Weekday daytime
1 to 2 hours
no card asked
Regulars practicing, lunch breaks, retirees. Keep the booking short and simple.
Pool hall software and pool table booking system for billiards halls
Reserving is pool hall software for billiards rooms, pool bars and snooker clubs with four to thirty tables. Players pick a table, a start time and how long they want to play on your website or Google, and only see times where that table is free for the whole block. Walk-ins go into a queue on the same board, so the front counter never hands out a table that someone booked for 8 pm. It costs 49 USD a month per venue, or 149 USD (74 USD billed yearly) with deposits, text reminders and the walk-in queue by SMS, and we take no percentage of your table time.
Corner Pocket Billiards
Open noon to midnight
Table time, minutes
Channel
Guest
Manual hold
Off
Table board
Booked
Yours
Buffer
Table fitted
Deposit rule
No-show risk
Reminders
Corner Pocket Billiards, Friday
Prime time
7 pm8 pm9 pm10 pm
Table 1
Group of 4, card held
Table 2
Walk-in, Dee
Pair, booked online
Table 3
Birthday, deposit 20 USD
Table 4
Held for league match
Table 5
Walk-in, Marco
Group of 3, booked
Table 6
Pair, booked online
Snooker
Frame night, booked
Next free: Table 6 at 7 pm for an hour. Two walk-ins are waiting and get a text when it opens.
01
Sell every table hour on the nights you fill up
A pool hall makes most of its week between Thursday 7 pm and Saturday close. On those nights every table is wanted, and the phone, the counter and a clipboard all hand them out at once. Somebody promises Table 3 to a birthday group that the bartender already gave to two walk-ins, or a group of six "holds" two tables at 9 pm by phone and never shows, and you lose two prime-time hours on each.
Booking software fixes both problems. The booking page only offers a table that is free for the whole time a player picks, plus the five minutes you need to brush the cloth and rack. On Growth you decide which bookings pay up front: a card hold on Friday and Saturday after 7 pm, a 20 USD deposit on anything over three hours, nothing on a Tuesday afternoon. Walk-ins join a queue on the same board and get a text when their table is ready.
Try it in the demo above. Pick a Friday at 8 pm and it asks for a card hold; set four hours on any day and it asks for a deposit.
02
How should a pool hall charge for table time?
Most US pool halls charge per table per hour, and many raise the rate on Friday and Saturday nights or charge per player once a table has more than two or three people. Online, the simplest setup is to sell the table by the hour, ask for a card or deposit only on the nights that sell out, and keep daytime booking as easy as a name and a phone number.
Weekend nights
Fri and Sat from 7 pm
card held
The hours that sell out. A no-show here is a table you could have sold twice.
Long bookings
3 hours or more
20 USD deposit
Birthdays, office outings and groups booking two or three tables together.
League and tournament nights
set by you
tables held
League tables held on the board with a release time, so unconfirmed ones go back on sale.
The deposit amounts and time windows above are examples you set yourself, not a standard. Write your cancellation policy once and show it on the booking page and the confirmation; our no-show fee policy guide has wording customers accept.
03
What a billiards hall runs on Reserving
One board with every pool table, the snooker table and anything else you rent by the hour, the booking page on your own domain and a player list that belongs to you.
- Players book a table for 1 to 4 hours and only see start times where the whole block is free
- Each booking blocks the table plus the minutes to brush the cloth, rack and collect the cues
- Deposits and card holds by day, time window, booking length and first visit
- Walk-ins added at the counter in two taps, with a text when their table opens up
- Tables held for league matches or a tournament, released automatically if nobody confirms
- Two-way SMS reminders where players confirm or cancel by reply, and the table goes back on sale
04
Can a pool hall take walk-ins and reservations at the same time?
Yes, as long as both live on one board. When a pair walks in at 7:40, the counter adds their name and phone, and the wait is worked out from the tables that are free right now, the bookings coming up on them and the walk-ins ahead. Table 2 is booked online for 9 pm, so it is offered to the walk-in for an hour, not left open-ended.
That matters most in a pool bar, where most players still walk in. You keep the walk-in trade and sell the tables you know will be wanted, without the bartender having to remember who called at lunchtime. The same queue works for the dining room side of a bar, which we cover in our restaurant waitlist app.
Walk-ins, Friday 7:40 pm
3 waiting
-
text sent
Dee, 2 players
Table 6 at 7:55 pm
-
waiting
Marco, 3 players
Table 2 at 8:30 pm, until 9 pm
-
waiting
Priya, 4 players
about 45 min
05
How much does pool hall software cost?
Pool hall booking software costs roughly 40 to 400 USD a month for one location in the US. Waitlist-only apps sit at the low end, per-table pricing lands in the middle for a mid-size hall, and entertainment venue platforms with waivers and party packages charge 195 USD a month and up per location.
Here is the monthly list price for a hall with twelve tables. Watch two things: tools that charge per table get more expensive with every table you add, and some take a percentage of every paid booking on top of the plan.
REX Growth
395 USD per location
REX Core
195 USD per location
anny Professional, 12 tables
120 USD + 5% and 0.40 USD per paid booking
Square Appointments Premium
149 USD
TablesReady Business, yearly
79 USD, waitlist and texts only
Reserving Growth, monthly
149 USD, no percentage
Reserving Growth, billed yearly
74 USD, no percentage
What a percentage means in dollars: a twelve table hall that sells 300 table hours a month online at 16 USD takes 4,800 USD through the booking page. A 5% booking fee on that is 240 USD, plus 0.40 USD on each of, say, 150 paid bookings, another 60 USD. That is 300 USD a month on top of the plan, twice our Growth plan billed monthly.
06
What is the best software for a pool hall?
