Play Meter

"League play has helped us maintain
a good rapport and a good
personal relationship with the locations"
secretary for her expenses for the league. Then you
have incidentals such as postage, maybe a special
printing. Trophies usually run about $150.
Obviously the smaller leagues would cut down on
the size and number of trophies awarded. So let's
say that after all that there's $1900 left. The league
can throw one hell of a party. Or they can decide for
everyone to pay his own way and split up all the
money . But whatever they decide, let them do it.
After all, it's their money. On the average, we've
found that in a twelve-team league, the first place
team ends up splitting around $300 and the
last-place team around $175. So everyone gets a
substantial piece of change back.
PLA Y METER: Because of promotions such as
these pool leagues, have you realized a significant
increase in pool table collections over the years?
NEMGAR: The operator will realize a substantial
increase in his pool tables. League play keeps the
cash boxes full. Minimally, you're talking about a
four -dollar increase in each pool table. But if you
operate several tables, that increase starts adding
up. However, I have found that the average shooter
will spend two other nights, besides the league
night, practicing on his pool game. The average
shooter in the league will shoot anywhere from ten
to twenty games of pool per week. One reason for
that is we have oriented the area to pool over the
years so that the game has become second nature to
them. If your table has been averaging fifty dollars,
for example, under the league plan, I think you'll
find it'll increase anywhere from a few dollars more
to maybe ten dollars more., and then again you're
talking about this increase being steady
year-round, multiplied by the_number of pool tables
you have. If I know I can jack up the take on a pool
table by $120 per sear, that's a nice increase. Now
how is this reflected over the course of a year?
You'll find that collections during league play will
rise, then level off. Then after league play it will dip
slightly, then gradually taper off to the norm, but
it'll probably still be at a higher average than what
it was the year before because the more people you
have shooting in your leagues, the more you've
oriented them to pool playing. They become
addicted to shooting pool.
PLA Y METER: What size tables do you use in the
leagues?
NEMGAR: Seven-footers . But that doesn't mean
that every location in the league is using the
seven-foot table. The locations may shoot with
anywhere from a six- to eight-foot table. The reason
is that you'll run into locations where they just don't
have the room for a larger table. So players can
shoot in our league on several different size tables.
The only requirement is that it must be our table .
Actually, the table size can then be looked upon as a
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home field advantage of some sort.
PLAY METER: Do you find that the players in
your leagues have a preference for the same size
cueballs?
NEMGAR: We use a magnetic cue ball that's the
same size as the object ball. The reason for this is
that we believe the serious players do not like the
oversize ball.
PLA Y METER: Do you also hold playoffs and
tournaments with your pool tables?
NEMGAR: Tournaments are a little bit of a hassle
for us because they require the operator to get
involved a little bit. However, we have found that
our leagues mostly live and shoot for one
thing- that is, the tournaments. This is the biggie
for them. So we run a singles and an invitational
team tournament every year. The singles
tournament is a two-day affair where players from
our leagues come in from all over the state. They
pay an entry fee of $7.50 and the tables are set on
free play.
PLA Y METER: So your major interest then is in
the league play concept?
NEMGAR: Right. We think league play is a very
necessary part of our business. It has helped us
maintain a good rapport and a good personal
relationship with the locations. When you're an
operator, it's hard to get around to all your
locations at a certain time. And the league idea is
one way to keep in contact with them because you'll
call them or they'll call you. Now I said that
operators should not get involved, but that doesn't
mean it won't require some work on your part,
especially for the first year . But after that first
year, you'll be able to leave a lot of that up to the
officers of the league themselves. All you'll have to
do is, about a month before the league is about to
start up again, call a meeting of the league officers
and let them know you're getting ready to fire up
again .
PLAY METER: Can you give us an example of how
these pool leagues have helped D&R Star's
relationship with location owners.
NEMGAR: Well, for one thing, the pool leagues
actually give us locations. We have actually had
locations come to us and ask to get into our leagues,
and we've told them that the only way they could
was to have a D&R Star table in there. And they've
said, "Okay, let's go." And bang there goes the
table, the pingames, and so on. In fact , we've had
some maverick operators who have tried to move in
on some of our locations where we run the leagues,
and the location owners have actually laughed them
right out of the door.
PLAY METER , October, 1978