The Day of Games – Leagues, Gear, Awesome times.

PART IX of the series… “Should I Apply to Become an About.com Guide? No.”

Here was my original writing sample that was submitted for the gig:

I own a leisure sports company, The Day of Games, LLC.  I eat, drink, and breathe this stuff! We sell bar games, outdoor games, and beer pong items.  We are expanding our SKU’s to incorporate additional bar games (darts, washers, shuffleboard, etc.)   www.thedayofgames.com

I currently run the San Francisco “bar games” division of the DogDaze Sports Leagues here in San Francisco.  The last league we ran took place at Ireland’s 32 and we played Indoor Bocce and Cornhole. The league was featured in Urban Daddy and Thrillist.

I’m also the most competitive person to have ever applied for this gig and I would happily wager my acceptance over any bar game of your choosing.  I have spent WAAAAAAY too much time playing pool, darts, beer pong, and a zillion other games that my friends have encountered or invented on our own.

Random fact:
This past weekend, my girlfriend and I shattered our previous Photo Hunt score.
The days of mindless chit chat with the bartender and hours of texting random friends on my cell phone are thankfully over.  I’ve spent too many hours, at too many bars, simply wasting the evening away while enjoying some of San Francisco’s finest local offerings.  The beers are always spectacular, but the company is occasionally lacking. Enter ‘The Wreck Room’ in Nob Hill.  Boredom be gone!  This place is my dream bar.  They have embraced the bar sports mentality to the extreme.  Offering shuffleboard, a pool table, darts, basketball shootout, arcade games, and a variety of old-fashioned games as well (dominoes, cards, etc.).

The Wreck Room… what a clever name!  How could they possibly have known that I indeed wanted to spend my evening both getting wrecked, and playing as many recreational games as possible?

My first visit to the bar was fantastic.   The bar is located at California St. and Hyde, so it’s convenient to reach from the Marina, the Financial District, or pretty much any neighborhood whose inhabitants spend time at some of the shadier establishments along Polk St.  I strolled in around 5:15pm in an effort to spend some time with the after work crowd.  The bar had a dozen or so people hanging around tables and the bar itself, and there were three times that many toward the back of the bar.  That’s where all the fun is.

Grabbed a delicious porter and headed straight for the pool table.  This is definitely a casual bar game joint.  You shouldn’t be expecting any serious gambling action or arguments over the rules.  Everyone is here to have a good time, meet people, throw back cocktails with friends, and discuss the latest catchphrase from Charlie Sheen.  The pool table is pretty much your standard bar quality table. Although the bar is fairly new so the felt is still soft and the cues are all intact.  This probably won’t be the case in another six months, but maybe the owners will keep the gamers satisfied since it is truly the niche they are targeting.  I was able to squeeze in a quick game since one of the guys about to start needed a partner.  There was plenty of room to get off shots from all the corners, but I can’t say the same thing about playing after midnight.  The crowds pour in and the pool table becomes surrounded by the drunken sort who have taken a taxi all the way from Pac Heights in order to check out the new trendy spot in town.  Luckily we had tons of space so I rather enjoyed the pool play.

Over to the shuffleboard table where there was already a sizeable waitlist on the chalkboard.  This was a little troublesome for me.  Everyone in town has been ranting and raving about this shuffleboard table, but there is only one of them, and it appears to be too crowded to even play!  My frustration subsided as I downed my beer and moved from one Porter to another, and the dart board was open.  The darts area was very well done.  Excellent bristle board, there is a little quarantined area so nobody will accidentally stumble their face in front of your hand, and the darts were all brand new.  I ended up playing darts for over an hour with some friendly guys who lived down the street.   Good company.  Good times.

My name had come and gone on the shuffleboard waitlist so I instead moved over the basketball shootout game that I had been itching to tackle since I walked in. I’ll have to be honest here…   the “wreck” aspect of the Wreck Room was starting to take hold, so the rest of the night was ridiculously entertaining but I don’t exactly remember all the specifics.  I’ll have to go back again for a more thorough review!