Aloha,
I'm interested in learning more about when and where pool (American style) became popular in Taiwan?
I lived there for 3 years (1973-76) and there wasn't an American pool table to be found outside an American base or club. I don't recall EVER seeing one in a Taiwanese bar or pool hall. I only saw snooker tables. As a matter of fact, I lived upstairs from a snooker parlor.
They produced TONS of pool cues for export, but they were cheap and poorly made at the time. You could find a half-decent one if you searched through them, so I never bothered to buy one. My friend used to buy them by the container-load and ship them to the USA for sale to Sears, J.C. Penney's and wherever else they sold cheap cues.
I won the Taiwan championship two years in a row, but they only people playing were Americans because the locals couldn't come in the bases or American clubs because they had to be escorted. The locals who gained entry used to gather around our 9-ball money games and be standing a couple rows deep watching.
I would have liked to have been there when they first started playing 9-ball. I think it would have been "easy pickings" in the beginning. Now they are world-class players.
I'm interested in learning more about when and where pool (American style) became popular in Taiwan?
I lived there for 3 years (1973-76) and there wasn't an American pool table to be found outside an American base or club. I don't recall EVER seeing one in a Taiwanese bar or pool hall. I only saw snooker tables. As a matter of fact, I lived upstairs from a snooker parlor.
They produced TONS of pool cues for export, but they were cheap and poorly made at the time. You could find a half-decent one if you searched through them, so I never bothered to buy one. My friend used to buy them by the container-load and ship them to the USA for sale to Sears, J.C. Penney's and wherever else they sold cheap cues.
I won the Taiwan championship two years in a row, but they only people playing were Americans because the locals couldn't come in the bases or American clubs because they had to be escorted. The locals who gained entry used to gather around our 9-ball money games and be standing a couple rows deep watching.
I would have liked to have been there when they first started playing 9-ball. I think it would have been "easy pickings" in the beginning. Now they are world-class players.
