Energizing club activities with interactive billiards

Billiards clubs are constantly looking for ways to attract new players and offer enriching experiences to their members. Ball in Mind offers a unique opportunity to modernize teaching and energize the practice of billiards with immersive and interactive technology.

The principle fits in one sentence: a projector fixed to the ceiling, a computer, and the cloth becomes a screen. Ball paths, instructions, target zones and scores appear exactly where the players are already looking, on the table itself. Nothing changes in the stroke, in the equipment or in the rules: billiards stays billiards, with a layer of information on top.

For a club, that means one and the same table serving the billiards school on Monday evening, the junior session on Wednesday afternoon, and an open event for visitors on Saturday.

With Ball in Mind, coaches have a powerful visual tool to illustrate their explanations. The projection of trajectories and exercises directly on the table helps players better understand technical and strategic concepts. This makes learning easier and accelerates players' progress.

Coaches no longer have to trace lines on the cloth with a finger, or rely on each player's imagination: ball positions, the aiming line and the landing zone are projected in the right place and at the right scale. A coach can drill a placement, show why a ball ends up straddling the line, then move on to the next figure without setting anything up again.

Part of the content comes from the billiards school of the French Billiards Federation, a partner of Ball in Mind. The drills work on fundamentals, accuracy and consistency, and are graded by level, from the very first shot up to the gold award. Every figure is scored in stars, so a coach can see at a glance what has been mastered and what has not.

Integrating innovative technology like Ball in Mind is a great way to attract new members. The fun and interactive nature of the software makes learning billiards more accessible and engaging, especially for young players and beginners.

Show a beginner the target projected on the cloth and they understand what is expected of them straight away, with no jargon and no lengthy demonstration. And when the session ends with a game of darts or pétanque projected onto the table, they leave wanting to come back. The games do not replace training: they open the door to it.

Ball in Mind can be used during tournaments, demonstrations, or group training sessions. It allows clubs to organize competitions with predefined exercises, interactive challenges, and educational workshops. These activities enhance the club's social atmosphere and motivate players to engage.

A tournament takes a few taps to set up: pick the players, start, and the software keeps the scores. For an open day or a discovery evening, the Campaign mode and its successive worlds give a thread to an activity that can fill a whole afternoon, without a volunteer having to referee throughout.

Unlike other technological solutions that require complex sensors, Ball in Mind works with just a projector and a computer. This makes it easy to install and adaptable to any type of room and billiards table.

Nothing to place on the table, nothing to stick to the cushions, no sensor to recalibrate between frames. The short-throw projector is fixed to the ceiling above the table, the computer sits beside it, and everything is controlled from a phone. Alignment is the only step that calls for precision, and the Ball in Mind team can take care of it through its equipment packages and their optional installation.

By modernizing its offering with Ball in Mind, a club can not only enrich its training program but also offer attractive activities that generate interest and membership. This initiative helps retain members and increase the club's value.

The software runs on a subscription: the club gets the whole of the content, and everything added with each update, without buying anything again. The cost is predictable and spread out, and it is judged on use: a better equipped billiards school, open days that leave a mark, members who stay.

Adopting Ball in Mind means bringing billiards into a new, more modern, and interactive dimension. This tool allows clubs to renew their pedagogical approach, attract new players, and revitalize their activity while staying true to the values of the sport.

The cloth, the balls and the cue do not change. What changes is the way the table is read, and the way the game is passed on.

Stay tuned for more tips on how to use Ball in Mind and testimonials from clubs that have already adopted it!