For a pool bar where nearly everyone walks in, a waitlist app like TablesReady is enough. For a hall that wants to sell tables online, take deposits on busy nights and still run walk-ins, pick booking software that books each table for the real length, charges by rule instead of on every booking, costs one price per venue and takes no percentage. If you run a family entertainment center with waivers and party packages, look at an entertainment platform.
Halls with 4 to 30 tables
Growth at 149 USD, or 74 USD billed yearly: unlimited bookings, 10 staff logins, deposits and card holds, two-way SMS, walk-in texts and the waiting queue. No sales call and no contract.
Pool bars with a kitchen
Run the tables and the dining room as two venues on one account, each with its own booking page, rules and board. The dining side is on our restaurant reservation system page.
Owners with 2 to 5 rooms
Multi-Venue at 499 USD a month, or 249 USD billed yearly, for up to five venues with one player list, peak-night rules and group reporting. Details on multi-venue booking.
Where another tool is the better buy
- You bill table time by the minute from a timer at the counter: you need a pool hall POS with table timers, and booking software sits next to it rather than replacing it
- You run leagues with standings, fixtures and player stats: a league management tool does that, and Reserving only holds the tables for match night
- You are a family entertainment center selling party packages with waivers for bowling, arcade and pool together: REX or a similar entertainment platform fits better
- Almost nobody books ahead and you only want to text walk-ins: TablesReady costs less than any of our plans with SMS
07
Pool table booking systems compared
These are the tools US billiards owners most often look at. They charge in very different ways, so price a normal month for your number of tables, not the headline plan.
| Tool | How it charges | Cut of bookings | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| TablesReady | Starter 39, Business 79 USD a month billed yearly, Enterprise quoted, tiers by text messages | none listed | pool bars that mostly run a walk-in list |
| anny | Essential 5, Professional 10, Business 15 USD per table a month, 20% off yearly | 5% + 0.40 USD per paid booking | small halls with a few tables and darts boards |
| REX | Core 195, Pro 295, Growth 395 USD per location a month | none, waivers 0.30 USD each | entertainment centers selling party packages |
| Square Appointments | Plus 49 USD, Premium 149 USD per location (resources on Premium) | processing only | halls already ringing up the bar on Square |
| Reserving | 49 or 149 USD per venue, 499 USD for 5, half that yearly | none, your processor's normal rate | halls that sell tables online and still run walk-ins |
08
How do I set up online pool table reservations?
Add each table as a resource, set your hours and the booking lengths you sell, decide which nights need a card or deposit, then put one booking link on your website, Google Business Profile and Instagram. Most halls take their first online booking the same day.
-
01
Add your tables
Each pool table, snooker table or darts lane is its own column on the board, with the minutes it needs between groups.
-
02
Set lengths and hours
Offer 1, 2, 3 and 4 hour blocks in 30 minute steps, with opening hours for each day of the week, late nights included.
-
03
Choose what is paid up front
A card hold on Friday and Saturday nights, a deposit on long bookings and group bookings, nothing on weekday afternoons.
-
04
Share the link and add walk-ins
Put the booking link on your site, in your Google Business Profile and in your Instagram bio, and add walk-ins at the counter on the same board.
Can you reserve a pool table online?
Yes, if the hall uses a pool table booking system. Players choose a table, a date, a start time and how long they want to play, and only see times where the table is free for the whole block. On Growth they leave a card or pay a deposit on the same screen, and the booking is confirmed straight away.
Do pool halls charge per hour or per person?
Most US pool halls charge per table per hour, and some switch to a per-player rate once more than two or three people share a table, or raise the rate on weekend nights. Reserving books the table for the time chosen, and you set your own rate rules, deposits and card holds.
What software helps manage pool table reservations and walk-ins?
Pool halls manage reservations with booking software that treats each table as its own calendar, sells time in 30 or 60 minute blocks, adds a short reset between groups and keeps walk-ins on the same board. Reserving does this for 49 or 149 USD a month per venue with no fee per booking; TablesReady, anny and REX are the other tools owners compare.
How do I stop no-shows on Friday and Saturday nights?
Ask for a card or a deposit on the nights that sell out. On Growth you set a rule for Friday and Saturday from 7 pm that holds a card when the player books, and two-way text reminders let people cancel by reply so the table goes back on sale for walk-ins.
Can I book snooker tables, darts boards and private rooms too?
Yes. Anything you rent by the hour is a resource on the board with its own booking lengths and reset time: snooker tables, darts lanes, a karaoke room or a private pool room for parties. Each one can have its own deposit rule.
Can I hold tables for league night?
Yes. Staff put a named hold on any table from the board, for example Table 4 for a league match at 7 pm, with a release time. If the hold is not confirmed by then, the table goes back on sale. Fixtures, standings and player stats are not part of Reserving, so keep your league tool for those.
Do you take a percentage of table bookings?
No. You pay 49, 149 or 499 USD a month (half that billed yearly) and nothing per booking. Your payment provider charges its normal card rate on deposits and card holds that are charged.
Is there a contract?
No. Plans are monthly or yearly and you buy them online without a sales call. Core includes 300 bookings a month, which suits a small pool bar; Growth has no booking limit.
Read next
- Bowling alley booking software for lanes and birthday parties
- Booking widget for your website and Google profile
- Waitlist app for the bar and dining side
- Golf simulator booking software for halls that add sim bays
- Axe throwing booking software for lanes sold by the hour
- No-show fee policy wording players accept
- Square Appointments pricing for halls already on Square
Sell your Friday night tables before the night starts
Create your account, add your tables, booking lengths and card rules, and take bookings from your site, Google and Instagram while the counter runs walk-ins.