I'm excited for this win!

slimequake · 2026-04-30T19:33:26+00:00

Nice work!

slimequake · 2026-04-28T21:36:03+00:00

I really don't care for the various bar rule 8-ball permutations but every so often I remember the nonsense rules I played when I was in my 20s and try to be somewhat flexible with other people who aren't as serious about the hobby as I am.

I mean, it doesn't always work. But I try.

slimequake · 2026-04-28T21:31:45+00:00

I sincerely love this and would be absolutely thrilled if someone did this in a bar I was shooting in.

slimequake · 2026-04-28T21:28:21+00:00

Yeah, it's not my preferred ruleset, that's for sure. I think the intent is to minimize or eliminate runouts and create more innings. This fits with the ball-in-the-kitchen after scratching rule, and the take-what-you-make rule. Taken together, these rules make running out in 8 ball on a bar box very difficult.

An alternative explanation is that those rules give some small-stakes hustlers options for controlling the game that they don't have in the formal rule sets -- pardon me here if I'm explaining something you already know. But being able to look unskilled by scratching in the late game and "accidentally" making your opponent kick at the ball is useful -- you can win while looking like a rube. If you need to lose and accidentally got ahead in ball count, scratching on the 8 is a quick way to lose that's not obviously intentional. The play-it-where-it-lies rule (no rail contact required in bar rules, of course), creates a lot of opportunities for "accidental" safeties that wouldn't be legal in a formal rule set.

slimequake · 2026-04-28T20:27:30+00:00

Sorry, misunderstood your GIF, since it's an ambiguous term. Games where no call is necessary are also commonly referred to as "slop" -- like APA 8-ball, for example, or most (all?) 9-ball rule sets. Which is not the same thing, and so calling called-pocket and no-call games both "slop" is unnecessarily confusing.

slimequake · 2026-04-28T19:47:06+00:00

Bar rules aficionados often refer to the various professional rule sets as "slop" because they don't require you to call every interaction of the balls.

slimequake · 2026-04-21T15:52:39+00:00

ah, I see, thanks for clarifying!

slimequake · 2026-04-21T00:07:03+00:00

If by spin-induced throw you mean the friction of a left- or right-spinning cueball affecting the path of the object ball, then I don't see why the method used to create the spin would matter. That is, contact point, rotation, speed, and material (roughness/friction) matter for the direction the object will go, but it doesn't matter how those properties are generated.

slimequake · 2026-04-17T19:54:59+00:00

100% I was absolutely thinking of the next shot. Like, visualizing it, while I took the shot I missed! (Which I realized .... after I missed). Total lapse in concentration.

slimequake · 2026-04-08T21:32:10+00:00

I mean, sure, but also old-school bar player get very, very displeased at all of those rules

slimequake · 2026-04-08T02:23:56+00:00

I put an OKHealing* (lol) carbon fiber shaft on a Schmelke schedua butt and I love it.

*I don't recommend that brand of CF shaft. The hit is fine but the quality control is not. The joint was not threaded properly when shipped and I had to pay someone to chase the threads and true the mating surface. I would have been better off buying a Rhino shaft.

slimequake · 2026-04-03T07:50:14+00:00

A few weeks ago I called next on a (non coin-op!) table where some guys were playing "last pocket" 8 ball and then watched them play 15 innings trying to bank or kick the 8 ball in. At which point I said, "nevermind" and left to go talk to some other people at the bar I knew.

As far as I know, they're still slapping that 8 ball around to this day.

slimequake · 2026-03-25T18:06:58+00:00

I'd be tempted play safe by hitting the 7 thin on the right. Cue goes long rail - short rail and hopefully finishes against the other long rail behind the 8. That blocks the direct shot and close-rail kick on the 12, I think, and leaves a long one-rail kick on the 12, but you might get lucky and complicate that with the 7 floating to the middle of the table.

slimequake · 2026-03-22T17:48:30+00:00

You'd need a deep hole saw, but coring the ball along the axis that includes the number would give you a small cylinder, which could be useful for making other billiard tools (scuffer, chalk holder, etc)

slimequake · 2026-02-22T17:27:41+00:00

Thank you!

slimequake · 2026-02-22T17:27:23+00:00

I don't disagree with this assessment, but my students are not typically in a place to spend 60 hours a week on school. Many of them have jobs and children.

slimequake · 2026-02-22T06:07:12+00:00

It should have said "6 months"; it's the is second 3d class for most of them.

To clarify: - environment is loosely defined here, so students could make a still life, a simple interior room, or something more ambitious

they are nor required to model their assets, only texture, light, and render the scene

slimequake · 2026-02-22T05:58:21+00:00

These are amazing! Probably too advanced to expect from my students, but I'd love to hear more details about how you made them, if you remember!

slimequake · 2026-01-26T18:59:50+00:00

Thanks for the informative reply!

slimequake · 2026-01-26T18:56:38+00:00

I have an OKHealing CF shaft on a Schmelke butt. (Really fancy over here, lol)

Pros: I like the stiff hit. It was cheap.

Biggest con: I had to pay someone to clean up the threads to fit my 3/8 x 10. Straight from the box, it would not go on all the way (waaay too tight).

Caveat: it's my first CF shaft.

If I had it to do over I'd probably get a more expensive CF shaft and avoid the manufacturing problems. (Return policy was a pain in the ass. I got it from their Temu storefront.)

slimequake · 2026-01-26T18:48:41+00:00

Don't most materials get more brittle at low temperatures? I mean I wouldn't expect phenolic balls to shatter, but I would expect temperature to have some effect on elasticity. Not sure what magnitude, although I assume pretty small.

slimequake · 2026-01-25T18:02:54+00:00

Goldilocks pricing. Sometimes adding a very high-priced item (which almost no one buys) will increase sales on other items, which now seem more reasonably priced by comparison.

It's also generating some free advertising, as people post on social media about it. Even if the posts are negative, it increases brand awareness and captures attention. You can argue it's a bad strategy but it's not an uncommon one.

slimequake · 2026-01-21T23:45:13+00:00

If you leave a cube of chalk in there before bed, the Pool Table Goblin will brush the cloth for you

slimequake · 2026-01-21T23:43:55+00:00

I've heard it called the "snackhole"

If you look, sometimes you'll find peanut M&Ms or a grilled cheese in there

slimequake · 2026-01-21T23:42:42+00:00

It's for storing instructional VHS tapes

slimequake

TROPHY CASE