We have a family room downstairs that we never use. I mean, never.
It has a sofa and two chairs and a television, but we always watch television in the living room, and even when we have visitors, nobody ever sits downstairs.
I was thinking of putting in a pool table.
We used to play pool occasionally at the local bar, and as a kid my friend had one and I used to be pretty good at it. I figure, even if I only use the pool table once a month, it will still be better use of the room space than a needless second living room.
Walmart always puts pool tables on sale during the Christmas holidays season for about $250 (or even less?). I am fully aware these are anything but fine quality sports equipment and you get what you pay for.
My questions are:
Would this cheap pool table suffice for the occasional game, and would it still look good after a few years?
Does anyone own one and can give me the pros and cons of buying a cheap one?
I have a Large Antique Slate Pool Table and I carefully replaced the Leather pockets myself. It came with my Prior house and I had it moved professionally and had the felt replaced at the same time.
I grew up with a cheapo Pool Table. They never look good for very long but they are still fun to play on and a lot easier to move. The easily warp and this is the biggest drawback. It sound like you’re a casual player and $250 is a fairly small investment, go for it. If you really get the bug, a full size, slate table is really expensive anyway and $250 is the price of a good set of balls and 4 good cues.
So start cheap and see how it goes and then look at estate sales if you ever want to move up to a slate table.
I would never have bought a large slate table on my own, but I love owning it now. (I am still a terrible pool player.)
Hmm…that $250 table is starting to look pretty good.
And a better table down the line is probably a good idea, but wait to see if I actually use the cheapo table first. And I don’t know about warping…I live in Las Vegas and trust me, humidy is not a problem.
Ping pong tables are fun, as well as the fussball/kicker tables, but I think I would rather have a pool table. I could practice on my own, and maybe if I ever get out and go to one of the bars again, I could earn back the price of the table (yeah, right).
They make many add on pool table Ping Pong tops for under $200. That could be your present to yourself the next year.
There are no Pool Table add-ons to a Ping Pong table that I have ever seen.
I have my Dad’s old Ping Pong table and I am about to set it up as a train table instead. (Strangely enough, just like I did as a kid) My son loves trains and one of my best friends loves trains and doesn’t have the space to build a large setup. So we are going to build a large setup and attempt a giant switchback to climb to the ceiling.
I have a table in my basement that is one step up from the walmart el-cheapo jobs and one step down from a good slate table. It’s got a honeycomb base, which isn’t as good as slate, but isn’t going to warp like a sheet of plywood (which is what the base of the el-cheapo table is probably made out of). It stays level and balanced, and plays well, and I’ve had it for 8 years. A similar table should run you about $400.
We had an el-cheapo table growing up. They don’t stay level, and every week or so you have to crawl under the damn thing and keep leveling it up. Not worth the aggrivation, IMHO.
Another problem with a cheap table is that they generally play VERY slow. This is for two reasons - one is that the bed isn’t very smooth, and another is that they make them slow on purpose because otherwise the balls will roll all over the place. These tables are almost always out of level, and if they played as fast as a good slate table, slow shots would give the balls lots of time to roll off their aim line.
My brother had a ‘cheap’ table - it was about $500 and had a honecomb bed. It just didn’t play very well.
On the other hand, there are tens of thousands of homes that have expensive pool tables in them that are rarely used.
My advice would be to go get a copy of Byrne’s New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards. It’s the ‘classic’ in the field, and a very entertaining book to read. You’ll learn more about the game and how to play, get some good buying advice, and you might find dimensions to pool you never knew existed (assuming you’re a beginner).
Then take the family out to a family pool hall somewhere a few times, and play on real equipment. See if you all like the game. Spend a month or two going out and playing pool a couple of times a week. Then you’ll know if it’s a game you really want to get into, or whether you just want to just knock some balls around on occasion.
If you like cheap furniture, get a cheap pool table.
I wouldn’t. I’d save for one that is more sturdy and classy. Also, I have a ping pong top for my pool table. It’s regulation size and plays like a regular ping pong table when need.
The new tops have a sweet speed and touch. Very practical.
Don’t own one, but I’ll share one datapoint:
Make sure you have enough room for it. If you consider that you want to be able to stand anywhere around the table with a pool cue fully drawn back, it becomes clear that you need a much larger area than just the table.
I have been at two friends’ houses where they had one special sawed-off cue for getting shots near an offending column or a particular wall.
We use to do that in my old house. My brother ensured the Pool Table would be re-assembled in my new basement to ensure the sticks had free play in every direction.