Magic Rack Review

K

kollegedave

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Like some others on AZ, I am very disappointed with the state of pool in my area of the country--St. Louis, Missouri, and I am fairly sure that I am the last to know about developments in the pool world and certainly the last person to use newer equipment. For example, the other day I enthusiastically told a friend about a really funny video online where Joe Rogan does an Earl Strickland impression, and my friend said, "Dave, that was from like 9 years ago." The average age of people that frequent my home pool room is something like 60 years old. This review of the magic rack is for people in pool rooms like mine, where they don't really get the quickest or best look at the newer items.

So it was a strange thing yesterday when I went into the pool hall and began racking 10 ball with a black outline on the table. I spent about an hour and a half playing 10 ball with the magic rack, and I think it is an excellent piece of equipment. The magic rack basically froze a bunch of undersized and "out-of-perfectly-round" pool balls. I can only imagine how well it must work with newer balls.

I guess it may have taken a bit longer to place the balls in the rack, but you do save time in not constantly adjusting the rack to try and get balls to freeze. There have been a number of times when I have quickly racked balls, but then had my back hurt because it takes so long to get the things frozen in the rack. The magic rack takes all that away. Especially because of its reasonable price when compared with things like the delta-13, I think it is a great choice for racking in rotation games.

If I had my own table, I would have a magic rack.

Just my 0.02 for those of you who have not had the joy of using a magic rack.

kollegedave
 
As a spectator I do not like the plastic template racks, especially for 9 ball.
The results are way too predictable. The wing ball is simply a dead ball when the pros break from the side. Watching a top pro run out an open rack of 9 ball is not really exciting. The real excitement in 9 ball is the strategy used to try to get the first open shot, including the pushout. I much prefer the randomness provided by the traditional rack.
 
sammylane12 said:
Yes, I know the players like them. Pretty much guaranteed a ball on the break. Perhaps they are fair in an alternate break format.
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Us Brits (perhaps euros too?) break with the 9 on the spot. This does much to eliminate BnR fiascos that give 5/6/7 pack borefests all the time. Alternate breaking is a must also.
 
I agree that is it a good piece of equipment...however its still too expensive! There is a thread on here (I dont remember where) that has a template...57mm worked perfect, I printed it out and traced it onto a sleeve protector (2.99 at walmart for 50 of them), it worked perfectly!!
 
it's not their fault

sammylane12 said:
As a spectator I do not like the plastic template racks, especially for 9 ball.
The results are way too predictable. The wing ball is simply a dead ball when the pros break from the side. Watching a top pro run out an open rack of 9 ball is not really exciting. The real excitement in 9 ball is the strategy used to try to get the first open shot, including the pushout. I much prefer the randomness provided by the traditional rack.
Click to expand...

It's not the fault of the rack makers, or anyone in fact... it's just a product of the structural make up of a nine ball rack... when they're perfectly frozen the wing ball goes when racking the 1 on the spot. It's physics... I'd prefer having a perfect rack then watching people break into slugs and having drawn out games of nine ball due to nasty clusters because of the traditional racks not being able to get the balls frozen.


As for the comment about the price point, if you're not willing to print out a bunch of templates then you can't argue the price imo. I'm a firm believer in people having the right to charge what they like for a product. In my opinion I think the magic rack is probably the best rack invented in the history of racks. I wouldn't mind paying 10-15 dollars for this rack. As another user mentioned the delta's are up there, well over 100... For the security of knowing you get a 100% perfect rack every time... you can't beat it.
 
TheThaiger said:
Us Brits (perhaps euros too?) break with the 9 on the spot. This does much to eliminate BnR fiascos that give 5/6/7 pack borefests all the time. Alternate breaking is a must also.
Click to expand...

Racking the 9 on the spot would probably lead to more hard breaking too. I wouldn't mind playing that game.
 
It is a great product and worth every penny! I love mine and will continue to use it every time I play.
 
Saves felt

The Magic Rack helps save the felt for those of us who practice breaking a lot. No matter the type of rack, breaking with control is the key.
 
rayshooter22 said:
Racking the 9 on the spot would probably lead to more hard breaking too. I wouldn't mind playing that game.
Click to expand...

The WPBA tried that for a while but after they figured it out it just seemed either the wing ball still went or they were throwing the one in the side. I'm pretty sure you could find some matches on youtube and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Maybe another unexplored alternative is to rack the one somewhere other than the apex and not make it a requirement to hit the one first on the break. At least put some challenge or randomness into getting shape on the one.

Let's face it, 9 Ball is what it is.

-----
BTW, the Rogan video is only a couple of years old. I think it was shot the last year the Swanee was held at Hollywood Billiards, which was February of 2010.
 
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