Table games for smaller space (billiards, foosball, etc.)

[Ashful]

Looking for table game options to entertain pre-teens and teens in a relatively small wing off our basement rec room. Wife had originally asked about billiards, but I think even a very small table is going to be too much for the room we'd like to use for this purpose.

The room proper is 9' 3" x 14' 6", but one end is mostly open to a foyer space. So, other than one corner, it's really 9' 3" x whatever we need.

It would easily fit foosball, even air hockey, but some sort of billiards table would be preferred if at all reasonable to fit into this space. I'm wondering if the bar-size 3.5' x 7' tables with short cues might work well enough, or if I should just abort.

It's possible there are even better table game options, or other uses for this space that would be fun for family and kids in this age group, which we're not considering. Feel free to suggest any you know. There is a larger room down there, but there are several reasons we'd prefer to keep that space for other purposes, if at all possible.

 

[PaulOinMA]

I thought a snookers table was smaller than billards. I was wrong. So much for that idea.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Dartboard? Surprisingly, web sites are saying kids can learn steel-tipped darts younger that I expected.

 

[That's Right]

Look into a foosball table. Can play 2 a side for a total of 4. They are reasonably priced to as much ans you want to spend and can easily be slid/moved out of the way. My kids that age and their friends love it.

 

[EbS-P]

I have always wanted a shuffle board table.
Now that revisit this desire I got a big slab out back if I could get it kinda close to flat. Pour epoxy top. I a decent sized tree and a chainsaw. Make it a custom length.

What Size Shuffleboard Table Should I Get | Shuffleboard Resources

 

[PaulOinMA]

Bumper pool table is smaller.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Poker table. Teach the kids to make money. Retire. A win-win.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Even just a game table. Looks like board games are making a comeback based on a current thread in a car forum I'm on and the younger guys discussion.

 

[Tonty]

Our children mainly use the foosball table when friends are over. Surprisingly, what gets used the most in our playroom is a small basketball (5” ball diameter) hoop mounted up on the wall. But you need a fair bit of wall/ceiling height for that. Our younger son (13) and middle daughter (10) play one on one. There is some “discussion” (read:arguing) that goes along with their games. 😂
You ever play Crokinole? It’s a game our children love, but for one reason or another, we’ve never bought a board. It doesn’t take much room.

 

[Ashful]

Dartboard? Surprisingly, web sites are saying kids can learn steel-tipped darts younger that I expected.

As a kid, I loved them. But as the guy now responsible for wall and floor repair, I'm much less a fan.

I did get to witness one friend throwing a dart at his brother, as young teens. Got him right in the middle of the back, sunk it up to the hilt. Right at that spot you can never reach when you have an itch, his poor brother ran around the house like a chicken without a head, until someone pulled it out for him. Thankfully, my kids and their friends are not anywhere near as wild as we were.

Look into a foosball table. Can play 2 a side for a total of 4. They are reasonably priced to as much ans you want to spend and can easily be slid/moved out of the way. My kids that age and their friends love it.

Yeah, foosball is very high on my list, very close second to billiards in my mind, right now. What triggered this was that my son received an ultra-mini billiard table a year ago, this thing is like 18 inches x 36 inches, and he plays with it constantly. He seems to have a real interest in this, which makes sense, I remember loving billiards as a kid about his age. Of course, I liked foosball too, just didn't have one at home.

Bumper pool table is smaller.

I've been thinking about this, too. I had one friend with a bumper pool table, so I played it occasionally. But my issue with the room is the 9' width more than the length, so I'm thinking we'd still be very tight around half the sides of a bumper pool table, as my recollection is that the diameter was pretty close to a standard pool table width.

Even just a game table. Looks like board games are making a comeback based on a current thread in a car forum I'm on and the younger guys discussion.

Yep! Got a 60" round table down there already, which they use for Uno and Crokinole. We also have space for a larger rectangular table, but it's been repurposed to Barbie doll house territory for a few years, until my daughter outgrows that phase (likely soon).

Our children mainly use the foosball table when friends are over. Surprisingly, what gets used the most in our playroom is a small basketball (5” ball diameter) hoop mounted up on the wall. But you need a fair bit of wall/ceiling height for that. Our younger son (13) and middle daughter (10) play one on one. There is some “discussion” (read:arguing) that goes along with their games. 😂

Thanks, this is very helpful!

You ever play Crokinole? It’s a game our children love, but for one reason or another, we’ve never bought a board. It doesn’t take much room.

It's funny you bring this up, as casual conversation over the last 45+ years had me believing I was one of the few people in the world that knew this game. I inherited two old Crokinole tables from my grandmother, which have been handed down thru the family for who-knows-how many generations, and I was somehow of the impression this was a thing only known in our area of PA. Story I got from her was that it was played by the Native Americans indigenous to this part of the country, and then adapted to a better playing board by the settlers.

