And no, I’m not referring to baseball or football. I’m talking about the pool scene.
From the snow-capped mountains to the 10,000 lakes… After spending the past couple years (off / on) pretty immersed in the MN pool scene, I have compiled the following list of observations between the two states I consider home:
| MN | CO | |
| Built-in cue holders on drink tables | Yes | No |
| Built-in coat hooks under the bar | No – amazingly | Yes – at most bars |
| Servers are well trained not to buzz by your table or talk to you while you’re down on a shot | Not really | Yes – at most places |
| Individual table lights come on above only the table you’re renting | Yes – just about every in every pool room | No – it’s usually wired in groups or for the entire room |
| Diamond Smart Tables | Yes –in every pool room, it’s great… | No – only in two places, one is very far from my house and the other one has a very mean owner |
| Average Table Time | Daily specials $10-$12 for 7-10 hoursApprox $4-6 / person / hour | Daily specials $4-6 for 5-8 hoursApprox $3-5 / person / hour |
| Overall caliber of players | In general, there are more stronger players, the MN “B” players are equivalent to the CO “A” players and they’re everywhere! | Not as many serious players and overall caliber is not as high |
| Tournament players | More | Less |
| League players | Everywhere – leagues are so popular that you can’t even find a table to sit at sometimes | Dying – unfortunately, there are a handful of places that are thriving from in-house leagues but the rest of them not doing so well |
| League options | Most serious leagues are triple sanctioned (BCAPL, VNEA, and ACS) and every other league is also available | One triple sanctioned league, a few double sanctioned, but most every other league is also available |
| Tournament scene | Monthly casino tournaments, not as much money added as there used to be but at least they are frequent | Few and far between, hard to get weaker players to want to pay the entry to compete with the top players |
| State tournaments | Often and for all the various leagues, including neighboring IA and WI events | Not so often |
| Summertime | Big tournaments become pretty non-existent but leagues continue to thrive, weekly tournaments still do okay | Big tournaments and leagues continue with very little attendance until the weather cools down |
| The Women | There are way more women that play seriously here but VERY few that play on the 9-footers | We have two professionals, Laura Smith and Melissa Little, and many top women players that frequently play on the 9-footers |
| Women’s Masters | Enough for at least two women’s masters teams | Barely enough for one |
| Private Billiard Club & Billiard Scene | Minneapolis Billiard Club – approximately 20 members that pay monthly dues to have 24 hour access and frequently host USBA sanctioned events there | Nothing of the sort, when Shakespeares was around, there was a big billiard scene there but now there’s onl y the sketchy places in the hood or Table Steaks South which are all not heated |
| Ball return | Yes – very popular here, on just about every table | No – CO is drop-pocket land | Pull-tabs | Yes – everywhere, in every pool room | No – never seen them before MN |
| Meat Raffles | Yes – EVERYWHERE! You can’t make it through a night of league without someone trying to sell you a ticket for the meat raffle | No – never even knew what it was before coming to MN |
Pull tabs?
Meat raffles?
I find it very interesting about the ball returns vs. drop pockets being so geographically differentiated.
The Elks in Billerica, MA has meat raffles, but I don’t bother. I go for the Brunswick tables.
Pull tabs? You’re not talking about beer cans are you?
Pull Tabs – they’re like scratch tickets, minus the scratching.
http://www.pull-tabs.com/index.htm
Interestingly, the wikipedia article on meat raffles singles out MN as the US state where it’s common.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_raffle