Introducing Poolball, America's Next Great Barroom Sport

There are plenty of activities to pass the time when you head on down to your local neighborhood pub to throw back a few. You can hustle your way through a few rounds of pool and make some quick cash. Then there?s the ever-beckoning Golden Tee Golf machine with its rolling ball control, made so sticky after years of beer-slicked palms. If you?re lucky, you?ll find yourself at a bar with some sweet foosball action, because nothing gets out the workweek aggression like smacking those mini-soccer player around a miniaturized soccer field.

But sometimes you need more. Sometimes, you need to see grown men standing atop an enlarged pool table and kicking soccer balls for points. Luckily, this exists. It?s big in South America, and you should immediately start praying it comes to the United States.

Shockingly, it?s called poolball, and yes, it appears on the surface to be no more than an elaborate marketing gimmick, or hoax, from the folks at Budweiser and Ogilvy Argentina ? the firm that designed the campaign ? but it seems real enough that we could see some of this insanity stateside.

The rules of the game, as you might expect, are simple enough that anyone could start playing quickly. Two teams of two players stand atop a 7-by-3-meter [23-by-10-foot] replica pool table and take turns kicking around a set of soccer balls that have been painted to resemble traditional billiard balls. From there, the rules of pool take over and it?s up to you to sink your designated balls before your opponent does. Naturally, you kick around a white soccer ball as the ?cue? ball.

So yes, while it?s currently only dazzling drunken Argentinians and curious tourists, every effort should be made to get this organized in the United States. Who cares if every willing bar owner would have to clear out valuable real estate for a ginormous pool table? I know I?d frequent your fine establishment if you installed such a playing arena. Install it, and they will come.

Hat tip: SportsGrid

Photo: fictures/Flickr/CC

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/fnJhK_FQkrw/poolball-ultimate-barroom-sport

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