The WPA equipment specifications are written for sanctioned events, and the document says they do not necessarily apply to tables made for home use. A custom table can be built correctly and still fall outside them. So before installation day, settle which standard applies: the maker's specification, the approved drawings, or the WPA figures where the contract names them.

Bring to the table

Approved drawings, finish samples, the proposal, the accessory list and the receiving report.

Tools

The installer's precision level, a tape measure, a clean set of balls, a cue, a phone for photographs and video.

Lighting

The permanent fixture, switched on. Temporary construction lights can hide cloth and finish flaws.

People

The installer, plus the one person authorized to accept the table and approve small field corrections.

Flatness and joints are part of the level test, checked earlier on bare slate. The last column, and anything else in this guide not credited to the WPA, is a rule of thumb for a residential project, not a published standard.

Level and flat are different properties. A bed can be perfectly flat and tilted, or read level in the middle with a dip near one end. The WPA asks for a table that stays stable and level but gives no slope figure. Its numbers cover flatness: within .020 in (0.508 mm) along the length, .010 in (0.254 mm) across the width, and slate joints in the same plane within .005 in (0.127 mm) after leveling and shimming. Once cloth covers the slate, those are hard to confirm. For a table assembled on site, ask to see the bare slate checked, and have the installer note what was measured.

1. Hold point on bare slate. Before cloth, watch the level taken at the center and toward each corner, in both directions, and across each joint.
2. Repeat on the finished bed. After the rails and cloth are on, take readings again along the length, the width and both diagonals. One center reading proves very little.
3. Push the table. Press firmly at each corner of the frame. It should not rock or click, and no leg should visibly move.
4. Find the adjusters. Have the installer show you the leveling points and confirm they are tight and can be reached later. On a pedestal or enclosed base, this is the question most worth asking.

Our guide to leveling precision and when to recheck covers instruments and readings in more depth.

A ball on a slow roll responds to slope, but also to its own condition, dirt on the cloth, spin from your fingers and an uneven release. The WPA publishes no roll-test figure, so this procedure has no published standard behind it.

1. Clean first. Brush or wipe the bed and use clean balls.
2. Roll slowly. Push the ball off with an open hand, or use a ramp if the installer has one, so that it starts with no deliberate spin.
3. Run several paths. Down the center of the table, along each long rail, across the width at both ends and the middle, and on both diagonals. Roll three times on each path.
4. Reverse each path. A ball that curves toward the same wall from both directions points to slope. A curve that shows up in one travel direction only points to the ball, the release or the cloth.
5. Swap the ball. Repeat any suspect path three times with a second ball.
6. Mark and retest. Note the location and direction of any repeat drift, have the installer adjust, then rerun every path, since an adjustment at one leg can change readings elsewhere.

Do not sign if

Two balls drift the same way on the same path, in most rolls, after the installer has adjusted. Record it as a repeatable fault, and hold off signing if it affects normal play or the contract sets a tighter standard.

The WPA's cushion test gives you a ready-made formal check: place a ball on the head spot, shoot through the foot spot with a center hit, a level cue and a firm stroke, and it should travel at least 4 to 4½ lengths of the table without jumping.

By simple arithmetic from those spots, 4 lengths brings the ball back to about the head spot after it has struck the foot rail twice and the head rail twice. At 4½ lengths it has reached about the foot spot. “Firm stroke” has no defined speed, so have the same player repeat the shot three or four times and take the typical result.

Run it as written and it only tests the middle of the two end rails. Three more checks cover the rest:

1. Compare all six cushion sections. Using the same ball and a similar stroke, bank straight into each section near both pockets and in the middle. Rebound should look alike across all of them.
2. Listen. The WPA asks that properly torqued rail bolts give “a quiet and optimum rebound” from any point on the cushion. A thud or a rattle at one spot deserves a look at the bolts before the rubber.
3. Check nose height if bank shots look off. WPA nose height is 63½% of ball diameter, within 1%, which Dr. Dave Alciatore's reference puts at about 1.43 in (36.3 mm) for a 2¼ in ball. Too high and balls tend to rebound slower and bank longer; too low, faster and shorter.

New cloth also changes banks: the same reference notes that balls bank longer on new, slick cloth. Note that on the record, and retest once it has played in before calling a rail faulty. If a section still reads dead, our guide to dead rails covers what to ask a technician to assess.

The WPA measures a pocket mouth from point to point across the cushion noses, where the cushion changes direction into the pocket. Tournament values are 4.5 to 4.625 in (11.43 to 11.75 cm) at the corners and 5 to 5.125 in (12.7 to 13.02 cm) at the sides. Compare yours with the agreed spec, then compare the pockets with one another. A set of corners that differ from each other is a stronger warning than a set that all miss a tournament number by the same amount.

Facings (WPA)

Same thickness on both sides of each pocket, 1/16 to ¼ in (1.59 to 6.35 mm), with 1/8 in (3.18 mm) the preferred maximum. Press them: they must be firmly fixed and not shift.

Corner cloth (WPA)

No folds over the corner pocket facings. At the side pockets, hidden folds must not be able to make balls jump.

Liners (WPA)

Balls that strike the wall below the rim get directed downward. Liner material should not permanently mark balls or cues.

Drop pockets (WPA)

Each basket holds at least 6 balls. Load six in each and confirm it.

Ball return (WPA)

As quiet as possible, and pocketed balls must not bounce back onto or off the table.

Play test

At each pocket: a slow ball along each rail, a firm straight-in shot and an angled shot. Slow balls should fall without hanging on a seam, and a clean hit should stay down.

Return run

Send a full rack through in succession with no jam, and see that the cue ball comes back as designed.

Finish the walk-round under the permanent light. Confirm the cloth product and color, a smooth bed free of wrinkles, clean cuts at the pockets and aligned rails. Inspect wood, metal, paint and leather for freight or installation damage, and check the room as well. Confirm the location and orientation against the drawings, the fixture centered on the table, and no tools or debris left inside. For persistent ripples or loose edges, our guide to cloth that has not been pulled tightly enough covers what to look for and how to brief the installer.

1. Signing the delivery receipt as acceptanceRead what you are signing. A delivery note and a final acceptance are separate events, so make sure the wording says which one it is.
2. Listing faults without an ownerEach open item needs a description, a photograph, a responsible party and a target date. Mark cosmetic work separately from anything that stops normal play.
3. Letting the installer leave with the paperworkCollect warranty terms, care instructions, finish information, replacement cloth details, touch-up guidance and service contacts on the day.

The sign-off record itself should show the date, table location, installer, people present, tests completed, accessories received, deficiencies and acceptance status. File it with your other custom pool table ownership records so a future technician can identify the table and its parts.