By Dustin Shipman

dshipman@joplinglobe.com

If you have been racking your brain to find a fun activity during the work week, here’s your cue: Several billiard leagues around the Joplin area could offer the break you’ve been looking for.

There are several different leagues in the area such as the Billiard Congress of America, the American Poolplayers Association and The Association for Pool league (also known as TAP). Each group is similar — though with a few differences in the rules — and most of the organizations offer different variations, such as separate eight-ball and nine-ball games.

Ted Fleetwood, director of the local TAP league, said many of the people who join one league will often play on others that host games on different nights. And while some of the rules change between the leagues, he said they are, for the most part, similar in play.

“We are a nationally sanctioned league; at the and of the year we have regionals and sectionals which will qualify teams for nationals, which are held in Vegas, or wherever it is held that year,” Fleetwood said of TAP, adding that this year’s national championship will be held in Myrtle Beach, S.C. “The teams play each other locally, and at the end of the year they all come to a tournament and the first-place team goes on to the nationals to compete against some of the best people in the country.”

Fleetwood said that one of the big draws to being a member of a pool league, aside form the chance to win a trip to nationals, is that they are handicapped — meaning that everyone, even a beginning player, is on a level playing field.

“You can be a beginner and still have a chance to play and beat a good player, and it gives everyone a fair chance,” he said.

Each match in league play is essentially a race between two players. Based on their skill level, they are given a number which represents the number of games they must win against their opponent to win the match.

“A lot of the people that play are married couples, or boyfriends with their girlfriends and just friends that get together and form a team, and they go play all over the place,” Fleetwood said. “You can go into a lot of these bars and (find) information on joining a team.”

Allen Bond, of Goodman, said he has been a member of a pool team and competing in local leagues for the past two years. This year, his team finished in first place in the TAP league and on Tuesday were recognized during an awards ceremony at the Redings Mill Inn. His team will compete in the regional tournament in November for a chance to go on to nationals.

“I used to play a lot of pool when I was young. I quit for 25 years and now it is something that I can get out and do,” Bond said. “I have a lot of health problems but I can still play pool. I really enjoy it ... it’s good recreation and you meet a lot of good people.”

As with any hobby, playing on a pool league can be expensive, Bond said, but it doesn’t have to be in order to get started and stay competitive.

“You can spend a lot of money, but you don’t have to,” he said. “Some people are really serious about it, and then the sky is the limit.

Bond said that most places have house cues that players can use. But he said that one member of his team owns a $1,300 pool cue with a $300 carrying case.