I'd try 10 9' and 6 bar boxes. You can always adjust those numbers at a later date. See what gets play.
Had a good friend that opened a hall a while back, had about 12-14 nine footers. He eventually sold some of the 9 footers and put in smaller tables. The 8 footers got a lot more play once installed.
I think the average weekend player prefers the smaller tables because it is more fun. It's easier to pocket balls due to the shorter distances of shots, and after all, pocketing balls is what makes the game fun. If they didn't care about pocketing balls, they would play on a carom table.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty great players that play on bar boxes and prefer them. Playing a great player that plays on bar a box is no easy feat.:smile: I'm not dissing anyone that loves bar boxes, just stating my opinion about the weekend player that will make up most of a halls business.:thumbup:
I didn't vote because my split would look like this:
6-nine footers for the serious players.
8- oversized eight footers for tourney play.
4- barboxes (w/quarter slots) for APA/league play or family outings.
I realize that this equals 18 tables, but if you originally had room for 16 9-footers, then you could fit 18 tables in the room if 12 of them were less than 9-footers.
JMO.
Maniac
There's a spot in Laurel MD that has 17 Diamond pro/am boxes and 3 9'pro/am and they stay pretty crowded.
The term barbox doesn't have to mean oversized pockets and a mud ball...
All things considered I'd go with the smaller tables.
![]()
That place is called Bank Shots and they stay crowded with league play. They have APA leagues in there almost every night and the DC Area APA League holds all of their playoffs there. Basically, they installed all of the barbox tables just so they could become the home of the APA playoffs for the area.
You are correct that barbox doesn't have to be bad. At Bank Shots, all of the barboxes are Diamonds and they play very well.