Make Use of That Pool Table--Have A Pool Tournament!

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.--
Romans 12:12-13

Since I found out that the boys in my Sunday School class like to shoot pool, I decided to go ahead and have a little 8-ball tournament. I planned to get a plaque for the winner that included a picture frame so I could slide in a picture of the winner making his winning shot with the other boys watching as a nice memento of this grand occasion.

The Prize

When I went to M&M Engraving, the 8” x 10” plaque I had in mind cost $30! I thought, “No, I’m not spending that much.” So I looked around and found a 5” x 7” picture frame that could be engraved on the one side of the frame. It looked nice but even that cost $15. I went ahead and ordered it, but later after thinking it over, canceled my order.

I thought the boys would prefer the $15 and I could still take a picture and put some text on it to include with the money. They can either frame it, blow it up or put it in an album that way. I know kids get lots of trophies just for participating in things and end up just being something else to dust. In fact, I could even get off for under $15 this way.

The Winners

As it turned out, only six came so we had time to have an 8-ball double-elimination tournament first and the 40 minutes for straight pool, calling the shot.

The winner of round A was Ryan who was so surprised he won, as was everyone else (his opponent, Jesse, scratched on the 8-ball). They had to play each other again and Jesse beat Ryan twice to win the 8-Ball championship. Jesse skipped his baseball practice to come so I'm glad it was worth it.

The straight pool tournament was much harder which Matthew won with sinking just five balls. He said his grandparents had a pool table that he played on quite a bit. I just let them keep taking turns like a batting order so they didn't have long waiting between turns. It worked very well! As long as they sank a ball in the right pocket, they could shoot again. I gave $7 to the winners of each tournament so it cost me less than the plaque and we had two winners instead of just one that way.

Side Entertainment

While they waited their turn, they played ping pong, watched the CAVS first playoff game and had fun playing with my old army men. I enjoyed just hanging out with them and it gave them a chance to get to know each other a bit better and just socialize. Abby came down to visit a little bit but they got upset when she walked on the army men. She sat when I told her too and wiped out a whole bunch. It would have been a funny picture but I didn't think of it at the time. The army men were so old and brittle that they broke into pieces when Abby "attacked." The boys thought it was funny I had names on the bottom of many of the army men and had platoons grouped in separate baggies. Yes, even as a child, I was very organized! I guess they never thought of actually naming the guys. Did anyone else do this? They were quite impressed with my collection and I am happy I still have it.

Snacks

I like this kind of party because food is so simple. All I did was put out some pretzel sticks and the golden Oreo cookies which the boys ate up. To drink, I had water, milk or a variety of the V8 Fusion.

Hope you had a fun Saturday too! Do you do any entertaining? What kind of groups do you have over?

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