A pool table on yachts may sound strange, but it has become a reality thanks to new technical marvels that are able to stabilize both the table and balls in spite of the unstable and fickle sea surface which we are all familiar with.
There is an unusual partnership that brings together two companies, the French company Billards Toulet and Stable, which operates in Norway where it builds gyroscopes for recreational use. The result is surprising. Together, the two companies have succeeded in bringing pool tables on board yachts and superyachts and, what’s more, putting a gyroscope inside. And this is an absolute first. The routine on board will never be the same again: relaxation and pool tables are part of the same family. And we bet that some world billiard champions, such as Giampiero Rosanna and Carlo Cifalà, are already thinking about organizing a billiard challenge in a marine environment on board some dream boat.
Pool table for yachts: the customer commissions
The first request came from a customer with a passion for the pool, who commissioned Billards Toulet to create a pool table for his yacht. But the requirement was not only to adapt the fibre colour of the carpet (blue in this case) and the shape of the table to the design of the yacht.
On the structural base of the pool table, the owner asked for a gyroscope to be put inside And it is almost as if he is trying to have proof on board that the stabilizer applied to the precarious balance of the balls really works.
Who said that pool games at sea are impossible? What’s more, this combination of game and engineering mixes business with pleasure.
By installing the gyroscope at the base of the pool table, space on deck is significantly increased. And it’s likely that the pool table can also be used as an elegant table when closed.
It is true that a pool table requires a lot of space on board, but we know that the large transom or bow of many yachts, superyachts and megayachts can easily accommodate such volumes or even larger.
Featuring a modern design, Billards Toulet’s “swimming” pool table is lined with a French blue carpet, which perfectly matches the marine tones.
The designers worked carefully on the aesthetic integration of the stabilizer into the base of the pool table.
Fitting perfectly into the shape of the table, the billiard gyroscope can be glimpsed, showing off its typical circular shape.
Considering the technical aspect, Billards Toulet explains that the stabilizer “keeps the pool table in balance despite the movement of the sea, automatically adjusting its position thanks to sensors that calculate its position”.
Pool or foosball tables for yachts
But that’s not all. Even lovers of classic table football will finally be able to experience the thrill of (irregular) wrist games. Billards Toulet has announced that they are also working on a foosball table with a built-in stabilizer. Equipped with a goalie marker and satin-finish steel knobs, with a curved and sinuous shape, the foosball table looks beautiful in itself. But we are sure that the pleasure of playing it while sailing will make it even more intriguing.
This latest yachting innovation is undoubtedly another achievement for the progress of yachting. Thanks to continuous innovation – also in the hospitality aspect – it is constantly able to compete with everything the mainland has to offer. And then some.
