diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 827ad64..8c9949d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # CHANGELOG
 
+## 3.5.0 (2015-12-11)
+
+* Allow options to be passed down to the connection pool.
+
 ## 3.4.0 (2015-06-16)
 
 * Allow a Redis connection to be passed in the Leaderboard initializer using the `redis_connection` option.
diff --git a/leaderboard/leaderboard.py b/leaderboard/leaderboard.py
index 728cd54..c784398 100644
--- a/leaderboard/leaderboard.py
+++ b/leaderboard/leaderboard.py
@@ -14,13 +14,14 @@ def grouper(n, iterable, fillvalue=None):
 
 
 class Leaderboard(object):
-    VERSION = '3.4.0'
+    VERSION = '3.5.0'
     DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE = 25
     DEFAULT_REDIS_HOST = 'localhost'
     DEFAULT_REDIS_PORT = 6379
     DEFAULT_REDIS_DB = 0
     DEFAULT_MEMBER_DATA_NAMESPACE = 'member_data'
     DEFAULT_GLOBAL_MEMBER_DATA = False
+    DEFAULT_POOLS = {}
     ASC = 'asc'
     DESC = 'desc'
     MEMBER_KEY = 'member'
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ class Leaderboard(object):
     RANK_KEY = 'rank'
 
     @classmethod
-    def pool(self, host, port, db, pools={}):
+    def pool(self, host, port, db, pools={}, **options):
         '''
         Fetch a redis conenction pool for the unique combination of host
         and port. Will create a new one if there isn't one already.
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ def pool(self, host, port, db, pools={}):
         key = (host, port, db)
         rval = pools.get(key)
         if not isinstance(rval, ConnectionPool):
-            rval = ConnectionPool(host=host, port=port, db=db)
+            rval = ConnectionPool(host=host, port=port, db=db, **options)
             pools[key] = rval
 
         return rval
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ def __init__(self, leaderboard_name, **options):
 
         redis_connection = self.options.pop('redis_connection', None)
         if redis_connection:
-            # allow the developer to pass a raw redis connection and 
+            # allow the developer to pass a raw redis connection and
             # we will use it directly instead of creating a new one
             self.redis_connection = redis_connection
         else:
@@ -88,7 +89,9 @@ def __init__(self, leaderboard_name, **options):
                 self.options['connection_pool'] = self.pool(
                     self.options.pop('host', self.DEFAULT_REDIS_HOST),
                     self.options.pop('port', self.DEFAULT_REDIS_PORT),
-                    self.options.pop('db', self.DEFAULT_REDIS_DB)
+                    self.options.pop('db', self.DEFAULT_REDIS_DB),
+                    self.options.pop('pools', self.DEFAULT_POOLS),
+                    **self.options
                 )
             self.redis_connection = Redis(**self.options)
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 88aa773..0211ea7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 setup(
   name = 'leaderboard',
-  version = "3.4.0",
+  version = "3.5.0",
   author = 'David Czarnecki',
   author_email = "dczarnecki@agoragames.com",
   packages = ['leaderboard'],
diff --git a/test/leaderboard/leaderboard_test.py b/test/leaderboard/leaderboard_test.py
index 9b2f8b4..8db8f36 100644
--- a/test/leaderboard/leaderboard_test.py
+++ b/test/leaderboard/leaderboard_test.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def tearDown(self):
         Leaderboard.MEMBER_DATA_KEY = 'member_data'
 
     def test_version(self):
-        Leaderboard.VERSION.should.equal('3.4.0')
+        Leaderboard.VERSION.should.equal('3.5.0')
 
     def test_init_with_defaults(self):
         'name'.should.equal(self.leaderboard.leaderboard_name)