Right On Cue

Mark Wingate is honest about his cue sport skills.

“I suck,” he said, followed by a hearty laugh. “I like to play. I know what I’d like to do. It’s just the execution.”

Nevertheless that hasn’t stopped the Huntley resident from turning more pool industry heads than a Willie Mosconi break. Wingate is the vice president of MarKay Adventures and the inventor of Pooltronic, an interactive pool table and scoreboard that’s designed to enhance players’ cue sport experiences.

“Honestly, I think this is going to change the way pool is done,” Wingate said.

The genius of Pooltronic is its ability to identify which of the fifteen pool balls has been pocketed and then darkens the ball’s image on the overhead scoreboard. The connection between pool table and the two-sided scoreboard is wireless with both components helping players track eight ball, nine ball, cutthroat, and straight pool matches. Pooltronic also tracks which player’s turn it is, displaying up to four players who can advance their turns by pressing a push button at the table’s corners. Additionally, the diamonds on the table light up each time a ball is pocketed, and when the cue ball is sunk, a pre-recorded cry of “Oh No!” is played while the scoreboard flashes the same message. Granted these features seem dated compared to today’s uber-interactive video games, they are cutting-edge technology to the pool industry.

“We paid (a patent attorney) to have a search done to see if (Pooltronic) was even viable, and he came back and said, ‘There’s nothing like it,” Wingate said. “No one has done anything like this. The stuff that’s close to it, isn’t even close to it. So we got our provisional patent on it, and we’ve gotten it renewed with all the advances made on it.”

Wingate says he first conceived the idea when he was shooting pool with some friends and somebody remarked how convenient it would be to know which player’s turn it was. The idea stuck with Wingate and for the next years 12 years he waited for technology to advance enough for it to be successfully incorporated into a pool table. But even after such technology became available, Pooltronic didn’t take shape until Wingate, who worked as a point of purchase display designer for 30 years, was downsized in 2008. Shortly after that, funds to buy an old-time photography business in Lake Geneva fell through.

“The bank and the investors said, ‘It’s just not going to happen,’” recalled Wingate of the photography venture. “Nobody was doing anything. So I had (the pool table) idea and I thought, ‘You know what…’ So I built it in 3D Max, and I did all the drawings.”

Using money from his 401K, Wingate then bought a new pool table, brought it to his house, and began “tearing it apart.” During both the disassembling and reassembling, Wingate relied on his experience as a purchase display designer.

“It was a great way to learn how things are put together, which I used to build this,” said Wingate, who also received some guidance from his son, Andy, a former tool and die man. In fact, it was Andy who suggested using the scoreboard as the power source for recharging the table’s battery.

After the table was built, Wingate installed it at Sammy’s Restaurant and Bar in Huntley where for the next three months it was tested and evaluated. Results were mixed, particularly among some league players who viewed the electronic accompaniment as overkill.

“Okay, I understand that,” Wingate said. “But I’m looking at the next generation. And that’s kind of the problem they’re having within the pool industry. They need to entice the younger generation. They’re losing their pool players. They’re losing their market share because they’re not bringing along a new crowd. This is where I think we have something to offer.”

With three months of research at hand, Wingate made some minor changes and while there are some remaining details to hash out including pricing, Wingate believes Pooltronic tables could be in neighborhood bars, bowling alleys, and basements very soon.

“We’re extremely close,“ said Wingate, whose wife Kay is president of the company. “It’ll be this year, but hopefully - I’ll say spring. They’re a couple of (trade) shows we want to hit this year. One of the big ones is the Billiards Congress of America Expo….They have their big home entertainment expo. It’s professional and home entertainment, and that would be quite the niche for us to hit.”

The table’s production would also be quite a niche for some local businesses. Besides the extra revenue that the tables would generate for bars and bowling alleys, Wingate says the majority of his vendors are from the Chicagoland area.