Snukker in the USA

[Donut]

The Snooker World Championship has just finished and it reminded me of the first visit I ever made to the USA. It was in 1981, myself and a friend (we'll call him Tom because that was his name) embarked on a three week trip to the US. We flew into Atlanta and stayed a few days before heading off on Greyhound buses around the southern states.

One of our first stops was Nashville TN. We were a bit short of readies so we stayed in a Motel 6 just off of I-65. Across the road was a pool hall & arcade so naturally we went in. I've never seen so many pool tables in one place, there must have been hundreds. We played a few games of pool before we noticed one table at the very end of the hall which was bigger than all of the others. As we approached we saw a sign which made our eyes light up. 'Snooker only on this table'.

We toddled over to the booth to ask for the snooker balls. The woman looked at us as if we were mad but finally produced a set of balls. It took her some time to clean the dust off of them but eventually we started to play.

Engrossed in our game, and with Tom giving me the usual drubbing, we failed to notice the drift of the locals over to our table. When a deep southern drawl asked 'what d'yall call this game yure playin'?' we realised that there we about 20 people watching us play.

'Snukker - we ain't never seen anyone playing this table afore, how do ya play?'.

We spent some time trying to explain the rules, finally realising how strange the rules are and theye drifted back to their games. All of a sudden a geezer comes bounding up to the table screaming 'I've been waiting years to play a game of 'snukker' here'. Apparently he was from Oklahoma City and had spent some time in Canada where he had learnt to play. He whupped us good!

The other highlight of the trip was in Little Rock where we made the mistake of ordering peach cobbler. They tasted terrible so we left them and when the waitress came to the table she said 'What's wrong with your cobblers?'. If you are British you probably understand why this seemed funny to us. At this stage Tom was in a fit of hysterics and slowly slid off of his chair and was lying under the table. This prompted her to ask me 'is he awlriight?'. More convulsions from Tom and apologies from me. He never did get his head around the southern drawl. Mind you, having to ask for water five times because the waitress loved the way I said it was an eyeopener for me.

So, have you Americans ever seen 'snukker?' and if not, why not. It is so obviousy superior and more skillful than pool!

EDIT: Sorry I realise that I haven't put anything off topic or spammy in this post. Hope that doesn't put anyone off responding. I have to wait another six months before one of my dogs has a birthday! If I lived on Mercury with my dog he could have a birthday every 88 days. Perhaps I'll move there unless somebody nukes it first.

[ 05-07-2002, 06:21 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

[Downunda]

I'm not american but I'll answer anyway
Snooker is the pool game with lots of red balls eh? - someone tried teaching me the rules once but I found it too technical and went back to playing my game of pool [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Donut]

Originally posted by Downunda: I'm not american but I'll answer anyway Snooker is the pool game with lots of red balls eh? - someone tried teaching me the rules once but I found it too technical and went back to playing my game of pool [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Ahh. I'm beginning to understand Downunda. it's a bit intellectually challenging. At least you understand Cricket - err, you do understand Cricket don't you? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Downunda]

Only the one day games, all that declaring and extra innings gets a bit taxing on the grey-matter [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Give me a good game of rugger any day

EDIT:Sorry this is going off topic [img]smile.gif[/img] - ummmmmm so in snooker you have 15 balls still and you have to sink the red ones first right?

[ 05-07-2002, 06:41 AM: Message edited by: Downunda ]

[Ar-Cunin]

first a (dark) red (1 point) - then one of the other colours (preferentially the black (7 points)) then a (dark) red again and so on.

I'm not an american either - but I just wanted to tell you that it's played outside GB.

[Davros]

I think the better solution would be to simply buy a few more dogs - aren't you in a wealthy patch at the moment Mr "Big Dough" .

[andrewas]

On mercury you have two birthdays per day, if you use the local days/years instead of earth days.

[Donut]

Originally posted by Davros: I think the better solution would be to simply buy a few more dogs - aren't you in a wealthy patch at the moment Mr "Big Dough" .

Now where would you get an idea like that from Davros?

Mind you - I like the more dogs idea.

[ 05-07-2002, 09:05 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

[mreball]

I play all types of pool, 8-ball, 9-ball, one pocket, last pocket, bank and I play snukker. I live In Illinois,USA. I have played the game for several years. I have played pool all over the USA in tournaments. Was in Las Vegas last year competing in the APA national tournament. I enjoy snukker but it is a slow game but is fun to play if you have 3 or 4 people playing.

[Epona]

ROFL!!! Donut, a classic post despite the lack of spam. The thought of the 'cobblers' incident also had me sliding off my chair in hysterics! Thank you for sharing!

Personally I love playing 'snukker'. I'm no Steve Davis (or whoever his equivalent is these days) but I played a lot when I was younger. I enjoy a bit of pool too - I'm no hustler, but I occassionally have a good day when I can wipe the floor with my opponents [img]tongue.gif[/img] Only occassionally though, most of the time I suck (as it were).