All in One
CueSports Magic Combo Pack- high-quality plastic
- arranges balls precisely
Best 8-Ball Rack
Cuestix- tights the balls better
- cheap and very affordable
Best 9-Ball Rack
Cuestix- great tightening ability
- easy to use
A pool ball rack is important to start a game as it will help you to organize the pool ball to break. In this article, we will be going over our expert’s pick for the ball racks, and we also have an extensive guide that goes into much more detail about choosing a good quality rack!
If you’re still not sure what type of rack is right for your needs or budget, don’t worry because we’ve compiled all the information you need as well as plenty of other useful articles linked below with everything from buying advice to maintenance tips.
Best Pool Ball Rack: Our Top 10 Choice
- Delta-13 Ball Rack
- Cuesports Magic Rack (Winner!!)
- Cuestix Triangle and Diamond Shaped Racks
- Outlaw Diamond Rack
- Imperial Billiard Diamond Rack
- GSE Games & Sports Expert
- Viper Billiard Diamond Rack
- Sardo M-5000
- Chameleon Ball Racks
Delta-13 Ball Rack
It might be the best company that manufactures the best billiard products in the world. Most of its products get critical reviews of around four stars to 5 stars of 5 from reliable sources such as amazon. Their racks come in different styles and colors.
This gives the customers a wide range of different choices, costly, but every penny spent is worth it due to its quality.
And that’s not all, and it’s known for its “True Triangle” formation with the rack being measured by the Coordinate Measuring Machine better known as C.M.M, thus making it the tightest and most precise triangle when it comes to placement precision.
Features
- It comes in different colors, most notably silver, black, red, and gold, etc.
- Its material is mainly aluminum making it brittle proof and hard to bend or fold
- It weighs 1.3 pounds which makes it easy for shipping
- Its dimensions are 15.7 x 13.7 x 2.1 inches
Pros Title
- Since its C.M.M approved, it racks the ball extremely tightly
- Durability is what it’s known for, with the fact that it’s made up of aluminum. (It’s the world-leading aluminum rack for more than ten years)
- Its prices vary from product to product giving each type of customer something for his or her budget range
- It is straightforward to place the rack squarely because it’s a perfect triangle
Cons Title
- It’s noisy and has a clinking sound, especially during dragging and gliding the rack
Magic Rack
The magic rack is often compared to delta-13 due to its high quality, and they almost have similar scores when it comes to reviewing. Hence, it all comes to the customer’s preference. It’s slightly cheaper than delta-13 has the combo option where you can purchase all its racks for eight balls, nine-ball, straight ball, and ten balls in one package.
Features
- Its dimension ranges are: thickness 0.08 mm, height: 9.606inch or 24.4cm, width: 8.385inch/ 21.3cm.
- It weighs around 1.2g making it easy for shipping
- It’s made from high-quality plastic
- Its precise makeup arranges balls precise
Pros Title
- Due to its smooth surfacing, it can be used in almost all types of clothes, even the old ones.
- It probably has the best placement of balls out of all the racks holding the balls tightly and avoiding spacing, thus giving it a good break.
- It’s very easy to set up, unlike other racks where they have hinges at the sides hence requiring assembly.
- It’s cheap, saving the customers the cost burden.
- It’s quick and saves time.
Cons Title
- It has a short life span due to its materials being plastic.
Cuestix Triangle and Diamond Shaped Racks
It is a company that manufactures both triangle-shaped and diamond-shaped racks. Most of its materials are cheap and affordable, and their materials vary from different materials from plastic, metal to wood, and each with different designs. And also, most of its elements are highly rated from 5 to 4 stars and thus making it one of the best sellers and manufacturers of billiard racks worldwide.
Features of Cuestix triangle-shaped racks
- They are efficient in racking and tightening the balls
- They vary in materials from plastic, wood, and metal
- They vary in accessories
- Most of them weigh from 1.2-15 pounds.
Pros Title
- It tights the balls better than the standard racks that come as a package together with the table. That way, you will have an excellent break and efficiency during eight ball and straight ball games.
- It is cheap and very affordable.
- Since it’s available in various materials, it gives a buyer varies options of selections
- They are easy to use and construct.
Cons Title
- Some of them tear the cloth during gliding and dragging of the balls due to its materials such as wood
- Some of them are easy to break due to its contents being brittle example plastic and wood
- Some are flimsy and can quickly lose it’s elasticity after being stretched thus leaving spaces after racking balls
Features of Cuestix diamond-shaped rack
- They are used and perfect for nine-ball
- They are efficient in racking and tightening billiard balls during the beginning of a pool game
- They vary in materials from plastic, wood, and metal
- They vary in accessories
Most of them weigh from 1.5-2.0 pounds
Pros Title
- They have a great tightening ability especially the metallic ones thus giving a good breaking during the beginning of the pool game
- They are cheap hence giving customers a sense of affordability
- They are the best when a nine ball game has a handicap
- They are easy to use
Cons Title
- They are not flexible when compared to chameleon racks
- Some have a concise life span
Outlaw Diamond Rack
OUTLAW could be one of the leading companies in producing the best wooden diamond rack. With a rough and rugged, stylish design that mainly attracts the customer, it’s hard for nine-ball gamers to resist buying this ball rack.
