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62 Comments
- theapprentice, on 10/11/2007, -2/+57Nice, I've often wondered that. I think you gave all the info one needs though right here in the description, no? :-)
- aussieNickuss, on 10/11/2007, -2/+40I've always thought that the white ball was smaller than the others and must fall through a hole that the others can't fit through. Obviously more complex than that.
- mowyouover, on 10/11/2007, -0/+37Eddie Murphy:
Pool is a racist game. The little white ball goes around hitting all the other colored balls into the hole, then leaving the black ball for last. - b3mus3d, on 10/11/2007, -1/+32Spoiler: Fridge Gnomes.
- memoBug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+28Tomorrow's follow up: "Click! How Does the Light go out in the Fridge When You Close the Door?"
- mattxb, on 10/11/2007, -0/+27I always thought there was a tiny goblin in every pool table... and to think all the pimento cheese sandwiches I shoved into corner pockets were wasted...
you live and learn - mowyouover, on 10/11/2007, -2/+25Actually, every table that I've cared to check has had a smaller cue ball, not a bigger cue ball
- falstaff, on 10/11/2007, -5/+27OMG, this was on the front page only a year and a half ago?
What's Digg coming to these days when you can't see original content for at LEAST 3 years straight?
Seriously, if you have indeed seen it all ( http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm ), it's time to read a ***** book or 3000. - Durrok, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20Here is some other important news that waterdragon may have overlooked: He is a tool.
- tablelegs, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20It doesn't matter what size or how magnetic it is if you steal it.
- Fritzed, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19Yeah, but what about bowling?
- Nerfdude, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2199% of the time, it's a smaller ball than the rest. next on digg: how to tie your shoes!
- Ninjapope, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13What about gnomes? Can't rule out gnomes.
- EXreaction, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12"Actually, every table that I've cared to check has had a smaller cue ball"
Ya, same here...
But I guess they have probably changed that with newer tables, to make it more of a legit game. All the older ones I know of just used a smaller cue ball. - empressofmetal, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11Seriously, I've wondered about this, too. Nice find, thanks for sharing.
- gcnaddict, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9they should just make you pay to get your ball back if you scratch. It's not their fault you suck.
- Fracture98, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Each ball is incinerated when it enters the pocket. A gas chromatograph analyzes the composition of the paint that was on the ball. Based on the paint colour, the appropriate replacement ball is re-molded inside the table, and sent out the proper slot. Duh.
- Samsong, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Yes, but the three people above you haven't.
- intilli4, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9Good find. I have always wanted to know how that ball gets back to me.
- mrchimp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6lol Post a message on digg saying how everyone who posts a message on digg is a geek... Good one.
- selrahc, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Not if you always play coin operated tables and become used to the smaller/larger ball.
- mindstyle1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Found it on StumbleUpon today.... never seen it before so I submitted.
- Anomis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Just because you saw it 1year and a half ago doesnt mean everyone on the internet has seen it.
- Thefatheroftime, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Here's a cool trick. This worked at a bar, where there were two pool tables side by side. (and out of eye shot from the bar itself)
Pay for one game.
Write up a sign saying 'Out Of Order', place it over the payed-for table.
Move the balls over to the other table, that's already full up.
This worked on these specific tables, might not work in all, but when the table is full, ANY ball sank will roll down into the cue ball shoot. Play your game, and collect the regular balls in a ball tray under the table. Continue playing...we played for hours on 50ยข! - asdmalol, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I thought having a smaller cue ball may alter your game.. Doesn't it?
- Durrok, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Considering that a beer is anywhere from 3-5 games, I don't think this is really a great way to save money. :p
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4gnomes are much more friendly than goblins. even after they steal your underpants they will try and give you an economics lesson.
goblin is another name for orc. they are generally not very helpful or friendly. - Cimlite, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Because then the table could scream stuff like "9-ball in the corner pocket!" at you.
Your just not ready for the future... :P - burnstyle, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5it dosent
- TTCross, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5The cue ball is never smaller. As a matter of fact I have been in coin-op vending for 15 years and never operated a table with a smaller cue. It's either over-sized magnetic or both. The cue ball sizes are 2 1/4 inches, which is the size of a standard billiard ball. The over-sized cue balls are 2 3/8 inches. You can check out this site where I purchase my cue balls http://www.happ.com/amusement/billiards/26102500.htm.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Magnets huh? I always thought you could invent a great game using RFID in billiard balls.
- McTendo, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6What a loser. Blocked.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Why coin tables suck. Different sized balls will destroy the angles. Hence the magnet system but there's still a difference in mass.
- DarkSideofOZ, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Actually this is untrue, I have also been in the coinop business for over 15 years, and I can tell you not all que balls are bought from Happ, not all of them go by happs measurements, there are many magnetic cue balls that are in fact smaller than the balls themselves to offset the weight of the metal ball bearing inside of them. it is quite minuscule the size difference but they are smaller. Also some bars prefer custom Belgian que balls for certain leagues, others prefer Belgian red dot cue balls, there is a standard size of 2 3/8" but there are 2 5/16" magnetic balls in use.
