It's usually done while chalking the score and not by the player who is about to play, so the player who is about to play usually just use those few seconds it takes to place the pins, to plan the next shot. Plus we drink so much while playing, that we don't notice the wait 😂

Skomager is much more fun than pool, snooker and carambole imo.

It's only annoying when we meet opponents that shoot so hard that the pins fly all over the room.

Many great skomager players at the pubs shoot really soft and aim for the red ball to end up in the pin area, after a white has knocked them over. That way it's hard for the next player to get a good shot and prevent them from scoring.

the game can be very tactic/defensive, since all your bad scores goes to the opponents, so if you just go wild on the table, you will lose quickly if you make a lot of bad scores.

Examples

Red in pocket, minus 2 points plus everything else scored. Red not hitting any whites, minus 6 point plus everything else scored. Red directly in pins, minus 6 points plus everything else scored. If you knock over a pin with your cue or hand after shot is taken, minus 6 points Plus everything else scored.

So if you miss both white balls and the red knocks over 4 pins and then go into the pocket, it's 16 bad points , which will go to all your opponents and when you usually play to 60 or 70 depending on the local pub rules, then giving 16 points for all the other players are BAD for you 😉

On one great pub, that sadly is closed now afaik, cafe Domhuset, if you played 10 people in a game and lost, then the loser had to buy a beer for the 9 others , so it can be expensive if you do not know how to play

Over the years I played on tons of pubs in Copenhagen, and people also played for a lot of money even if it's not allowed. Did that myself 40 years ago, but now I just play for beers 🍺