Picks
The Best Pool Table Accessories
Most pool table accessories are ornaments. Four of them measurably change how the table plays or how long it lasts, and the cheapest one pays back fastest.
How these picks were made: from published manufacturer specifications, governing-body standards and the room arithmetic - not from first-hand use. We have not played on these tables. Read the method.
If you buy one pool table accessory, buy a phenolic ball set - it changes how the table plays more than anything else at the price. If you buy two, add a fitted cover, which is the cheapest item here and the one that pays back fastest by keeping chalk dust and grit out of the cloth. A brush kit is the maintenance habit that follows, and a worsted cloth is the upgrade to make when the existing cloth is genuinely worn rather than merely dirty.
Why the ball set is the first upgrade
Balls are the only accessory that touches the game on every single shot. A set of pool balls has to be the same diameter and weight as each other, perfectly round, and hard enough that a contact point does not deform. Phenolic resin does all three and keeps doing them; polyester, which is what ships in the box with most home tables, does them acceptably when new and progressively worse as it wears. The failure is gradual, which is why almost nobody notices it - the table just slowly stops rolling true and the owner concludes the table was never very good.
The tell is the cue ball. It takes more contacts than any other ball and it wears first: look for a slightly dull, faintly pitted surface, or a ball that has visibly lost its gloss while the object balls still shine. At that point the whole set is usually past it, because they have all taken the same chalk abrasion.
| Accessory | What it changes | How often you deal with it |
|---|---|---|
| Phenolic ball set | Roll accuracy, every shot | Once, for years |
| Fitted cover | Cloth life, by keeping grit out | Every time you stop playing |
| Brush and rail kit | Cloth life, by removing chalk dust | Weekly, two minutes |
| Worsted cloth | Speed and roll consistency | Every several years |
| Chalk | Contact between tip and ball | Constantly, and it is cheap |
Cloth is a consumable, and chalk is what consumes it
People assume the balls wear the cloth. They contribute, but the real abrasive is chalk. Every shot deposits a small amount of chalk dust, the dust works down into the weave, and then every subsequent ball rolls over a mild grinding compound. That is why a table in a room where nobody brushes develops the characteristic worn tracks between the spots and the pockets - those are the lines the balls travel most, grinding chalk into the nap.
The fix costs nothing. Brush along the nap, in one direction, from the baulk end towards the far end, then wipe the rail tops with the cloth from the kit. Two minutes. The cover keeps everything else out while the table is idle. The pool table felt guide goes through cloth types, colors and the recloth decision in full.
Quick picks
| # | Product | Best for | What it is | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Aramith Premier Billiard Ball Set | The upgrade that changes the game | Phenolic resin balls | |
| 2 |  Fitted Pool Table Cover | The cheapest thing that pays back | Fitted, 7 or 8 ft | |
| 3 | Pool Table Brush and Rail Cleaning Kit | The two-minute habit | Brush and rail cloth | |
| 4 |  Simonis 760 Billiard Cloth | When the cloth is done | Worsted, no nap |
The picks
The ball set that changes the game, the cover that protects the cloth, the brush kit that is the actual maintenance, and the cloth to fit when the old one is finished.
#1 · The upgrade that changes the game
Aramith Premier Billiard Ball Set
Phenolic resin balls. They stay round, they do not chip, and they are the cheapest upgrade that changes how a table plays.
Phenolic resin balls. They stay round, they do not chip, and they are the cheapest upgrade that changes how a table plays. The set that shipped with your table is almost certainly polyester, and polyester balls go slightly out of round, pick up burrs at the contact point and stop rolling true long before they look worn. A phenolic set on a mid-price table is a bigger improvement than a mid-price table on a phenolic set.
- What works
- Phenolic resin holds its shape and its polish for years of play
- Consistent weight and diameter across the set, so the rack sits properly
- Transforms a non-slate table more than almost anything else you can buy
- What does not
- Costs a real fraction of a cheap table's price
- Does not fix an unlevel bed or dead cushions
#2 · The cheapest thing that pays back
Fitted Pool Table Cover
Dust is what kills cloth in a garage. A fitted cover is the cheapest item on this site and the one that pays back fastest.
