How much room do you need for a pool table?

A home 8 ft pool table needs a room 13 ft 4 in x 17 ft (4.06 x 5.18 m) to be played with 58 in cues from every side: its 44 x 88 in playing area plus one cue length beyond each cushion. A 7 ft table needs 12 ft 11 in x 16 ft 2 in (3.94 x 4.93 m), a 9 ft table 13 ft 10 in x 18 ft (4.22 x 5.49 m). Below, four makers' charts are reduced to the one sum they share, and the room is worked out to the corners, the stools and the light. Screen rooms are on the media room hub, whole-house sizes in standard room sizes.

Measure from the cushion nose, not the rail#

Every chart adds the cue to the playing area: the cloth between the cushion noses. A ball frozen to the cushion is the worst case, because the cue tip then sits at the nose and the whole cue runs back over the rail. Olhausen's size table says it in one line: add cue stick length x 2 to the play area.

The rail is not added: the cue passes over it, 31 1/2 in (80 cm) from the floor on an Olhausen table. The WPA allows a rail 4 to 7 1/2 in (10 to 19 cm) wide, cushion included; Olhausen's standard rail is 4 3/4 in (12 cm) a side, so its 8 ft table is 53 1/2 x 97 1/2 in (136 x 248 cm) outside. Measure the room wall face to wall face at about rail height, where the butt travels, as in how we measure.

Where 13 ft 4 in x 17 ft comes from: 44 + 58 + 58 and 88 + 58 + 58#

For a home 8 ft table and a 58 in cue, 44 + 116 = 160 in (13 ft 4 in) across and 88 + 116 = 204 in (17 ft) long. Each 6 in off the cue takes a foot off both directions. For the four playing areas on the market and the three cue lengths every maker lists:

Olhausen's chart matches the first three columns to the inch; the last is the site's own, explained below. The 8 ft pro row is Olhausen's 8 1/2 ft and Brunswick's "oversize 8 ft". Metres and feet convert in the unit converter.

Four charts, one formula: why the makers' figures disagree#

Side by side at each maker's standard cue, the charts seem to disagree:

They do not. Every maker uses the same sum; four inputs move it:

• Two tables called 8 ft. The WPA's 8 ft table is 92 x 46 in; the common home 8 ft is 88 x 44 in. Read against the wrong row, a buyer is 4 in out each way, most of the gap between Brunswick's 13 ft 6 in x 17 ft and Olhausen's 13 ft 4 in x 17 ft.
• Two 7 ft tables. Brunswick's is 38 x 76 in, the others' 39 x 78 in.
• A 57 or a 58 in cue. A.E. Schmidt calls a standard cue 57 to 58 in and charts 57, so its rooms are 2 in smaller each way.
• Rounding. Brunswick rounds up to the half foot: 13 ft 10 in becomes 14 ft for a 9 ft table.

Two things in Brunswick's chart are mistakes, not inputs. Its 8 ft row with a 58 in cue gives 13 ft 0 in across, 4 in under its own sum, while its text recommends 13 ft 6 in. Its 9 ft rows for 52 and 48 in cues repeat the oversize 8 ft rows (12 ft 6 in x 16 ft 6 in and 12 x 16 ft) where the sums are 12 ft 10 in x 17 ft and 12 ft 2 in x 16 ft 4 in, and its 8 ft short-cue rows also fall 4 to 6 in short. Where Brunswick and Olhausen differ on a short cue, Olhausen's figure is the arithmetic.

The other circulating rule, "about 5 ft all round", is Brunswick's FAQ and Sawyer Twain's "close to five feet": a 58 in cue plus 2 in, rounded.

The stroke the charts leave out: 6 in per end, and the WPA's 6 ft#

Every chart stops at the cue's length. With the tip on a ball at the cushion and the butt on the wall, the player can address the shot but not draw the cue back.

The site adds 6 in (15 cm) per end for the backstroke, the last column of the first table: 14 ft 4 in x 18 ft (4.37 x 5.49 m) for a home 8 ft table. That is the site's working allowance, not a published figure. The WPA requires 6 ft (1.83 m) from the outside of the rail to any obstacle in sanctioned competition: with a 4 to 7 1/2 in rail, a 58 in cue plus 18 to 21 1/2 in (46 to 55 cm). A 9 ft table with a 5 in rail fills 17 x 21 ft 2 in (5.18 x 6.45 m) at that spacing. The WPA notes its specification does not necessarily apply to tables made for home use.

