good ole days
 
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