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Table football

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Table football or, alternatively, foosball, is a table-top game that is based on football (soccer). The origins of the game are unclear, but most historians agree that the first tables probably appeared in Spain, France or Germany in the 1880s-1890s. The most common names are table football, foosball, futbolín and babyfoot - though tischfussball and table soccer are also used.^[1] Table football is normally called foosball in Canada and the US, from Fußball, the German word for football (although foosball is generally known as "Tischfußball" or "Table Football" in German).

1 History
2 The game
3 Competition
4 Tables
5 Robots
6 Television and film
7 Literature
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

History

Patents exist from as far back as the 1890s, and more detail on these are available in the external links section. Several have claimed the honor of inventing table football, like the Galician Alexandre de Fisterra and the French Lucien Rosengart. In 2002, the ITSF (International Table Soccer Federation) was established in France with the mission of promoting the sport of Table Soccer as an organizing sports body, regulating international competitions, and establishing the game with the International Olympic Committee IOC as an officially recognized sport.

The game

To start play, the ball is served through a hole at the side of the table, or simply placed by hand at the feet of a figure in the middle of the table. Players attempt to use figures mounted on rotating bars to kick the ball into the opponent's goal. A ball may travel at speeds up to 40 mph (64 km/h) in competition. The sport/game/simulation requires quick reflexes with a delicate touch using the player's fine tuned motor skills, control and knowledge. The basics include 'passing' the ball, where you have the ball in your possession with one bar, and pass it to another bar, and 'shooting', where you find a hole in the defense and attempt to score. Some rules consider '360 degree shots' illegal although this is not always the case. The winner is determined when one team scores a predetermined number of goals, typically five. A two-goal victory is most often required. In competition, every ball that enters the goal is counted, unless either (1) the player or players on the scoring team broke a rule during the play or (2) the ball did not touch any of the defending team's foosmen during the play. Large events have referees that determine the infractions and penalties. Foosball tables can vary in size, but a typical table is about 4 ft (120 cm) long and 2 ft (61 cm) wide. The table usually contains 8 rows of "foos-men", which are plastic, metal, wooden, or sometimes carbon-fiber figures mounted on horizontal metal bars. Each team of 1, 2, or 3 human players controls 4 rows of foos-men. The arrangement of the foosballers is standard. Looking from left to right on one side of the table, you see:

Row 1	Your goalkeeper	1 foosman (sometimes 3)
Row 2	Your defense	2 foosmen
Row 3	Opponent's attack	3 foosmen
Row 4	Your midfield	5 foosmen (sometimes 4 or 6)
Row 5	Opponent's midfield	5 foosmen (sometimes 4 or 6)
Row 6	Your attack	3 foosmen
Row 7	Opponent's defense	2 foosmen
Row 8	Opponent's goalkeeper	1 foosman (sometimes 3)

Foosball strategy varies greatly. With teams of one human each ("singles" play), it is difficult for each person to control all four rows of foosmen simultaneously, though some players have perfected a defensive method using the thumb and pinky of the left hand to control the two defensive rows, and the right elbow and hand to control the midfield and attack rows. This style is considered somewhat radical, though it is employed to great benefit by certain advanced players. Other players keep the left hand always on the goalie or defensemen and move the right hand among the other three rows. More aggressive players may take up an attack with the offense and midfield, leaving the goalie unattended. Foosball can also be played with four people in "doubles" style, in which there are teams of two people on either side. In this scenario, usually one player takes the two defensive rows and the other team member uses the midfield and attack rows. With practice, it is possible to learn very fast "set-piece" moves, including the "snake", "pull-shot", "push-shot", and "front-pin". The pull shot is where you position the ball near the top of the opposition's goal. Then you pull your bar, which moves the ball downwards, and you aim for the hole or corner that is no longer guarded. The push shot is simply the opposite of the pull, positioning the ball at the bottom of the goal and 'pushing' towards the top. The snake and front-pin both involve pinning the ball, or clamping the ball with your men.

Competition

Table football on Tornado in New York

Table football is often played for fun in pubs, bars, workplaces, schools, and clubs with few rules. Foosball is also played in official competitions organized by a number of national organizations, with highly evolved rules and regulations. Organized competition can be traced back to the 1940s and 1950s in Europe. But the professional tours and bigtime money events began when the founding father of modern professional table soccer, Lee Peppard of Seattle, Washington, United States announced a "quarter million dollar tour" in 1975. Peppard went on to award several million dollars in prize monies and since his Tournament Soccer Organization went out of business in 1981 several orgs and promoters have continued holding large purse professional table soccer events worldwide. The ITSF regulates International events including the yearly World Championships and the World Cup held to coincide with the FIFA World Cup every four years. In 2006, Austria, Germany and Belgium took the Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively.

Tables

A Garlando style table with a game in progress

An 11-per-side Leonhart table football game in Berlin

A vast number of different tables exist. The table brands used on the world tour and official ITSF tournaments are "French-style" Bonzini, "American-style" Tornado, "Italian-style" Roberto Sport and Garlando, "German-style" Tecball. Other major brands include Kicker, Rosengart, Jupiter Goldstar, Eurosoccer, Löwen-Soccer, Warrior, Lehmacher, Leonhart, and Smoby. There was also a 7-meter table created by artist Maurizio Cattelan for a piece called Stadium. It takes 11 players to a side. Another unique foosball set is the Opus Table created by the Elevenforty company. Each table is hand-crafted, and each foosman is made to resemble his on-field counterpart. Differences in the table types have great influence on the playing styles. Most tables have one goalie whose movements are restricted to the goal area. On some of these tables the goalie becomes unable to get the ball once it is stuck out of reach in the corner; others have sloped corners to return the ball. Other tables have three goalies, one in the center and one in each corner to reach the ball so sloped corners are not needed. Another major difference is found in the balls, which can be made of cork, plastic, wood or even marble and metal, varying the speed of shots a great deal, as well as the "grip" between the man and the ball.

Robots

Robots designed to play table football by roboticists at the University of Freiburg are claimed to be able to beat 85 percent of casual players. They use a camera from below a transparent table base to track the ball, and an electronic control system to control high torque motors to rotate and move the foosmen. Currently an expert player can beat the robot 10 games to 1. [1]. Another table football robot, Foosbot, is claimed to have never been beaten by a human, but has not been tested against expert players. Yet another table football robot is under development by two students at the Technical University of Denmark. The robot uses a camera mounted above an ordinary table [2].

Television and film

Foosball tables have figured prominently in a number of movies such as FOOS : Be The Greatest © (2006, USA) and Long Shot (1986, USA). The television sitcom Friends (1994-2004, USA) featured a Dynamo table in earlier seasons, and later a Tornado (Valley) brand table, both of which were central to many episodes. In an episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000", Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank told how they took a foosball table, caulked it, filled it with water, and turned it into a water polo game. In the movie, "The Waterboy", the main character's mother repeatedly refers to Football as "Foosball". In the TV show House (TV series) Dr. House and Dr. Wilson are often seen playing foosball in the Doctor's lounge The german movie "Absolute Giganten" features an interestingly filmed game of foosball.