Simonis 860 Tournament Blue FAQ: Snooker Table vs Pool Table, Ping Pong Table Dimensions, and Cost Lessons

I've been managing procurement for a 45-person commercial game equipment supplier for six years, which means I've approved a lot of Simonis cloth orders against a six-figure annual replacement budget. I've also watched the same mistakes happen more times than I should admit. A customer asks for “Simonis” like one word is enough (not that I blame them—the brand name does a lot of work). “Standard” doesn't help either. Is it a standard barbell, a standard ping pong table, or a standard 7-foot pool table? None of those are the same standard. This FAQ is the one I wish I'd had when I started.

• What is Simonis 860 Tournament Blue, and why does it keep coming up?
• Simonis 860 vs 760: which one should I stock?
• Should I charge more for Tournament Blue, or is it just a color?
• What are the regulation pool table dimensions I should use to order cloth?
• Snooker table vs pool table: how can I tell which one the customer has?
• Ping pong table dimensions: why does a billiard cloth buyer need to know them?
• What hidden costs should I expect when buying Simonis 860 Tournament Blue?
• How often should a Simonis 860 table be recovered, and how do I price it?

What is Simonis 860 Tournament Blue, and why does it keep coming up?

Simonis 860 Tournament Blue is the tournament-grade cloth that became a de facto standard in professional pool. From a buyer's perspective, it's a worsted wool cloth with a tight weave, which means less friction and more consistent ball roll. Tournament Blue is the color you see at televised events, and it has become shorthand for “this table is set up for serious play.” If a customer asks for “Simonis” without a line name, I always ask whether they mean 860 or 760. It's a small question that can save a large return shipping charge.

Simonis 860 vs 760: which one should I stock?

Both have a place. I carry 760 for regular league rooms and rental tables because the upfront cost is lower, and the cloth is still solid for hourly play. I carry 860 for tournament rooms and for clients who are selling a premium experience. When I ran a 12-month comparison across our service contracts, the 860 tables went longer between complaints about slow cloth. That didn't make the 860 cheaper in every case, but it made the difference smaller than the invoice alone suggested. The real cost is labor and downtime. If your installer has to redo a pocket due to a measurement mistake, 860 is not the forgiving option. Fix the install process before you pay for premium cloth.

Should I charge more for Tournament Blue, or is it just a color?

You can charge for the brand recognition, but not for the dye itself. In most pricing I see, Tournament Blue is the same price or only slightly higher than the standard green from the same line. The premium comes from the story: tournament cloth, tournament color, tournament conditions. If a roadhouse just wants the cheapest decent cloth, 760 in green is the easy answer. If a client is buying 860 Tournament Blue, they're already telling you they want to be perceived as a serious room. Price accordingly, and make sure the install looks like it belongs in a tournament.

What are the regulation pool table dimensions I should use to order cloth?

Measure the playing surface, not the outside rail. According to the World Pool-Billiard Association equipment specs, a 9-foot table's playing area is 100 inches by 50 inches. An 8-foot table is 88 by 44, and a 7-foot bar table is 78 by 39. Those numbers are the cushion-to-cushion measurements, and they determine which Simonis cloth kit will fit. In my first year, I ordered cloth for what a dealer called a “standard 8 foot” without asking for the actual length. It was an 8-foot table with a 90-inch playing surface, and the cloth came up short. That mistake cost us a return freight bill and a week of schedule delay. Now our purchase order requires “cushion-to-cushion length” as a required field.

Snooker table vs pool table: how can I tell which one the customer has?

The fastest way is to ask for the playing area length. According to World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association specs, a full-size snooker table has a playing area of about 11 feet 8 inches by 5 feet 10 inches, even though people call it a 12-foot table. Pool tables are shorter: the largest common one is the 9-foot with a 100-inch playing area. Snooker pockets are also smaller and shaped differently, so a pool cloth kit won't fit. If a customer says “snooker table” and the quote you planned was for a 7-foot pool table, you're off by more than four feet. Get the cushion-to-cushion length and the pocket cut before you order. It's faster than any guess.

Ping pong table dimensions: why does a billiard cloth buyer need to know them?

Because if you sell tables to commercial game rooms, the question will come up. According to ITTF specifications, a ping pong table playing surface is 2.74 meters long by 1.525 meters wide, which is 9 feet by 5 feet, and the table height is 76 centimeters or 30 inches. The playing surface is the easy part. The room around it is the part people ignore. A doubles player needs roughly 15 feet by 11 feet of clear space. A 7-foot pool table usually needs about 17 feet by 13.5 feet for comfortable cue clearance. And if the customer also mentions a standard barbell, plan at least 10 feet of clear floor for it, or the room will end up rearranged before the cloth gets dirty. You're not just selling cloth. You're preventing a problem.

What hidden costs should I expect when buying Simonis 860 Tournament Blue?

Cloth price is only the first line. In 2024, I compared three vendors for a 16-table order of Simonis 860 Tournament Blue. The lowest quote had no freight or liftgate charge in the number (surprise, surprise), so the real total was only 3% below the mid-quote vendor, and the mid-quote vendor included a pocket template and a one-page install guide. The “cheap” option would have been a bargain only if we already had those documents. I approved the mid-quote and told myself to always ask for a delivered total. Then I spent two weeks wondering if I'd picked the wrong vendor. Didn't relax until the rolls arrived with the right lot numbers. The cloth was fine. The lesson was: write down the assumptions, not just the price. That's what our TCO template now does.

How often should a Simonis 860 table be recovered, and how do I price it?

Don't promise forever. No cloth lasts forever. In our fleet, a tournament table in active use got recovered every 18 to 24 months. A table in a church hall or a home might go three or four years. The right price is the cost of cloth plus labor plus table downtime, divided by expected months of use. If I quote a $300 cloth and $200 labor, and it lasts 18 months, the table owner is paying about $28 a month for a tournament-grade surface. That's an easier conversation than “you'll need to spend $500 someday.”