Best Pool Table Felt Color

  • By: Rob
  • Date: May 12, 2022
  • Time to read: 5 min.
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Imagine you are going down to the basement with some friends. You have some beers, some stories to tell about your weeks, and a need to relax as no one has ever relaxed before. And then your friends reach the bottom of your basement steps and see it: A bright pink pool table, so vibrant it’s hard to look directly at it.

Most pool tables are either blue or green, and there is a reason for this. Blue and green are the easiest on the eyes for extended periods of time. Whether you are playing one game of pool for the whole night, or you play quite frequently, you do not want to be staring at a bright, garish color for too long.

These are not the only option available to you, but green and blue are the only options really worth considering. 

Lets take a look at our survey to see what other people think is their best pool table color 

Pool Table Felt Colors Chart

Most pool table felt brands are now available in a wide variety of vibrant colors. Traditionally it was always green but nowadays you have a huge selection to match any personality and room decor.

Ever wondered why traditionally pool table felt has been green, there’s a pretty interesting reason, why are pool tables green, check it out to find out more. 

Simonis is the leading manufacturer of pool table felt and their impressive line comes with at least 27 different colors – you can check out their selection on their Simonis Amazon storefront.

If you are in the market for new billiard cloth for your table then take a look at my top 5 best pool table felts, I’ve selected felts for all budgets and styles so I feel its well worth checking out.

But which pool table cloth color is the best? Before for we look at reasons to consider when choosing a color, let’s take a look at what other people think is the best pool table color.

After a survey of 277 people, the results that came back are pretty interesting as the graph below shows.

Best pool table felt color chart survey

Even with all these new vibrant colors, such as red, purple, camel and tan pool table felts, its overwhelmingly the green felt and blue felt that are the people’s favorites. 

The green and blue pool table felts make up a huge 82% of the overall survey of peoples favorite color pool table felt – from this survey that’s 228 people out of 277 surveyed, that’s a very convincing statistic on the best felt color for your pool table.

But for me personally, what I found the most interesting is that blue convincingly beat green as the overall favorite.

Before I saw this I would have put money on it being green but with 132 voting for it, blue is the people’s choice for the best pool table color

But, even if blue is the overall favorite, there are other factors to consider for you when you personally pick a color.

Best Pool Table Felt Color for Clarity of Gameplay

Pool table felt is meant to do a few things. The traditional green color is actually meant to resemble grass, oddly enough. But a much more useful feature than that is standing out from all of the balls. Even the balls colored green are a different shade of green than the usual pool table felt color.

It goes somewhat deeper than that, however. Something that most people do not know about their own peripheral vision is that peripheral vision is, technically, color blind. This applies to all humans in the world, even those with otherwise infallible vision. The edges of your vision do not actually gather color information.

And yet peripheral vision is obviously in color. But there is a reason for that: You see, human brains actually do gather color information for peripheral vision at some point, they just also stop gathering it if they think they know what color is over there. This is part of why something might “catch your eye”.

Blue and green pool tables are not only easier on the eyes, they are easier to look at and perceive the whole board at once. The balls being distinct from the table means that the color information the human brain needs to create a detailed image for its peripheral vision is far easier to gather.

Best Pool table Color Cloth for Ease of Cleaning

There are two layers to choosing the best color of cloth when considering cleaning: The first has to do with how difficult it is to clean felt in general. Felt is rather sensitive, you see. It does not take much friction or many chemicals to damage it. Some dyes are harsher than others, meaning red colored felt will be flimsier than blue.

blue color pool table felt with blue chalk

If you are after an in-depth guide on cleaning pool table felt, then be sure to bookmark this page for future reference.

The second layer is what you are expecting to clean. Part of the reason why blue is an acceptable break from tradition, whereas red or white are not, is that most chalk used in games of pool is blue. This means that it will not make a blue table dirty like it will make a green table dirty, much less a table as pure white as sinlessness.

It is for this reason that there actually exists green pool chalk. Yes, green pool tables are so heavily recommended that rather than the table changing for the chalk, the chalk changes for the table.

Best Pool Table Color Cloth for Décor

whether you decided to put your pool table in the basement out of the way or for it to take pride of place in the living room, you are always best to pick a pool table cloth that works best with its surroundings.

Color is a major factor in your mood, feelings, and behavior, and understanding how colors can complement each other should be a big factor when deciding on a pool table felt that will not only make you feel good but also compliment the surrounding color of the room.

using a color wheel for the best pool table felt color

I am not a color expert but if wanted to pick the right color for my room I would probably use a color wheel and pick complimenting colors. Color wheels are our secret weapon when picking colors that work well with each other. They are based on scientific color principles so we can pick the best colors to combine with.

All in all

Blue and green are not just a good solution for all the previously listed reasons. They are also the easiest solution. It is personal preference as to whether the ease of a solution makes it more appealing, but for most people the answer is yes.

And besides, most people are not looking for a pool table purely to serve as decoration. Most people are looking to buy one to play with their friends and enjoy something social. A pool table is never the focus of a game of pool, and trying to draw focus to it will only leave you annoyed.

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Rob is an avid player and fan of all cue sports, particularly 8-ball, and snooker. He has competed in a few local 8-ball tournaments and although he is not a professional, he can compete with the best of them.