Pub Billiards

There is this great website on old games and includes some really good information on old pub billiard games: http://manorgames.co.uk/

I love pool. Like most of the games I talk about on this blog I am no good at pool but I love playing it. Sadly pool tables are difficult to own. They are expensive (a cheap pool table is still going to cost you $600) and they take up a lot of room and they are really heavy and difficult to move. So for someone living a small apartment having a real pool table is next to impossible.

There are such things as mini pool tables sometimes called kid pool tables but I find these to be pretty dorky.


http://www.amazon.com/Westminster-Tabletop-Pool-Model-2480/dp/B00186IDDQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358791127&sr=8-2&keywords=mini+pool+table

I want to hit around real pool balls but I don't want a seven foot pool table that is going to take up a whole room. This is why I find old pub billiard tables or bar billiards so interesting. Many of them can be set up on a table top and stored away when not in use. Many of them can be pressed against the wall. They are simply really nice alternatives to a full size pool table. Here are some examples:

These games are really cool! I would love to be part of the pub game revival. Games like these are no longer being manufactured. You can sometimes find them used on ebay but they get pretty expensive and often times they are in terrible shape.


So I have been trying to design my own Pub style billiard games. I want my design to be simple enough that anyone can build one.

This is my first game idea.


It is a pocket free rail free pool game that plays similarly to curling and corn-hole. The board is constructed by taking a sheet of MDF board around 3ft by 6ft (which is a size I can fit in my car) and glue and staple felt to the board and then draw the lines and circle on top. The playing surface is set on top of a stable and level table. No rails are needed but setting up barriers to catch balls is suggested.


The game is played with both players receiving 4 full size cue balls. One set of balls is white the other yellow. Players alternate shooting their cue ball from behind the first black line. balls that travel past the first black line are in play balls that fall short are removed from the table. Balls that travel off the playing surface are also out of play. After all of the balls are cued points are calculated. balls landing inside the red circle are worth 3 points and balls inside the blue circle are worth 1 point. Points on the table cancel out just like in corn-hole. Players play to 21 (also like in corn-hole).

I have not had a chance to construct a board yet. With working 2 jobs and being a student I just haven't had time and I'm not sure when I will. The idea sounds pretty solid though so I am confident it will work when I finally get around to it. I encourage people out there in world wide web to try the game out and tell me how it goes!