Shooter's Paradise

WASILLA — Rick Reese is a busy man.

Sitting in the relative sanctuary of his cluttered back-room office, Reese tries to keep a handle on his 2-year-old son. As Ricky Jr. wiggles free from his father’s grasp, the elder Reese gives chase while simultaneously keeping one eye on a bank of 10 video screens that face his desk.

The monitors allow Reese keep an eye on the commotion that can be heard in muted tones from behind his office walls. On one screen, a birthday party of teenage girls are giggling to themselves near an arcade game; on another, a young man casually leans over a pool table as his friend racks a fresh set of balls.

Some of the screens are blank, but most display similar pictures — scenes of people enjoying themselves.

It wasn’t always like this.

Before Reese took over, this run-down vacant Wasilla pool hall wasn’t the sort of place teenage girls went to have birthday parties.

“The place was trashed,” Reese said, having finally decided to pawn little Ricky off on wife Teresa — herself busy behind a snack counter at Shooter’s Billiard Parlor, which the couple opened March 21.

So trashed, in fact, that Reese was able to buy the 4,600-square foot pool hall, located upstairs in a strip mall at 749 W. Parks Highway, for a bargain.

“I actually stole this place,” he bragged.

Not only did Reese get a good deal on the building, he also had help remodeling the place from the building owner, who also happened to run a construction company.

That helped me cut way back on costs,” he said.

Rick and Teresa spent half a year cleaning up the old pool hall before finally opening the doors this spring. They brought in new tables, got the smoke smell out of the walls and installed some high-tech gadgets such as plasma televisions, a downloadable jukebox and arcade-style video games.

The work paid off recently, when Shooter’s was profiled in Billiards Digest magazine as one of the “Top 10 New Rooms of 2007.”

“I get a lot of pride from that,” Reese said.

Unlike the old pool hall, Reese wanted his place to be somewhere kids and adults alike could enjoy themselves in a safe, friendly environment.

“It’s a good, clean place for them to come,” he said.

It’s not just kids that come into the pool hall.

With 10 pool tables — and one for snooker — Shooter’s offers an alternative to the bar, typically the most popular place to shoot stick.

“I can tell you one thing, I get all the non-smokers,” Reese said.

Garrett Wilkins, 21, and Nate Flanagan, 20, consider themselves recreational pool players. For the past two months, both have been regulars at Shooter’s. Taking a break between games, Wilkins said the pool hall has almost become a second home.

“We’ve come in here about every single day for the last eight weeks,” Wilkins said.

Both Wilkins and Flanagan shot pool at the hall before Reese bought the place, and both agreed the changes have been for the better.

“It used to be all ruggedy,” Wilkins said. “Black lights, just ragged.”

“It’s 110 percent better,” Flanagan said.

Wilkins and Flanagan are among a growing group of players who hit Shooter’s on a regular basis.

“We’ve got a good core group that comes in here,” Rick Reese said.

The pool hall is open every day, and the doors stay open until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights. Tables are usually $10 per hour, although Reese does run promotional rates from time to time. He also sells pool equipment, and even offers a free day of pool with every stick he sells.

It’s all part of what he considers his mission to continue running a clean, fun pool hall that will attract both young and old.

A recreational player nearly his entire life, Reese said he just wants to share his game with others. It’s a goal Reese said is coming to fruition, and he even predicted that, someday soon, one of the young players who frequents the upstairs pool hall is going to be Alaska’s next great one.

“We’re developing some future pool players here, I assure you,” he said.

Reese said that, despite spending up to 14 hours a day at the pool hall, he thinks the effort has been worth it.

“I’ve always liked to play pool,” he said. “I’ve just got a love for it.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

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