The corners are free: 17 in squares and 34 in of wall for a rack#

The cue butt reaches the wall all along each rail, but around each corner pocket it sweeps only a quarter circle, one cue length in radius, centred on the corner of the cloth. The room's corners lie outside that arc.

The room corner is 58 x 1.414 = 82 in from the corner of the cloth, 24 in (61 cm) beyond the arc. The largest square that fits there is 58 x (1 - 0.707) = 17 in (43 cm). Against a wall, an object d inches deep clears the arc for the last 58 - sqrt(58² - (58 - d)²) inches before the corner: 34 in (86 cm) of wall for a 5 in deep rack, 32 in for 6 in, 29 in for 8 in.

Stools and a drinks ledge go outside the cue zone#

The strip along each rail is the cue zone; seats go beyond it, and the room grows by their depth. A stool at a ledge is a diner at a counter. NKBA guideline 8 allows 32 in (81 cm) from the counter edge to any obstruction behind a seated person where nobody passes, 36 in (91 cm) to edge past and 44 in (112 cm) to walk past; guideline 9 gives each seat at a 42 in (107 cm) counter 24 in (61 cm) of width.

A 12 in drinks ledge along a long wall therefore adds 12 + 32 = 44 in (112 cm), measured from the wall to the edge of the cue zone, and seats one stool per 24 in. A home 8 ft table with a ledge on one side needs 13 ft 4 in + 3 ft 8 in = 17 x 17 ft (5.18 x 5.18 m). Where the ledge is also the route to a door, use 44 in, wider than the 36 in (91 cm) the site gives a main route in walkway widths. Seat heights for a 42 in ledge are on the bar stool height page.

Ceiling and light: 40 in above the cloth, about 70 in from the floor#

The WPA specification is the only published light height found for a pool table. A fixture that can be moved aside for a referee should be no lower than 40 in (102 cm) above the bed; a fixed one no lower than 65 in (1.65 m). The bed and rails must receive at least 520 lux (48 fc) at every point, the centre not noticeably brighter than the corners, and light in players' eyes must not be blinding, which the WPA puts at 5,000 lux in direct view. The WPA bed is 29 1/4 to 31 in (74 to 79 cm) high and Olhausen's 30 in (76 cm), so the two heights are 70 and 95 in above the floor.

The eye heights are the site's computation from ANSUR II, the 2012 US Army survey, as stature less the seated eye-to-crown distance. At 70 in, the shade's lower edge is above the standing eye of 97.6 per cent of the 4,082 men and all 1,986 women, so a standing player looks under the shades, not into them. More ANSUR II figures are on the ergonomics hub. The dining rule of 30 to 36 in in pendant and chandelier sizing is written for seated diners, which is why a pool light sits higher.

The 520 lux sizes the light. On a 7 ft table's 39 x 78 in (1.96 m²) at least 1,020 lumens must reach the cloth; 1,300 lm on a home 8 ft and 1,680 lm on a 9 ft, before any falls on the rails. A fixture's rated output must be well above that (how many lumens a room needs). The rest of the room needs 50 lux (5 fc) in the WPA's venue figure, which the lumen calculator turns into a background layer; with a screen in the room, media room lighting takes over. Under an 8 ft ceiling the 40 in light leaves little rod, one of the trade-offs in ceiling height and proportion.

What shifts the figure: short cues, the table's outside and the way in#

Cue length. A short cue is for a few shots, not a smaller room. A.E. Schmidt says many customers keep 52, 48, 42 or 36 in cues on hand for beams, poles or furniture that obstruct only a few particular shots; Sawyer Twain calls them a solution for occasional restricted shots.

The table's outside. Rail style changes the footprint, not the room. Olhausen's 8 ft table is 53 1/2 x 97 1/2 in with its standard rail and 56 1/2 x 100 1/2 in with its modern rail; the playing area, and so the room, is the same. Adding the cue to the outside asks for 14 ft 2 in x 17 ft 10 in, 9 1/2 in too much each way.

Getting it in. The WPA calls for three equal slate sections at least 1 in (25 mm) thick on a tournament table. Check stairs and doorways with the delivery path method first.

Other games. A golf swing or a heavy bag is sized by the body, from ANSUR II reach: see golf simulator room size and heavy bag space. With a screen too, start from the home theatre room dimensions.