Should your bar or restaurant add a pool table?
A pool table in a bar needs about 17 by 13.5 feet of clear floor, costs $1,000–$3,500 to buy used and install, and pays back through longer dwell time and coin drop rather than the table fee alone. Owning the table beats a route-operator split once you are past roughly $150 a week in play. Below is the math, the space check, and where to source a table and installer in your city.
The space check
Measure clear floor with no fixed obstacles. Cues are 57 inches; a player needs the full cue length plus a few inches behind every rail. Use the table below, then subtract 12–18 inches from one side if you plan to keep a set of 48-inch cues for the tight wall.
| Table | Clear floor (57-inch cues) |
|---|---|
| 7-foot (bar box) | 16 ft × 13 ft |
| 8-foot | 17 ft × 13.5 ft |
| 9-foot | 18 ft × 14 ft |
The revenue math
Coin drop is the smaller number. At $2 a game, a table that turns 10 games a night is $140 a week. The bigger number is that two to four people occupy that corner for an extra hour and order another round each. Run the table free on weeknights and coin-op on weekends if you want both effects.
Own vs route operator
Route operators install and maintain a coin-op table for a split of the drop, typically 50/50, with no upfront cost. If your drop stays under about $150 a week, that is the better deal. Above it, buying a used table and paying an installer wins within a year.
Sourcing
Used tables come through the marketplace; look for 7-foot coin-op or 8-foot slate. Book an installer for delivery, commercial cloth, and leveling, and a maintenance pro for quarterly re-leveling on old floors.
Frequently asked questions
- How much space does a bar pool table need?
- An 8-foot table needs roughly 17 by 13.5 feet of clear floor to allow full cue strokes on every side; a 7-foot bar table needs about 16 by 13 feet. Shorter 48-inch cues can shave a foot or two off one side.
- What does a used bar-ready table cost?
- In most metros, used 7-foot coin-op tables sell for $800–$2,500; a used 8-foot slate home table refitted for a bar runs $1,000–$3,000 plus $400–$900 for commercial cloth, cushions, and installation.
- Should a bar own the table or use a route operator?
- A route operator places and maintains a coin-op table for a revenue split, usually 50/50, with no upfront cost. Owning the table keeps 100% of the coin drop and lets you run it free during slow hours, but you handle maintenance.
- How much revenue does a pool table generate?
- A busy bar table at $2 per game earns $150–$500 a week in coin drop, but the larger effect is dwell time: players stay 45–90 minutes longer and order more rounds.