I grew up playing in a small pool room with 7 old Brunswick tables built in the 1920`s. The playing surface on these old tables was 4.5'x9', that is 108" x 54". I am sure because I used to cover these tables for the owner. As we all know modern "regulation" tables now have a playing surface of 100" x 50". This is really a big difference. I remember the first time I played in a different pool hall I thought I was playing on 8 footers. Does anyone know when and why the playing surface dimentions were changed?