A great way to keep the whole family together is to look for pool tables for sale. In these days, sometimes we look for more ways to save money, and perhaps have more fun at home with the family than going elsewhere to spend our money.
Pool tables come in lots of different sizes. The most common sizes are seven, eight and nine foot billiard tables. For small spaces, there are even six-foot sizes, for apartments and bedrooms, etc. Another name for pool is pocket billiards. As you can guess, there are pockets along the sides of the table for the balls to go into.
Normally there are six pockets on a pool table, each corner of the table has one (these are corner pockets). And on the long side in between the corner pockets are the side pockets.
There are many variations of pool games that you can play. The most popular ones are eight-ball, one-pocket, straight pool, and nine-ball.
The playing surface of the billiards table will always be rectangular, with a 2 to 1 ratio of length to width of the sides. There’s also usually a one-eighth inch margin of error. Here are the playing surface dimensions for the different sizes of tables:
- Nine Foot Pool Table: 100″ x 50″
- Eight Foot Pool Table: 92″ x 46″
- Seven Foot Pool Table: 76″ x 38″
The 9-foot and the 8-foot tables are the only sizes that are officially authorized for tournament pool play by the World Pool Billiard Association.
The pockets of the billiards table are edged either in plastic or leather. Some tables can have pockets made out of leather to catch the balls. But the coin-operated pool tables in pool halls and bars usually have troughs built into the table to return the balls to one end of the table.
The bed of the pool table (as authorized by the WPA for tournament play) has to be made of slate that is one inch thick. Pool tables for home use can be less than one inch thick. And sometimes other types of materials can be used, like synthetic types of materials, or wood. In the better brands, though, most of them still use one inch slate for the bed.
Markings are used along the edges of the pool table (called rails) on which to sight the pool balls in the direction that you want it to go. These can also be called diamonds. Most often they are used for kick or bank shots. There are six diamonds along each long side rail that divide the area into equal parts. These are great for lining up your shots.
Something called spots will be used to mark where the head and the foot are. There can be a spot designated for racking the balls. Sometimes there are even lines drawn on the playing surface to lay out grids for playing pool.
Just a little information on what to look for when searching for pool tables for sale! To see the full collection of pool tables, go here: Pool Tables for Sale
