How to Track Table Time in a Billiard Hall

Table time is the primary revenue source for most billiard halls. If you're tracking it manually, you're almost certainly losing money — not from dishonesty, but from the accumulated errors of writing start times in a logbook, glancing at a clock, and doing mental math under pressure.

The logbook method

This is how most halls operate. A staff member writes the table number and start time in a notebook. When the customer finishes, they check the clock, calculate the duration, multiply by the hourly rate, and announce the total.

The failure points are obvious: missed start times on busy nights, end times rounded in the customer's favor ("close enough to 2 hours"), wrong rate applied, and math errors under pressure. Each error is small — 10 or 15 minutes here and there — but they compound.

The stopwatch method

Some halls use phone timers or physical stopwatches. This is slightly better for accuracy but creates new problems: timers get accidentally reset, there's no connection to billing, and there's no historical record. You know how long a table ran but have no system that turns that into a charge.

Spreadsheet tracking

After close, someone transfers the logbook entries into a spreadsheet. This is useful for after-the-fact analysis — daily revenue, table utilization patterns — but it doesn't help with real-time operations. It's also only as accurate as the logbook entries it's based on.

Software-based tracking

Purpose-built software tracks time on the server, not in a notebook or a browser tab. The timer starts when a table opens and runs until checkout. Time is tracked to the second and displayed live on a floor view that every staff member can see.

The key advantages:

• Server-side timers — if a browser tab closes or the internet drops briefly, the timer keeps running on the server. No time lost.
• Automatic rate application — the system applies the correct rate based on the table, time of day, and any active promos. Staff don't decide.
• Configurable rounding — exact time, 15-minute blocks, or 30-minute blocks. You choose once; the system enforces always.
• Pause and transfer — customer takes a break? Pause the session. Need to move to a different table? Transfer the session. No time or data lost.
• Automatic records — every session is logged with start time, end time, duration, rate, and total. Reporting is built in.

The real cost of lost table time

Let's do the math. If you undercharge by an average of 15 minutes per table per day, and you have 8 tables running at a rate of $12/hour:

• 15 minutes x 8 tables = 2 hours of unbilled time per day
• 2 hours x $12 = $24 lost per day
• $24 x 30 days = $720 lost per month

That's a conservative estimate. On busy nights the slippage is worse. Over a year, you're looking at $8,000 or more in revenue that walked out the door because the logbook couldn't keep up.

What to look for

If you're evaluating table time tracking software, prioritize:

• Server-side timers (not browser-dependent)
• Configurable rounding and minimum charges
• Pause and resume capability
• Session transfer between tables
• Automatic rate enforcement (base, promo, time-based)
• Built-in reporting with session history

CuePoint tracks table time to the second, automatically. See it in action.