- DarkSideofOZ, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Bar Tables 101
Valley/Midway/Brunswick/American Eagle pool tables have varying styles that differ from year to year, Some using Magnetic balls some using sized.
ALL pockets have gutters that lead to the middle of the table, lengthwise, this middle gutter has a slight incline its highest point being the side you pull all the balls out, opposite the side the cue ball comes out. the balls all go to this middle gutter (which has chalk sized holes so your chalk doesn't stop the balls) and roll down hill to the side of the table the cue ball comes out, they take a left turn, continuing down hill and are funneled single file on to a double metal strip track, much like a railroad but just barely wide enough to support the tip of the balls with minimal friction as they roll, from there they roll straight through to the window you observe them in when you put your money in. The actual separation of the cue ball from the regular balls occurs right before they come into view in the window.
Magnetic: The magnetic, is the most common type. on the side of the track nearest the outside there is a wooden block, in the beveled back of that block is glued a Magnet approx 3 inches long, as the balls roll on the metal track they are unaffected, though the magnetic cue ball, which isn't really magnetic, it simply has a metal bearing in it, comes along and is pulled into a track beside the magnetic wall and dropped into the Cue ball hole.
Sized: There are actually two types of sized balls, over and undersized.
The undersized is not used hardly at all anymore because general wear and tear caused the gap it fell in to widen to allow normal balls to fall as well.
The over sized balls are separated two ways according to the manufacturer. Method one is distance from the wall that the track runs parallel to, in this instance the track the ball follows is very close to the wall, the gap getting smaller as it nears the cue ball drop causing the larger cue ball to press over the track into its path to the hole. Though this is rarely used anymore as well as the wall wears over time and the cue ball goes where the regular balls are, causing lost money and service calls.
The Main Sized approach used today is a metal tab protruding over the balls that catches over-sized cue balls and guides them off the track into the cue ball hole, the only wear and tear on this is occasional tab bending/replacement, which is far easier than the repair options for the other sized approaches.
There you have it, Bar pool tables. - Iconwolf, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Gnomes, gnomes, gnomes.
What about the poor Goblins? - twertyto, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I'm in favor of a Maxwell's Demon inside the pool table as a solution.
- DubbedOver, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I need to start breeding gnomes and selling them to factories where all these products are made.
It seems after reading the comments down the page, that gnomes are responsible for most of the behind the scenes actions so I see this as an untapped market. - Smoko, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1On our pool table, the white ball is smaller. There is a bigger gap just before the little tray where you can see the balls, and it falls through there while the others just roll over it. Then when you've sunk the numbered balls, the hole it falls through is covered trapping it in there.
Of course, this pool table is fairly old. Things might be more complex now days, like almost everything else. - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1RFID would be useful for automatic score keeping. It would also be great for training. If there were sensors on the table you could have a monitor to show you what the optimal shot would be, or where to bank for trick shots.
- christopheles, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1why?
- ryodoan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1it really would not be that hard. The biggest challenge that I think you would run into would be if the cue ball became to dirty, or if the lights / sensors became dirty. So really, it probably requires more maintenance and is the least common because of that.
However, one way that I could see it working is there is an LED that shines onto the cue ball as it goes by, different colors reflect different amounts of the light which can be detected by a sensor. Depending on how much light is reflected the the sensor can determine if the color of the ball is white (usually has the highest reflectivity).
In one of my college classes we had to program a line tracking Lego robot that worked in essentially the same way, it would use two light sensors to determine if it was starting to touch the line, and it would then make necessary adjustments to the motors to keep it going straight. - Tagaiz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@ryodoan
the balls are not all on solid color so that wouldn't be very accurate - TTCross, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What is the size of the smaller cue balls. 2 5/16 is larger than the standard 2 1/4. At this point just trying to educate myself.
- Liquidice00, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0That was a cool article. It is one of those things that I have never really thought about before.
- zackr, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0I always thought the cue ball was smarter than the rest. It comes back only to tease you again... grrrr
- conciergeman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0yeah I actually just found this out two nights ago, at a school party where they had coin op pool tables with the glass taken out, so you could just keep playing, and you could see that the cue ball was just slightly larger than the others, quite intresting actually
- klorvin, on 02/22/2009, -0/+0TT Cross, my question is probably for you, I've got a Valley home version table and I didn't realize until it was too late that it didn't have the cueball return like the coinop ones....what I'm wondering is there a way to add it? It is a normal valley table with the plastic thing in the center where all the balls go, they just dump straight out rather than going to the box.
- Gectow, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0ah right, so the general opinion is that the cue ball is SMALLER than the other balls... HOORAH now i have an excuse for why i manage to pot the white ball on almost every shot whilst missing the one im going for... because it fits in the pocket easier..... well thats the excuse im going to use now anyway :P
- burnstyle, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1"I've always thought that the white ball was smaller than the others and must fall through a hole that the others can't fit through. Obviously more complex than that."
the larger balls are the magnetic balls, they are quite common....
i think electric tables use larger balls too... but dont hold me to that -
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