In any case, the goal here is something more on the feet, to compliment cards or crokinole at the game table. I would truly love ping-pong over anything, but they just take more space than we have.

I just went thru some old photos, and found this one. You can sort of see one of our Crokinole tables in the left edge of this photo of one corner of our basement rec room(s). That old Jotul is now gone, that space being re-purposed for a huge Barbie dream mansion, and the big square trestle table has been moved out to make space for the rest of Barbie's entourage.



Just realized I don't have a good photo of the room where this billiard/foosball/whatever table is going, but it's directly under and the same size as this old dining room (now my kids' study):



Incidentally, the two paintings visible in that last photo are of my grandmother's house, from where the Crokinole tables were received. George Washington used the dining room of that house as his headquarters for ten days in December 1776, from where he planned the famous Christmas attack on the Hessians. Gramdmom used to tell me double-agent John Honeyman was imprisoned in the spring house you can still see in the lower left corner of the painting of the barns, although sources disagree on that. If you don't know his story, it's worth a read, as good as any modern Jack Ryan tale.

 

[EbS-P]

What ever you choose think how you might add a second purpose to it. One winter my dad bought a nice pool table we played a lot that winter. Less and less as time Went on. Then it got a new life with a table tennis top. What I got used most for was clean laundry sorting My mom used it more than the rest of combined and never took the cover off.

I did like how the shuffleboard could stay next to a wall. Not many games have tables where that’s an option.

 

[Ashful]

yeah, my parents did the same for us, growing up. Pool table with a ping pong table we’d balance on top of it. Ideal, if you have the space for it, but this room is just too small for either.

 

[Corey]

Quite a few games mentioned - to throw out a few more... pinball? Classic arcade games? I think any sort of billiard/pool game - the table would likely fit, but space around it to get a good shot might be an issue.

After just coming from the inlaws (where they rented a game room / loft for ~10 adults and a dozen kids), I'd also make a point to say consider the noise of the games. This loft had air hockey, fooseball, ping pong, and 'carpetball' (sort of like shuffleboard, but a long table, each player had 5 billiard balls and you take turns rolling a cue ball back and forth to knock your opponent balls off the board) - so with all these going, kids yelling and screaming, plus adults trying to talk over that - absolutely deafening! I took ear plugs, others weren't so lucky.

You might want to consider a pillow fight corner, a 'quiet zone' - where the game is 'first person to make a noise is out.', etc! lol

 

[stoveliker]

I agree; we have some friends who put an arcade console (?) in their basement. All the old games (as in 200 or so), but from a single digital drive. Doesn't take up much space.

 

[Tonty]

Story I got from her was that it was played by the Native Americans indigenous to this part of the country, and then adapted to a better playing board by the settlers.

This is interesting. I would have thought it was a German or Dutch background game. But I don’t really have anything to base that on. My wife is from Manitoba, and they would play it more up there than it would be played down here.
There’s actually a woodworking place here on Kansas that makes and sells the boards.
https://wheatstatewooddesign.com/games/
They also sell some other table top games, and maybe some lawn games. We have a table they built, it’s an excellently constructed table. Of course, you don’t need the Crokinole game with the ones you have with their great history.
My two cents- forget the arcade console games. Today’s children spend too much time in front of screens already. Classic ones MIGHT be a bit better. 😵‍💫🙃

 

[Ashful]

I think football is going to be the ticket, although Corey really has me thinking about the possibility of adding a pinball machine somewhere down there, now! Not sure who would like that more, kids or me.

Speaking of game consoles, we only have a wii and an original Atari 2600. The kids like both, if I turn one on and get them started, but neither will go to a video game on their own. Too old-school for them, I guess.

 

[stoveliker]

Crokinole is not Dutch, I can say.

 

[Tonty]

Yes, I did a bit of reading on Wikipedia (reliable?) about it since. The oldest known American game mention is in New York around 1880. The earliest know Canadian game mention is around 1867 in Ontario. But it is uncertain where it actually originated from.

 

[Ashful]

Anyone ever play on a 3/4 size ping pong table? They measure 3.75 x 6.75 feet, and are for a room as small as 14 x 7.5 feet, so an ideal fit. Just not sure if they're really frustrating to play on, being used to a larger table.

Also finding some interesting 3 x 6 ft billiard tables, some with ping pong table toppers. Seems awful small, but maybe fine for an age.

 

[Ashful]

Yes, I did a bit of reading on Wikipedia (reliable?) about it since. The oldest known American game mention is in New York around 1880. The earliest know Canadian game mention is around 1867 in Ontario. But it is uncertain where it actually originated from.

The name certainly sounds a lot like our local (Lenape & Delaware) Native American names, but I also have no proof beyond that, other than remembering (but possibly mixing up) what my grandmother told me about the game as a child.