Al’s Blog

Everyone is dealing with high gas prices, high food prices, and god forbid high beer prices in bars.  The good news is that those with a well outfitted game room at home are saving on all of the above.  They don’t have to drive to the pool room or bar for a pool game or [...]

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We use the term barstool to refer to a stool that ranges in height from 26″ to 44.”  They can be made of metal, wood, mdf, particle board, or other more exotic materials.  They can range in price from $99.00 to over $2000.00 per chair.   The variance in price is due to the materials, the swivel, and [...]

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While you can’t, in most cases, change the square footage of a room figuring out what is the best use for the room is the first step.  We recently helped a family realize that the basement was not the best room to create a gameroom and a media area.  When they thought about it the [...]

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Just because a table is 30 or more years old it is not necessarily catagorized as an antique.  In 1947 Brunswick developed a new construction method called the floating nut plate system.  Prior to ‘47 rails were attached to the table with a screw through the side of the rail into the slate.  The result [...]

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It will take many posts to cover every question we are asked about cue sticks.  Just like golf, technology has changed and complicated sticks.  But the good news is that technology has enhanced the characteristics of cues making them play more consistently and stay straighter longer.  Suffice it to say that most social or casual [...]

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One of the most popular additions to a game room or family room is a bar.  Like most other wood furniture there are different levels of quality.  They all look good from across the room but belly up to the bar and the true quality of the finish and woodwork is obvious.  For occasional use [...]

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There are many reasons people need to move a pool table.  Doing it right will save lots of backache and possibly heart break.  Any good home model table, except coin-ops, are 3 piece slate.  The slate should be removed from the baseframe before the table is transported.  The slate weighs 300 to 600 lbs in [...]

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Cloth can last anywhere from 3 months under heavy use, to 20+ years if used sparingly.  Under average recreational use (3 to 5 hours per week) standard non-worsted billiard cloth needs to be replaced every 5 to 10 years.  The best grade (23 oz. per square yard, worsted wool) billiard cloth from companies like Championship, Simonis, Forestman, ec. should last 10 years [...]

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“I have a pool table and no one uses it.” We hear that comment regularly.  What people need to think about is the real purpose for the game room.  Parents envision kids playing competitive, challenging, and social games other than mind-numbing video games.  Empty nesters want adult entertainment for their friends in a room stocked with classic games like billiards, darts, shuffelboard, [...]

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Too many people put in a pool table without proper lighting.  Over-All brightness is not as important as eliminating shadows on the balls and having consistent light over the entire play surface.  It is difficult and risky to hang a pool table light after the table is in place.  The light fixture needs hi-wattage bulbs to be [...]

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