Dust is what kills cloth in a garage. A fitted cover is the cheapest item on this site and the one that pays back fastest - it is the difference between a cloth that gets recovered because it is worn out and one that gets recovered because it is dirty. In a basement it also keeps the chalk dust, cat hair and general household grit off a surface that is horizontal, large and permanently exposed.
- What works
- Keeps dust, chalk and grit out of the nap
- Protects against the drink that gets put down on a table with no cover
- Fitted covers stay on, unlike a sheet
- What does not
- Only works if it actually goes back on after a game
- Measure the table size properly - a loose cover slides off
#3 · The two-minute habit
Pool Table Brush and Rail Cleaning Kit
Brush along the nap, not across it. A two-minute habit that adds years to a woolen cloth.
Brush along the nap, not across it. A two-minute habit that adds years to a woolen cloth. Brushing lifts the chalk dust out of the weave instead of grinding it in, and chalk dust is abrasive - it is what actually wears a cloth, far more than the balls do. The rail cloth in the kit matters for a different reason: hand oil on the rail tops transfers to the cloth and is the main cause of the dark patches people assume are permanent.
- What works
- Removes abrasive chalk dust rather than working it deeper
- Takes two minutes and extends a cloth by years
- The rail cloth stops the dark hand-oil patches forming
- What does not
- Has to be done regularly to mean anything
- Brushing the wrong way across the nap is worse than not brushing
#4 · When the cloth is done
Simonis 760 Billiard Cloth
Worsted cloth: a tight-woven surface with no nap, so the ball rolls straighter and the cloth lasts. The standard recloth upgrade.
Worsted cloth: a tight-woven surface with no nap, so the ball rolls straighter and the cloth lasts. The standard recloth upgrade. Listed here because recloth is the one accessory purchase that changes a table more than a new table would - a worn woolen cloth on a good bed plays worse than fresh worsted on a mediocre one. Worsted is also faster, which is worth knowing before you fit it: your table will play noticeably longer and thinner.
- What works
- No nap, so the roll is directionally consistent
- Lasts significantly longer than a woolen blend under the same play
- The upgrade that makes an existing table feel new
- What does not
- Fitting it properly is a job for someone who has done it before
- A faster surface than most casual players are used to
Skip it if: the current cloth is merely dirty rather than worn. Brush it, clean the rails, and spend the money on balls instead.
What we deliberately left off this page
Several popular accessories do not earn a place. A wall-mounted cue rack is furniture, not equipment - it is a good idea and it changes nothing about the table. Ball polishing machines are real but belong in a pool hall, not a basement. Triangle racks ship with every table and the branded ones are identical. Pocket liners and leather pocket replacements are repairs rather than accessories. And cue chalk, which genuinely matters more than any item here, is too cheap to write a recommendation about: buy the standard blue stuff and buy a lot of it.
The one borderline case is a table light, which is not an accessory so much as the second half of the installation - an unlit table is unplayable in a basement. That gets its own pages: the best pool table lights for the fixtures and pool table light height for the hanging figure.
The order to buy them in
There is a sensible sequence, and it is not the order of price. Start with the cover, because it is cheap and it stops the clock on cloth wear immediately. Add the brush kit at the same time, since without it the cover is only doing half the job. Then the ball set, once you have decided the table is staying. Leave the cloth until the existing one is worn through or has lost its roll - recloth is the big-ticket item and it is wasted on a cloth that is only dirty.
If the table is new and still in the box, the cover and the brush kit are the two things worth ordering alongside it, because both of them protect something that starts perfect and only ever gets worse. How long a pool table lasts covers which parts wear first and what each one costs to put right.
What we checked, and what we did not
Ball, cloth and cover specifications are each manufacturer's own listed figures, and the equipment references below cover the governing-body specifications for balls and cloth. The maintenance reasoning - chalk as the abrasive, nap direction, hand oil on rails - follows from the materials and from standard published practice. We have not run comparative tests, we publish no ratings or scores, and nothing here is presented as test data.
