Ticklishchap
Academy Player
Does the occasional game of Pool or Billiards count? I have played informally in many different settings over the years: university, a few times at houses large enough to have a Billiard Room and of course country pubs.
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Pool/Billiards
- Thread starter Ticklishchap
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I used to love going to Rileys. Jug of beer, playing American pool and putting on the tunes on the Duke box. Those were the days.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
Completely agree with you. There was also a quirky little Italian sports bar in Clerkenwell that was good for playing pool. I hope it will reopen after lockdown.
Some country pubs have pool tables where it’s possible to play in a very relaxed and leisurely way.
It was also a great rainy afternoon or sometimes after dinner activity at university.
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At uni our pool tables took in 2 20 pence pieces for each game; got pretty good at the game at the time. Those were the days and Fosters for £1.20 a pint. It was pish water but still couldn’t complain when a poor student.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
Ah, back in ‘them days’. ...When were you at uni? For me it was the mid-80s; I don’t feel that age! I also got quite good at the game back then. Did you play Rugby at uni as well?
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No, just at school. Was a small, fast winger.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
I was a Full Back, for my sins. Enjoyed it. I don’t know how I got any work done at school. I carried on with it for 2 years at uni.
What decade were you a student, if I may ask?
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90s/00s.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
So you’re about 10 years younger than me!
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
Actually you’re more like 15 years younger than me I think (he says, feeling suddenly old!). It was quite difficult balancing work and sport at uni.
BiggusLaddus
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I tried to play pool for the first time in many years and found it was impossible now that I wear glasses. The top of the frames completely block my eyeline.
Dennis Taylor was ahead of his time.
Dennis Taylor was ahead of his time.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
I have never found that although I haven’t played Pool ‘seriously’ for a long time. When I played Rugby I wore glasses for reading only so that wasn’t a problem. I think I might have actually put my glasses on when I was playing Pool as a student!
I miss playing pool in the pub. From the age of 16/17, every friday/saturday night was spent playing pool, smoking and drinking Fosters (eww!). I also got pretty good and would often win any bets placed by cocky so and so's who thought they were decent.
Very few pubs have pool tables anymore and it's a crying shame imo.
Very few pubs have pool tables anymore and it's a crying shame imo.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
There’s a lot of snobbery about pool tables in pubs, which is sad really. There are still a fair number in London and in the country they now tend to be in remote areas: The Station Inn at Ribblehead in the Yorkshire Dales has a good one, for example - or had, last time I was there. Pool tables are often a casualty of ‘gentrification’!
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
It’s the right weather for Billiards ; I associate it with afternoons when outdoor sports are ‘rained off’!
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
The semantic (and pedantic?) question is whether Pool and Billiards count as Sports with a capital S, or whether we should regard them as ‘games’.
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They are both games for me still.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
I’m inclined to agree with you. They can only be taken with mock-seriousness.
NZbloke
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Yeah, pool/billiards would have to be more of a game... to be a sport has to involve running or real physical energy.
Have a pool table at home, play pool, billiards & snooker, enjoy playing the latter the most - Alleys is a great game, you draw a number out from 1 to 15 from plastic marbles you have in a shaker, if you pot your ball you win, so a player could win off the break, or might have to pot several balls in a row to win... can pot any ball you like to get into position to pot your own one, if you're not able to pot your ball someone else has a turn, if a player pots your ball you draw out another one.
Top game as you don't have to wait long to get a shot... here's an Alleys scoreboard I made below.
Have a pool table at home, play pool, billiards & snooker, enjoy playing the latter the most - Alleys is a great game, you draw a number out from 1 to 15 from plastic marbles you have in a shaker, if you pot your ball you win, so a player could win off the break, or might have to pot several balls in a row to win... can pot any ball you like to get into position to pot your own one, if you're not able to pot your ball someone else has a turn, if a player pots your ball you draw out another one.
Top game as you don't have to wait long to get a shot... here's an Alleys scoreboard I made below.
Ticklishchap
Academy Player
@NZbloke : I like that. I also enjoy learning about and playing whenever possible the rarer forms of billiards, such as Italian or Danish ‘pin billiards’. There’s a great website www.tradgames.org.uk with loads of inspiration and ideas.
It’s a grey area between game and sport. I associate all forms of billiards with days when outdoor sports are ‘rained off’.
It’s a grey area between game and sport. I associate all forms of billiards with days when outdoor sports are ‘rained off’.
