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Last Friday, after Qiao and me had been shooting some pool in a pool hall, Qiao commented that he had been disturbed to see a few children there. One had been a small child who was obviously only there because the parent was. Another few persons had looked to be of teenage years, and were shooting pool together.
My own first experiences with playing pool had been when I was a child, in vacation hotels and possibly in a few German restaurants. So it seemed an odd idea that there might be laws here in the U.S. against kids being in a place where pool/billiards was played.
Qiao said that most pool halls were like bars and served alcohol. The one we were in wasn't very bar-like, but apparently does have beer available. I can understand it if kids aren't allowed in bars, because a bar's main purpose is to sell alcohol, and kids are not allowed to have alcohol. But it still seems strange to ban kids from being in a pool hall, where the main purpose is pool, not alcohol. What is wrong with a kid playing pool? Unless perhaps, they are gambling, but in that case it should be the gambling that is disallowed, not the playing of pool.
Anyway, so I looked up what the laws are here in South Carolina, and found this:
SECTION 63-19-2420. Loitering in a billiard room.
It is unlawful for a person under eighteen years of age to loiter in a billiard or pocket billiard room or to play billiards or pocket billiards in a billiard room unless accompanied by the person's parent or guardian or with the written consent of the person's parent or guardian.
I *also* found this:
SECTION 63-19-2430. Playing pinball.
It is unlawful for a minor under the age of eighteen to play a pinball machine.
Eh?? In my growing-up experience, only *kids* played pinball! To me, pinball is a kids' game. But there's a SC law still on the books that forbids kids from playing pinball here.
So then I googled about that, and found this interesting old article from 1942. Apparently way back then, pinball games were a topic of dispute. San Diego even banned them entirely, after "a delegation of all the ministers of the city churches" paid a visit to the county council.
Juke boxes were a topic of dispute back then too. But apparently that was due to concerns that it would hurt musicians' livelihood.
"...union musicians [were barred] from making radio transcriptions, juke box records, and commercial recordings not for home use.
In the nationwide controversy that followed, union spokesmen argued their action was a case of self-preservation; the canned music actually tended to destroy the musicians' livelihood. Against this, radio spokesmen and others, including the government, contended that the ban resembled a monopoly and threatened to put many small radio stations and other businesses out of existence."
That entire periodical ("The Billboard - The World's Foremost Amusement Weekly") seems fascinating to me; to read about how things were like back in 1942.
This page lets you search SC laws and regulations.
My own first experiences with playing pool had been when I was a child, in vacation hotels and possibly in a few German restaurants. So it seemed an odd idea that there might be laws here in the U.S. against kids being in a place where pool/billiards was played.
Qiao said that most pool halls were like bars and served alcohol. The one we were in wasn't very bar-like, but apparently does have beer available. I can understand it if kids aren't allowed in bars, because a bar's main purpose is to sell alcohol, and kids are not allowed to have alcohol. But it still seems strange to ban kids from being in a pool hall, where the main purpose is pool, not alcohol. What is wrong with a kid playing pool? Unless perhaps, they are gambling, but in that case it should be the gambling that is disallowed, not the playing of pool.
Anyway, so I looked up what the laws are here in South Carolina, and found this:
SECTION 63-19-2420. Loitering in a billiard room.
It is unlawful for a person under eighteen years of age to loiter in a billiard or pocket billiard room or to play billiards or pocket billiards in a billiard room unless accompanied by the person's parent or guardian or with the written consent of the person's parent or guardian.
I *also* found this:
SECTION 63-19-2430. Playing pinball.
It is unlawful for a minor under the age of eighteen to play a pinball machine.
Eh?? In my growing-up experience, only *kids* played pinball! To me, pinball is a kids' game. But there's a SC law still on the books that forbids kids from playing pinball here.
So then I googled about that, and found this interesting old article from 1942. Apparently way back then, pinball games were a topic of dispute. San Diego even banned them entirely, after "a delegation of all the ministers of the city churches" paid a visit to the county council.
Juke boxes were a topic of dispute back then too. But apparently that was due to concerns that it would hurt musicians' livelihood.
"...union musicians [were barred] from making radio transcriptions, juke box records, and commercial recordings not for home use.
In the nationwide controversy that followed, union spokesmen argued their action was a case of self-preservation; the canned music actually tended to destroy the musicians' livelihood. Against this, radio spokesmen and others, including the government, contended that the ban resembled a monopoly and threatened to put many small radio stations and other businesses out of existence."
That entire periodical ("The Billboard - The World's Foremost Amusement Weekly") seems fascinating to me; to read about how things were like back in 1942.
This page lets you search SC laws and regulations.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 11:56 pm (UTC)From:Since this is Columbia the pool hall you were frequenting probably wasn't scary as fuck, thus the confusion.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-22 01:26 am (UTC)From:The way you describe it, I can imagine scary pool halls where youngsters wouldn't be appropriate. But I'm finding it really hard to imagine a scary room full of pinball machines! Unless they have clowns painted on them with glowing red eyes, maybe.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-22 01:49 am (UTC)From:Kids were allowed to go to video game arcades here in the 80s, so it seems strange that pinball is still illegal.
TROUBLE
Date: 2010-06-22 02:05 pm (UTC)From: (Anonymous)