Iowa State students interested in billiards, darts or foosball will have a chance to compete in leagues this year at several Ames locations, said Cory Dawkins, promotions director for KD Amusement Distributors.

Dawkins, undeclared graduate student, has worked on setting up the leagues for two years.

He said participation this year already is up 30 to 40 percent more than last year, with one third to half of the new participants being students.

Dawkins said the leagues require a time commitment of only one night a week, although many players play in multiple leagues.

“I try to play in as many of [the leagues] as I can — one or two a season during the year and all of them during the summer,” he said.

Paul DeVries, manager of Cy’s Roost, 121 Welch Ave., said his establishment also runs a billiard league sanctioned by the Billiard Congress of America (BCA).

DeVries said 14 five-player teams competed at Cy’s Roost last year and even more participated at Welch Avenue Station, 207 Welch Ave.

Since the games are played in a bar setting, team members must be at least 21 years of age, DeVries said.

J.J. Caligirui plays in the BCA leagues both in Campustown and at The Corner Pocket, 125 Main St.

He said he sees “a lot of new faces every year” in the Campustown leagues, while there are teams at The Corner Pocket that have played together for 30 years.

At Cy’s Roost, DeVries said Budweiser, which sponsors the league, provides league champion T-shirts at the end of each season. He said the registration fees of $3 per person per night is paid back to the winning teams.

“The cash award for the top team is usually between $300 and $500,” he said.

Dawkins said that in the leagues he organizes, 25 cents of each $3 weekly registration fee is retained for administrative costs, while the rest is paid back as prize money.

“Trophies are presented to the top 25 to 33 percent of the pack,” he said.

Caligirui said his team from The Corner Pocket finished in the top 80 in the state last year.

“There are a lot of teams from Ames that go to state [tournaments],” he said.

The level of competitiveness, Caligirui said, differs from team to team.

The teams that are competitive usually practice fairly often, while some teams are participating just for fun and only play during the league.

He also said that each year the top teams in the state from the BCA leagues advance to a national competition in Las Vegas.

Dawkins said the one time he qualified for national competition he had a blast.

“If I had to share one experience to convince someone that [billiards] leagues are cool, it would be playing in Vegas two summers ago,” he said.