Pool Cue News and Review

Yeah, I know I haven’t reviewed any products in a while, but I’ll get back to that later. For now, I want to address what I’m sure will be spun as a “big win” for the billiards industry: The 2007 SMGA Billiards Participation Study. The folks at the BCA were kind enough to share this data with everyone and at first it looks like good news. The total number of billiards participants grew from 42,596,000 in 2005 to 46,990,00 in 2006. Pretty healthy growth and participation for our little pseudo-sport. What you don’t see is the definition of “participant”. In the case of the SMGA, a participant is someone who has played once in the past year. There is a big difference between participant and pool player and if you don’t believe me, just take a look at the flat to declining numbers of league players. Still don’t believe me? Then ask yourself why less than 1% of the almost 47 million “participants” find themselves participating in an APA League.

That being said, it is nice to see that 17.1% of the US population picked up their pool cues at some point in 2006 and at least tried the game. Too bad, they probably won’t stick with it because:

a) The game is hard and has a steep learning curve

b) More often than not, going into a pool hall is extremely uncomfortable and intimidating for a new player

c) Because of “house rules” there are always arguments which often lead to the inevitable “Man Treated for Assault with Pool Cue” headline that seems to pop up about 4 times a week on my Google Billiards News feed.

So what does this have to do with you, the regular pool player who enjoys the game and doesn’t call the local pokey their home away from home? It means that you should be introducing your non-pool playing friends to the game and showing them that its not all about fighting, hustling and gambling. Its a fun game whether you’re a pro or you just like to knock some balls around, but if the game doesn’t start cleaning up its act, pool isn’t going to be “everyone’s game”, its going to be no one’s game.