This is the first Ringo I’ve seen in a member’s collection. It’s an amazing piece of Irving Kaye history!
The Irving Kaye Ringo Pool rode the wave of elliptical pool tables manufactured in the mid-1960s. In the fall of 1964 four firms including Irving Kaye introduced these round-ish tables at the annual MOA show. The Irving Kaye Ringo was 56″ in diameter and featured a slate-top, brightly colored red/white or blue/white Formica finishes and it retailed for $225.00.
Art Frigo Inventor of the elliptical pool table.
The original design of the elliptical pool table is generally credited to college student Art Frigo as a result of a math project while attending Union College in Schenectady, NY. The elliptical pool tables are not actually round as they are a couple of inches longer than they are wide creating a slight oval or elliptical shaped table. The design takes advantage of a mathematical principle where there are two “focal” points on the table. The hole/pocket is placed on one focal point and you hit the target ball across the other focal point towards any bumper location and the ball will bounce off the bumper and pass over the other focal point. With the correct speed, the ball will go into the hole every time.
The strategy to play an elliptical pool table is similar to a regular bumper pool but the math to calculate the angles is different. This is likely the reason that the elliptical pool tables never really became a commercial success.
In 1968 Irving Kaye shipped three Ringo tables to Sega Enterprises of Tokyo who donated them to the U.S. Army Japan Medical Command. The Irving Kaye Ringo’s in the press photos show a bumper pool bumper added to the table directly behind the pocket/hole.
Ringo Pool Advertisement – Billboard April 1965
Ringo Pool Tables Shipped to Sega of Japan