ShootingStick For Fun And Profit

Funny, I used to earn some money shooting sticks, though mostly beer. Now, this is a game my grandparents had in their bar. Few people have heard of or played bumper pool, but my grandfather was a master at it. It is a strategy game in a sense and requires being able to bank shots and block your opponent.

When I state my grandfather was a master, it’s because my grandparents had the only bumper pool tale I recall seeing in their bar, and he loved shooting pool.

When my grandparents sold one of their bars, we moved the regular pool table and the bumper pool to our home. I loved the game. Friends would play at the house, but eight-ball was preferred because bars only had traditional tables, and there was no money-mastering game one could play elsewhere.

Now, 8 and 9 ball are money games. Well, nine-ball is for sure. Eight-ball is played mostly for a beer for the winner or a couple of bucks a game. Bumper pool is just a game I played for fun. It involves bank shots and is really a strategy game. My grandfather was pretty much a master at both. A hustler, some would have called him. He would play any game for money, including checkers.

The interesting thing about pool in a bar is that it caused more fights than anything else. My grandmother once told me it was second only to a woman entering the bar. Add a full moon; she expected trouble no matter what.

On the quarters, the trouble wasn’t because someone lost, but because they were arguing over whose quarter was next on the table even though quarters tend to look alike, except for the person claiming it. That person, and one other, always knew THEIR quarter. A person doesn’t take it lightly when another claims the same quarter. None do.

When my uncle Kenny took over the last bar they had, he devised a system to eliminate fighting over who was next. He put up a blackboard, and you wrote your name on it in descending order. In theory, you crossed your name off when it was your turn. That pretty much ended the problems unless someone wasn’t paying attention and missed their game.

I enjoyed growing up in a bar. I learned a lot, and some of what I took away was helpful later in life.