To add up to that, it’s very cheap hence attracting a large pool of customers to purchase it, and its 5-star ratings just build a trustworthy reputation for it.
Features
- Its materials are specifically made up of wood
- Its dimensions are: 2 x 12 x 4 inches
- It weighs 7 ounces
Pros Title
- It’s tough to break since its wood is the hardwood species
- It’s immune to expansion due to its material is made up of wood
- Leaving spaces is very difficult due to its materials non-expansion properties thus suitable for breaking after racking
- It has a very high life span if taken care of
- It’s very cheap when compared to the other nine-ball billiard racks
Cons Title
- It’s only available in the USA when it comes to shipping
- When the wood wears off, it may result in tearing and splintering of the table cloth
Imperial Billiard Diamond Rack
It is just like the OUTLAW diamond rack only a bit thicker and has a smoother wooden material. Thus its smoothness makes it easier to glide the balls during racking and prevents the table cloth from tearing and wearing out.
Its wooden corners provide a stylish look that attracts and appeal to the customer, and not only that, but it enhances durability. The rack is designed specifically for nine-ball billiard games only.
Features
- Its product dimensions are: 12 x 8 x 4 inches
- It fits a standard of 2-1/4 sized balls
- The rack weighs 8.8 ounces slightly more substantial than the OUTLAW diamond rack
Pros Title
- Its soft round edges reduce the table cloth wear during gliding after racking.
- It’s made from hardwood; hence it’s complicated to break.
- It’s distortion-free due to its inability to be elastic or to expand.
- It’s perfect for racking, thus producing a good break due to holding the balls tightly.
- It’s very durable due to its design and its materials, thus giving it a long life span.
- It’s cheap, thus attracting customer acquisition.
Cons Title
- It’s pretty basic when compared to other diamond racks like the Chameleon
Gse Games & Sports Expert
Now to challenge the throne for the best diamond rack, GSE GAMES & SPORTS EXPERT brought in their models of diamond racks. One of its most exceptional designs to this date is the one above. As simple as it looks, it’s so perfect for both a home and a pub pool table with a price that is less than 15 dollars per masterpiece.
Features
- Its materials consist of a two-tone solid wood
- It fits the standard of a 2-1/4 sized pool
- Its rack dimensions are: 12x 8.25 x 1.25 inches
- it weighs over 6.9 ounces which is lighter than the previous diamond racks
Pros Title
- The two-tonewood makes it durable and sturdy, thus making it almost brittle resistant.
- The 2tone wood is smooth on its surface, thus protecting the rack from wearing and tearing the cloth during gliding the rack after racking
- Perfect tightening hence produces good breaks after racking
- Its expansion and distortion-free due to 2 tonewood that makes the rack is as solid as a rock.
Cons Title
- It’s not flexible like the Chameleon; hence can only be used on nine-ball billiard pool games.
Viper Billiard Diamond Rack
And to sum up the list, we have the viper billiard diamond rack specifically designed for nine balls. It’s thin at both ends made up of durable plastic material, which is smooth and un-destructive regarding the felt.
It’s cheap in pricing, and it has a 4-star rating in Amazon, so if you are looking for something less fancy for your pool, this does the job!
Features
- It holds standard 2-1/4 sized balls
- Its material is made from plastic
- It has a row bottom lip that allows it to slide when racking the balls
Pros Title
- It is simple to use since it is designed merely for only racking nine-ball billiard games
- It’s cheap hence customer affordability and acquisition of the rack is easy
- Its material is suitable for racking because of its strength in tenacity
- It preserves the felt during racking and gliding due to its bottom lip design that helps the rack to glide without harming the cloth
Cons Title
- It gets flimsy over time
- Racking quality decreases over time since it expands when frequently used thus leaving spaces between the balls and in turn affecting the breaking during the initiation or start of the game
- It’s not immune to external pressure hence can break if knocked down hard
Sardo M-5000
Known for being the rack used in the US Open championship and derby city classic in 2005, its reputation proceeds itself. The carbonite plastic material that is made from makes it durable and sturdy, and it’s also known for its ability to stick the balls into their positions correctly.
