A revolutionary concept of a full size snooker table (or pool table if you must), but the size of, well, quite a small thing. Now you can play in the comfort of your own broom cupboard/toilet/outhouse. The whole top of the table is made up of a treadmill type affair, which detects the movement of the cue ball and moves the surface to compensate, thus translating the movement of the ball to go further than what it would be if the top wasn't moving, do you see? The other balls would be made of foam, but with the same weight and properties of real snooker balls. They would be held to the surface of the treadmill, using some sort of tractor beam (there was one in the paper this morning), and when they reach the sides of the table top, would simply squash down and disappear underneath. Aiming would be a bugger mind. No, right, I've got it... You could display the full table on a computer simulator screen above the treadmill, and use it to work out your shot. Thus the full action and excitement of snooker (apart from there would be no Steve Davis), in your very own shower cubicle. N.B. Steam could damage the electrics, maybe best put it under the stairs eh?
-- Bedford Van, May 04 2001

This might work if combined with a telescopic cue (works like one of those theatrical daggers). Could prevent, say, your Mum's best display china being broken on her Welsh dresser, whilst playing in the front room.
-- slancaster, May 04 2001


Sounds impractical. Would be much simpler to simply use a micro-snooker table and miniaturise yourself when you wanted to play.
-- Rodomontade, May 04 2001


Could be good but I'm not into Snooker. However, if the concept could be adapted for Formula 1 Motor Racing........
-- Ivy, May 04 2001


Just don't call it "Pocket Pool".
-- egnor, May 04 2001


Let me understand this: you give the cueball a smart rap with your cue, and instead of the ball whizzing off the tabletop goes whizzing by underneath it and the ball stays still? And suddenly up pops the foam 7-ball, say, from under the edge of the table and comes zooming along, carried by the moving tabletop, and smacks into the cueball--only it's really the cueball that smacks into it? Oh, this is tricky indeed. But how about when three or more balls go off in different directions? That part makes my brain itch.

[Later.] No, I've got it wrong. The cueball can't just stay still while the tabletop moves because then you could never bank a shot. So--read it again--the cueball moves, just more slowly relative to the cushions, so that it takes exactly the same time to reach the edge of your .5-meter table as it would to reach the edge of a standard snooker table.

But I still have trouble imagining three or more balls banging off in different directions.
-- Dog Ed, May 05 2001


It would be cheaper and feel more realistic just to have the person playing this sort of VR-snooker to wear VR-goggles with plain glass lenses in them instead of the normal VR gubbins and give them a real snooker cue, table and balls.
-- hippo, May 05 2016



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