Review of Shotz Pool Lounge

Review By Lauran Fazekas

If $1 beers, 5 shots for $15, pool tables and hitting the dancefloor sounds like your kind of place, then you'd better head over to Shotz. This emo/punk style pool lounge is very casual, open and has a lot of black.

Shotz is free to enter and has great drinks specials between 10-11 and 1-2, with $1 beers and $3.50 base spirits. The bars are spread apart and not very busy early on, so it's easy to drink quickly and hit the bar tenders up for more cheap ones!

Shotz is laid out like one big shed/room and it is quite dark. There is lots of open dance space in the middle, a bar and some bar stool/tables on the left, pool tables up the back with a bar, and a beer garden outside. This means there is no crowding or bottlenecks near the bars or chill out areas.

My experiences at Shotz only came about fairly recently, after some quirky friends of mine wanted to have birthday drinks there. I entered, being a little wary of what I had heard Shotz doesn't discriminate, whether you are 18, 35, homosexual, emo, male, female, other, it really doesn't matter. The people at Shotz are so diverse, but so friendly; it's easy to find yourself playing pool against a mohawked guy with skinny jeans and face tattoos!

In the end, Shotz turned out to be a great, short night: hanging by the pool tables, spending time outside in the beer garden (which there is sometimes a line for...) and hitting the dance floor to your favourite classic punk anthems. The pool tables really are a highlight, there are heaps of them up the back and you don't need to line up or reserve them to get a game! Everyone is really sharing and friendly, willing to let anyone have a go and some fun match-ups go down.

The music is kind of a low light, as I didn't know too many of the songs, and to be honest the ones I did were not really dance worthy. The DJs are different to stock-standard, Shotz's specialist resident DJs mix up old and new punk/rock/emo tunes to try and suit all tastes. But the music really isn't to my taste (although I thought it would be as I am actually a little emo at heart). The dancefloor/stage on the other hand is a cool setup, the stage is raised a little with the DJ up top and there is plenty of space to dance in the spotlight or in a corner (some of the crowd seems slightly shy).

The decor and overall look of Shotz honestly didn't strike me as anything too intriguing or appealing. It's quite black with some cool pictures and graffiti work, but there are only 4 walls to work with and a lot of open floor. The toilet doors are conspicuously hidden amongst the walls, which after a few drinks is very confusing.

All in all, Shotz pool lounge is an unusual club with some cool features which I know would appeal to some people. There are a couple of my friends who regular at Shotz, but I prefer to make an appearance, soak up a different atmosphere, play some pool and move on.