When I learned recently about the soaring demand for bumper pool by consumers wanting to upgrade their party rooms or man caves, I was floored. But then I remembered how much I loved playing bumper pool as a kid and then started to wonder why I ever stopped. It’s easy to play – for everyone regardless of their skill set. Here’s why.
It’s More Sport than Game.
That’s what drew me to bumper pool in my youth. I loved playing sports… all the time! Whether it was swinging a bat, slapping a puck/ball with a hockey stick, or shooting an orange rubber ball into a basket that was more than 5 feet over my head, every kid loves making the big score. And bumper pool makes that happen for all “athletes” – even the guy on the bench who didn’t get as much playing time.
It's Super Easy to Learn.
Those sports we loved as kids – they’re easy to figure out in those formative years. The swinging and shooting motions come naturally to us. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be batting .400 or scoring 50 goals in your inaugural pee wee league season, but you’re going to learn how to make contact. Because a bumper pool table has a smaller playing surface than a regular pool table, you could be an instant star knocking pool balls into your opponent’s pocket.
Bumper Pool is a game with a simple objective – get your five balls into your opponent’s hole before your opponent does the same (once you get your one marked ball in first) – it’s easy to figure out how to make those opening shots off the bumper, and it can be more fun concocting ways to use your pool balls for defense.
It feels like you’re playing a physical game of hockey or smashmouth football as you fight your way to set up winning shots. And those bumpers in the middle can be your friend once you master the many ways to use them for both scoring and strategy.
No Cue Balls.
Regular Pool is great. But it’s a game with a lot of rules and needed skills, including how to score using a white ball to knock another ball in on a much larger “field.” A mastery knowledge of geometry is highly preferred to be successful. In bumper pool, you can shoot a ball directly into the hole to score, and you get to do it five times. It’s like being allowed to knock in five cue balls without being penalized!
Bumper Pool has severe penalties, but they’re easy to avoid.
If you shoot another ball in before your marked ball, or shoot an opponent’s ball, or knock one of your own balls in the wrong pocket (i.e., the one you’re defending), your opponent gets to take two of his/her pool balls off. Understanding these rules and the severity of the punishments if you violate them is far from difficult.
Defense Wins Championships.
You can shoot your ball to knock your opponent’s pool balls out of scoring position or shoot your ball in front of your own hole to prevent your opponent from scoring. Sure, you can do this in regular pool, but it’s not a winning strategy on a larger table with six pockets. With only one pocket to score on and one pocket to defend, Bumper pool just feels like a contact sport and strategies bear a strong resemblance to football or hockey.
Regular pool is great, too, and everyone loves a challenge. But if you want to play a noncontact sport where you can shine right away and not have to worry about broken bones, a concussion or extreme weather, bumper pool is the way to go. Less is more and easier is more – more fun that is!
Want to check out our bumper pool table models - click here.
---- Blog contribution by Don Browne. Don is a professional content writer who specializes in writing product based content sometimes using a first person approach interjecting his own personal experiences with that product or service.
