If there is one thing I can't stand it's the dreaded mud ball for a cue ball!!! Nothing about it is a cue ball except for the color and even that is questionable. Shot a tournament tonight and got stuck on a table, only one mind you, that had a mud ball for a cue ball. No English was working of any sort and ball continuously rolled off like it wasn't balanced. Next time I shoot that tourney I will refuse to play on that table...so flustered right now...
Mud balls
- Thread starter cdub250
- Start date
Many people don't know what a real mud ball looks like. They mistake some balls for the mud ball. I haven't seen one for years. To get a few inches of draw from a mud ball you need to have the perfect conditions and a good stroke. It's like playing with a steel ball.
Someone should post a picture of one.
Midsouthmichael
Member
Don't think it is magnetic, the size is what separates it from the object balls. There's a table at a bar I go to that has one. Definitely a PIA. It's a valley so it can use either that big ball or the magnetic one. I swapped it one night for an aramith bar box cue ball and threw the big one in the bathroom trash. The aramith worked great, but a couple of weeks later it was gone and there was another big one so I guess someone likes them.
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The 'mudball' as i know it has metal particles in the resin mix instead of one big chunk inserted in the middle. They really do play like a big hard glob of clay. Almost impossible to draw. You have to play follow/stop shots. Hardly ever see them anymore. The newer Aramith ball has magnetic particles in the mix and plays pretty good.
It has steel in it. Making it attract to the magnet on a coin return machine. I have two I can get English with and they’re normal size.
Not all of the bar tables use magnets, there are some that use the size to separate them, or did when this post was done almost 10 years ago LOL
The ball on the right is the Punkin ball. It is oversize. There's a balance beam in the return that has a magnet alongside. Over size or magnetic both get diverted to the other end .
The mud ball is formed with steel powder in the mix so the size is very near a natural ball. The weight however is much heavier. The other option for these tables has a metal frame formed in the cueball. It's not as heavy but still heavier than natural. Quite often the metal frame is off center and makes for interesting turns as the ball slows to a stop.
The ball with the metal frame has a plug looking spot about the size of a quarter. Must be poured in 2 steps. We called it the Plug ball.
The progression went like this: (AFAIK)
Oversized ball
Metal flake ball (this is what people used to refer to as the mud ball, it was much heavier)
Plug ball (metal slug added?)
Metal mesh ball (fine mesh added just below the surface during construction)
Lots of people seem to just call anything magnetic a "mud ball".
The mesh balls play just fine and are sometimes slightly lighter than the object balls, so draw is not a problem with them. Calling them a mud ball always strikes me as wrong.
Oversized ball
Metal flake ball (this is what people used to refer to as the mud ball, it was much heavier)
Plug ball (metal slug added?)
Metal mesh ball (fine mesh added just below the surface during construction)
Lots of people seem to just call anything magnetic a "mud ball".
The mesh balls play just fine and are sometimes slightly lighter than the object balls, so draw is not a problem with them. Calling them a mud ball always strikes me as wrong.
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I take my measles ball out to the Triple NInes' Saturday tournament in Elkridge, MD, and many of the players out there refuse to play with it! They'd rather play with cue balls that are pock marked and haven't been cleaned in years----they think it gives them some sort of an advantage!
I've been playing pool for 59 years, and I can only remember exactly one room that used clay balls. It was a little 5 table room in a basement at 14th & G St. NW in DC, underneath a barber shop. I think it closed sometime around 1970.
Actually make that two. The Student Union at Duke University had clay balls, a few of which had chips in them. Total class joint.
I've always called any larger or heavier cue ball a "mud ball" not matter the construction.
There is also the new methods of using actual technology like Diamond does and scan the balls to figure out what is the cueball by how it looks and reflcts.
14th and G. Was that Strawberry's room?
We have one location that uses the big, heavy, dirty looking cue ball, I always called it the mud ball. They also have the shittiest tables with 30 year old, dead balls, dead cushions and dirty, worn out cloth on the tables. Only one table uses the mud ball cue, the other has the maroon dot ball standard used most other places. The table with the mud ball also has a wall on one side, and two columns on the other to impede your shot. I bring a 42" cue to those matches, and often even that is too long. You literally have to open a window to stroke normally for some shots. Most of us in the league hate playing in that place, but strangely enough the team that uses that as their home location does surprisingly well as a team, especially playing at home.
That big heavy cue just seems to have a mind of it's own for lots of lower skill level players. Draw shots become stop shots, and anything else just follows and follows. Lots of scratches. We remind each other all night about it, but it still bites you occasionally. It definitely changes your strategies.
That big heavy cue just seems to have a mind of it's own for lots of lower skill level players. Draw shots become stop shots, and anything else just follows and follows. Lots of scratches. We remind each other all night about it, but it still bites you occasionally. It definitely changes your strategies.
Around my neck of the woods the mud ball was bigger diameter and substantially heavier simply because of 1/16" of material added to the outer surface of the ball. That adds a lot of weight with no metal added. It also had an off white color that really stood out if you put it alongside another cue ball or the white of a regular ball. That is why we called it a mud ball around here, purely the color.
If you had a stroke the mud ball would draw anywhere you needed it to on a seven foot table. It probably was the reason for the saying, "draw for show, follow for dough!" Most people if they could draw the mudball, had no control of the ball about like you see a lot of low level players jumping today. Even if they successfully clear the ball in the way they have not a clue where the cue ball is going to end up. Likewise, some drew the mudball but with no control.
Some of the very best of the old time players that got on a barbox a good bit loved the mud ball. The less the opposing player knew the bigger romp the mudball master had. Those that could deal with the mudball loved it because most couldn't. Sure they shot a lot of follow shots too but they didn't hesitate to draw the mudball.
Something that most don't realize that didn't put in the hours with the mudball, it was easier to control than a cue ball that is equal to the other balls. A cue ball that is the same as the other balls can be harder to predict how it will handle than if you have fifteen balls and an eight hundred pound gorilla on the table!
It would be fun to have a big ball event now and then.
Hu
If you had a stroke the mud ball would draw anywhere you needed it to on a seven foot table. It probably was the reason for the saying, "draw for show, follow for dough!" Most people if they could draw the mudball, had no control of the ball about like you see a lot of low level players jumping today. Even if they successfully clear the ball in the way they have not a clue where the cue ball is going to end up. Likewise, some drew the mudball but with no control.
Some of the very best of the old time players that got on a barbox a good bit loved the mud ball. The less the opposing player knew the bigger romp the mudball master had. Those that could deal with the mudball loved it because most couldn't. Sure they shot a lot of follow shots too but they didn't hesitate to draw the mudball.
Something that most don't realize that didn't put in the hours with the mudball, it was easier to control than a cue ball that is equal to the other balls. A cue ball that is the same as the other balls can be harder to predict how it will handle than if you have fifteen balls and an eight hundred pound gorilla on the table!
It would be fun to have a big ball event now and then.
Hu