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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1980)
£ 1J:£ c Mi2 i 1s s go? "Try asKinc 1 o £._ : W « £ r3 I £ ^ S-J gf- ^ 3 §§S ||| S b ^3 b 2 ■ O O H cu vy mm 1-^ o o • ^ cj *•-* q w c ■= o "S a" & ^ S 'r. o s s f! a j aj £«a_r_a; ±i sr.^ ^ a ii ° .Js-l 1,3 ^ "I -S .b ^ ^ c *--^ Ctf (V) r-C <3J) s ^ s imes s good lar after a year and a half. Most 3 at get- games last between six months and jse the a year, Fickey said. 3ep the “The machines are very costly,” I. Fickey said. “Pinball machines run about $1,900 and a game like gating a ce j nvac j ers j s c | ose r to $2,600,” , P° inls he said. Someone wanting either to break into the business with very little capital, or just to save quarters stole !ea ’ ne a Space Invaders game from the Commons last semester. A reward ofF&F of $100 was offered, but the games machine was not returned, quickly. “We’re hoping it never happens est last- again,” Todero said. “Those games ill popu- are expensive." ter after quarter is put in the electro- ames in an effort to make a high score vin some free games. >aul Childress Jim Simpson, a grad student in animal science, shoots some pool in the basement of the MSC. No such thing as an empty pool tabii Scot K. Meyer Battalion Reporter The white ball rolled boldly up to the black ball and tapped it firmly on its circle eight. The black ball oblig ingly rolled off and dropped into the corner pocket. Not to be outdone, the white ball banked off the edge of the green table and fell into the side pocket. The choreographer of the action gave a groan of disgust. His opponent whooped, and the person who owned the coins on number seven stepped up to play the next game. And so the action continued at the pocket billiard table. Pocket billiards, or pool, is very popular. But what is the typical pool shooter like? Well, maybe there is no such thing as a typical player. “Profs play, a lot of girls are play ing now; there’s really a wide range,” Bill Tucker, a bartender at Grins Beer Garden, said. Tucker said that since Grins has live bands, the owners originally didn’t want pool tables. The clien tele demanded them though, he said, so about six months ago Grins leased a couple of tables. “The tables do okay; they don’t make us a lot of money,” Tucker said. "The tables seemed to make a difference in bringing people in though, and they help our business that way.” The tables are covered when there is a really mellow band play ing, Tucker said, but people are usually fairly considerate towards the bands anyway. Zacharia’s Green House has a pool tournament every Monday night. Roger Williams, the manager at Zacharia’s, said that the tourney “draws a pretty good crowd, mostly students.” Williams said each contestant pays a $3 entry fee, which goes towards prize money for the first and second place winners. The win ners can compete in a tourney of their own at the end of the year. Unlike their backgammon tour nament, the pool tourney is not dominated by any of the players, and different people play each week, Williams said. Although backgammon has be come popular, and he is thinking about introducing darts, Williams said that pool will always be the most popular club game. “A group of people in town is trying to set up a team tournament,” Williams said. “Each club would take their best shooters ... nothing has happened on it yet, but it could be interesting.” Don Ganter, who co-owns the Dixie Chicken, Miranda’s, The Chicken Oil Company, and the Texas Moon Tavern, said that his clubs own their own pool tables. “That’s the most popular game there is — pool. There are always people playing it,” Ganter said. Pat Rodrigue plays pool at the Memorial Student Center because “it’s cheaper here, and they have really nice tables.” Rodrigue works for the Educational Information Ser vices, and her husband is a student. Rodrigue said she plays between seven and eight hours of pool a week, although in the last couple of weeks she has played closer to ten. She says she plays mostly to relax. "Playing pool takes a lot of con centration, and there’s a lot of eyework involved. Looking at things and measuring angles; it’s like what I do at work, so I’m used to it. And the more I play the better I feel ab out my ability to do my job,” Rodri gue said. Rodrigue does layouts for EIS brochures. David Warner, a student, said he plays pool because it’s a good in door game; it involves skill, and “it is pretty exciting too.” He has played since high school, and plays about an hour a day, Warner said. Playing pool is a pastime that has been around for years, but has lost little of its popularity among college students, in spite of the influx of new games.