It’s a little bit expensive compared to other ball racks, but this doesn’t count it as being a contender for the best pool rack
Features
- It’s 4 inches from the surface of the table which is lesser than its previous version (M-3000)
- It has a side base and wings all placed in one place
- It weighs one and half a pound lower than its previous version
- It consists of plastic pins which prevent the balls from mobility
Pros Title
- It’s durable due to its materials
- It’s incredibly sturdy (hard and robust)
- It places balls automatically into their position
- It doesn’t give room for spaces during ball placement by placing the balls tightly together
Cons Title
- It’s expensive compared to other racks
- It can easily break
Chameleon Ball Racks
It is known for its adaptability features. This rack can be used for almost any kind of billiard game, including three-ball, six ball, seven ball eight ball, straight ball, nine ball, and ten-ball. Also, it’s straightforward to use and doesn’t damage the cloth due to the materials (that is plastic). It can be easily placed anywhere either hanged or on a slotted pool.
Features
- It’s made from light plastic materials and wooden materials
- It’s very flexible where it can be both a triangle-shaped and diamond-shaped rack
- It contains a classic top-loading which makes it easier to see the head string top loading
- It weighs around 2.35 pounds
Pros
- It’s flexible and versatile thus it can be used in all types of billiard games in racking making it a universal rack
- It’s easy to use doesn’t require any knowledge relating to the pool to use it
- It’s easy to store
- It doesn’t cause damage to the cloth of the table or the balls
- It tightens the balls almost entirely in every type of billiard game played
Cons
- The racking of the balls may sometimes be stressful due to its design
Buying Guide
You’ll want to consider what type of material you want your new best pool ball racks made out of? Wooden racking templates are usually more sturdy but require regular maintenance while plastic designs typically don’t need any upkeep at all!
Whatever style suits your needs will depend greatly on how often you plan to use your new rack – if this is going to be something that sees daily use then we recommend investing in a higher quality model or else they may break down quickly from repeated wear-and
Triangle shaped racks
This rack is commonly used for the eight-ball, straight ball, and ten ball billiard games. It’s noted with a triangle shape that can be made of either plastic, metal, or wood material.
Why is it Important AND worth purchasing?
You can’t play an eight-ball, straight ball, and a ten-ball game without a triangle rack. It is designed for the triangle billiard geometry (arrangement before ball-breaking).
In an eight-ball game, the 15 balls are supposed to be arranged in a manner that one striped ball and one solid-colored ball are placed in the corner of the last row of the rack giving a role to the double edges of the triangle rack.
The middle space is designed for the placement of the balls as tightly as possible to avoid areas that can disturb the arrangement through the movement of the ball.
Also, in 10 balls and a straight ball game, the triangle rack plays the same role of importance just as the eight ball game but only differs in the arrangement whereby in a straight ball game, the ball arrangement is random with the first ball placed at the foot spot.
In contrast, the rest 14 balls are knocked down by the cue stick (pool sticks) to see if the last ball will fall into the rack; thus, the rack act as a determinant of the game. While in the ten-ball game, the rack only arranges the balls randomly in 4 rows.
Diamond-shaped rack
It’s a ball rack correctly used In the Nine ball game in the pool. It’s called diamond-shaped due to its tetragonal (diamond-like shape) with four angles.
Why is it Important?
It is used in the nine-ball arrangement, which includes one numbered ball being arranged at the tip of the rack while the nine of the ball being placed at the center, leaving the rest of the balls being arranged randomly.
General Importance of a Rack
In summary, the general importance of rack can be summarized as follows
- Ball placement
- Ball arrangement
- Game type determinant example, a straight ball, nine-ball, eight ball, etc.
- Space elimination during ball placement through tightening the balls.
What Do You Need to Know Before Buying One
The material that makes the rack determines the lifetime of the felt of the billiard table and also the lifetime of the rack. Thus when purchasing a rack, you should avoid the following things
- The easy brittle rack which in this case light plastic
- Tearing and wearing material that may destroy the cloth during racking the balls
- An elastic material that may lose its ability to stretch once it loses its elasticity
- A loose ball rack that will leave spaces during ball arrangement
Conclusion
With all being said and done, it all comes down to the customer’s choice, which may be affected and influenced by three things, and that is budget at hand, preference, and how to use it. A customer might like the delta 13, but his or her budget might not be enough; thus, he or she may be forced to go for a cheaper option.
Sardo might be the best, but the customer might prefer the design of Cuestix. Maybe let’s say imperial diamond rack, or perhaps the customer only plays nine balls. But if heshe plays both he or she might need to buy the chameleon so he or she might play in all billiard games including nine-ball and Eight balls.
All in all, it all falls to the customer’s choice which will determine which rack will be purchased. And, always use a break cue to break the balls, I hope the guide will be of use to you.
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