Try Your Snooker Table For Family Entertainment In Unlikely Special Ways
Posted By on November 28, 2009
Many people buy a snooker table with the express intention of using it for snooker match-ups. This is to be expected. But keep an open mind. A book case can be used for storing books, but if you do some informal research you will notice that many bookcases are being used to store a wide variety of non-book material. After looking at the usual uses of snooker tables, let us explore some possible alternative uses.
When Queen Victoria sent Colonel Chamberlain to the mess halls of India, she did not expect him to invent a game. But that is just what he did in eighteen seventy five. There were several pool-type games in current use, but the Colonel put together a basic set of guidelines which became the basis for today’s snooker game. The word, snooker, was a military word meaning, newbie. Then it became attached to the snooker game and stuck. The twelve by six foot table is now the standard sized snooker table.
The original billiard table design was modified to accommodate the new game of Snooker. Originally, games using balls and sticks were played outdoors. Along with the desire to bring such games indoors came the need for huge modifications to the ball and stick game concept. First, as a method of limiting the field of play for indoor use, the concept of using a big table gained acceptance. For safety and convenience, the cushion was developed. This prevented the constant chasing of stray balls.
Early snooker table cushions were not the steady, easy maintenance table features that we see today. The first tables had cushions made up of strips of wood, glued together. They had to be replaced or re-glued from time to time. Hollow tubes were also employed, but anchoring them proved tricky. An English craftsman named John Thurston brought snooker tables into the modern age with his newly designed cushion. He saw the value of the latest innovations in the processing of rubber for snooker table cushion construction.
What surfaces are usually used for the surface of a the table used by snooker experts? Generally a green cloth made from wool is the material of choice. The green color harks back to snooker’s historical roots as an outdoor game. For non commercial use a thinner weave is used. Public tables have a slightly tougher cloth. On snooker tables a nap which lies in a specific direction is often used. This causes a different reaction in the ball, depending on whether it is rolling with or against the direction of the nap. When the snooker table is made of slate, this is not a factor.
There is no need to clog up our dumps with old, worn out snooker tables. They can be recycled into usefulness again as a child raising aid. Parents of twins, triplets or even octuplets would find that a snooker table makes a great changing table. It is at the correct height, and it has a safety feature already there–the cushion. Tiny infants will not accidentally roll off while the parent attends to the other seven babies. All the siblings could be well within the parent’s view at all times. When the little ones get to the toddler stage, they can use the snooker table as the staging area for their creative play. It may serve as a fort one day, a dungeon the next and any other building required to fuel their play. When you hang a few sheets off the sides, you have created a template upon which your children will build. If you have put off child rearing until the last possible minute, you may be less enthusiastic about teaching your child skills requiring your stooping over to get involved. This brings me to my next suggestion for using the old snooker table. Stop trying to run your child off to a good start when he attempts bike riding without safety wheels. You’ll be so bent over, you may never get up! Enlist the help of a friend who likes your child. Betw3een you, heave the kid and his bike onto the ancient snooker table. Give him a gentle push and your friend can catch him. It won’t take many sessions of this to get him going independently.
The sturdier your snooker table, the better. It will be worth every penny you spend on it for the hours of family entertainment it will give you. And remember–pass it down through the family so that it can be used later as a parent’s little helper.
Matthew Kerridge is an expert in snooker tables. If you would like further information about types of snooker table or are searching for a trusted snooker table retailer please visit http://www.topofthecue.com