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Precision manufacturing will save the day.
We need at least one leaf on either side of the side pockets. A number of smaller leafs would probably be more desirable, but may interfere with game play. Alternatively, leafs could be sold separately so you can buy the size you want.
This seemed
pretty straightforward, so I did a Google search, but came up with nothing.
Bar billiards
http://web.ukonline...es/BarBilliards.htm
Another obscure billiards game, with pockets in the surface of the table instead of at the edges and corners. [vincebowdren, Jan 29 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]
[link]
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[PeterSealy] Thanks for the link, but yes, you're missing the point. The drop-leaf pool table is resizable for the amount of space you have - just like a drop-leaf dinner table. |
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Talk about precision manufacturing . . . the joinery between the various leaves would have to be surgical in order to not disrupt the game, yes? |
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..... probably silly point but what happens to the pockets? if they drop down the game is pretty much over. |
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[bristolz] As long as the seams don't effect game play. Maybe the felt can act as a cushion (lift the felt, drop in the leaf(s) then lay the felt back down). |
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[po] The pockets would be part of the main assembly (none of which folds/drops). |
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Yes, but you have a house the size of Poland. Perhaps [phoenix] is more bijou is his domiciliary attainments. |
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PeterSealy:
- the folding pool and snooker tables on your link appear to be of a fixed size each, but fold down flat for storage.
- a better application (than adjustment for available space) would surely be to have it resizable so as to be able to play different variations of billiards. Snooker is usually played on a far bigger table than pool (any variation).
If they could get a table made up of components that fitted together well enough to be as good a surface as a standard slate, then it would work; and to make it really configurable you could have different pocket sizes and shapes to really get it right. |
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P.S. I expect the real challenge for a manufacturer would be getting a single table that could be altered so as to successfully play either pool, snooker or bar billiards. |
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I'd like it if you could move half of the table away, with the balls and all staying in place, so you could get in close for some particularly tricky shot. Not strictly according to the rules, but it'd save on embarrassing trying to balance on the edge of the table and falling off moments. |
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do you get half-cues? and what is a half-spider? |
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Pool/billiards is one leisure sport that is very resistant to change. Nonetheless, I have been working on designs for new billiard equipment, using modern materials.
It is possible to make a pool table slate out of Corian, or similar engineered material. It should also be possible to come up with some surface coating or texturing process that will eliminate the need for cloth, yet provide a similar responsiveness for the balls. Once this is worked out, it would be relatively easy to develop a support structure allowing for slate panels to be added/removed easily. Machine tolerances can easily be tight enough to ensure that the surface is level and smooth (and remember, smoothness is a scale-dependent phenomena).
The pool table can also have modern materials for cushions, again with the cloth eliminated.
I've already made pool cue tips that are permanent, never need shaping or scuffing, and never need to be chalked. Stick it on, and use it forever. But it takes a lot more money to do the development work required for a table. |
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As well as the table being re-sizeable, you'd have to make the pockets and balls re-sizeable otherwise, as the table gets smaller, the pockets will take up a greater proportion of the cushion and so be easier to hit. And you wouldn't want that, would you? |
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The pockets have to be large enough for the balls to go in, regardless of the amount of playing area. |
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What about constructing the table with a solid bed, and with a mixture of sliding and replacable edge sections? This would allow the size of the table to be varied by the distance between the edge of the playing surface and the edge of the table (at maximum size, the border would have zero overlap with the playing surface; at minimum size, it would have 100% overlap). |
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Pockets might be something of a problem, but magnetic grabbers which are activated when the ball gets in far enough might simulate 'drop hole' pockets. |
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