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FOOSBALL HISTORY
Did you know that foosball is believed to have come from a poet, editor, political activist and one of the world’s first airline hijackers? Spaniard Alejandro Finisterre is credited with inventing the game. Historians of the subject believe he conceptualized the idea while recovering from injuries received during a bombing in Madrid, sometime during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Discovering many children in the hospital who were suffering from war injuries missed their favourite game of football, he set about to create an indoor version that could be played by anyone, no matter what their physical state. With the help of a carpenter friend (Francisco Javier Altuna) the first foosball table was created. The game was modeled after table tennis, which was already available and popular at the turn of the century. Caught up in politics of the time, Finisterre was in France when a fascist coup d’etat took place, forcing him to flee the country in a rush – the story goes that he lost the patent papers for the game in a storm, during this escape. Regarded as a leftist and challenged for his ideology, Finisterre left Europe for Latin America, residing in Guatemala where he was kidnapped when Carlos Castillo Armas took over the country. He was boarded onto an airplane for deportation to Madrid, and during this flight Alejandro threatened the pilot by claiming he had explosives. This act was recorded as one of the world’s first incidents of an aircraft hijacking. The game of foosball was eventually patented in 1937 and Finisterre resurfaced as an editor, in Mexico.
FOOSBALL FACTS
The game has several names worldwide including table football, table tennis and foosball. Foosball evolved from the German term for soccer Fußball. In Germany, the game is called Kicker or Tischfußball. In Spain, you would be invited to play a game of Futbolín! . In Argentina they play Metegol. The French call it Baby-foot and in Turkey they describe it according to the sound the thump of the ball makes – Langirt!
Here are a few more facts about the game:
- Believed to be invented sometime during the 1930s
- The game is now regulated worldwide by the International Table Soccer Federation, an organization with headquarters in Nantes, France
- Foosball tournaments have been running since the 1950s, with Paris, France, being the host of the first World Cup foosball championships in Paris in 1998, which was played on Bonzini style tables
- Styles of tables include: French, American, Italian, Belgian, Chinese
- Some manufacturing brands of tables include: Garlando, Bonzini, Tornado, Roberto-Sport, Eurosoccer, Kicker, Löwen-Soccer, Warrior, Lehmacher, Leonheart
- Ball has been clocked to travel up to 75 kph
- The International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) was founded in August 2002 and to date 32 national associations have joined the federation
- The first ITSF World Championships were held in November 2004, where the world’s top 16 joined national champions from member countries in an all-table playoff. The first winner was Belgian Frederic Collignon, who completed an unprecedented clean sweep of major open titles that year!
- In May 2006, the ITSF will host the first official World Cup of Nations in Hamburg, Germany, where, for the first time, players will have to compete for their National honour on all official table types
- Tables are typically 4-feet long (110-120cm) & just over 2-feet (65-72 cm) wide, with ramps in the corners and sometimes at the sides
- There are traditionally 8 rows of “foos-men”, with 4 rows to a team, with 3 attackers, 5 midfield, 2 defenders and a goalie (American tables have 3 players on the goal rod instead of corner-ramps)
- Favourite game shots include: Snake Shot! Pin Shot! Push/Pull Kick (or Top-Bang), Drag Shot! Rollover! Front-Pin!
- Hans-Friedrickh Kircher, nicknamed “Jet” invented the Snake Shot in the 1970s, later it was perfected by Terry Moore in the early 1990s
- Foosball got its British tele debut in the 1970s when ITV ran coverage of the game with TV presenter Freddie Trueman during a teatime programme called Indoor League, the show also featured darts, pool, shove ha’penny, bar billiards and arm-wrestling
- Today professional players compete for up to £50,000 ($100,000) in international tournaments that might last up to 7 days!
- Once only found in local pubs or bars or recreational centres – more foosball tables are now sold for home play
- The most expensive table available is the “Opus”, built by Eleven Forty and costing up to £40,000 ($80,000)!
FOOSBALL & MINIBALL 2™ SCORING
Miniball 2™ is based on the offline version of foosball – using a scoring system of the best out of 5 goals – with the winning team scoring at least two goals above the opposing team. You’ll find many table football games in pubs or people’s homes that vary in how scoring is kept, we designed Miniball 2™ to reflect the most commonly used foosball scoring systems. Miniball 2™ and most foosball matches normally go for the best 2 games out of 3 or 5.
Keeping it simple, the objective of foosball and Miniball 2™ is just to hit the ball into the opposing team’s goal. Most games get started with the toss of coin. In-game serves are based on what team was the most recent to score. Scored a goal against your opponents? You serve! If you are playing with a mind toward regulation in foosball, spinning the table rods is strictly forbidden. Some foosball playing suggestions (which are also applicable to approaching Miniball 2™) include:
- Try not to lunge into the game with extreme force and aggression against the ball and other team, foosball and Miniball 2™ take a Buddhist-like Zen approach, learning to manage the flow of the ball and then control its strategic direction. It is not about smashing up your keyboard!
- View your players as a team and defend your turf. If you can move all the players together as a kind of wall against the ball, you will be able to block many of the opposite team’s shots
- Try using the A and S key while playing Miniball 2™ to hold onto the ball, keeping it in your territory longer and practicing control over your players and the ball – much like offline foosball
If you want more details about traditional foosball rules and regulations here are some top sites that The Miniball™ Team finds helpful, visit:
http://www.table-soccer.org/
http://www.britfoos.com
http://www.foosballheaven.com
http://www.foosball.com
Enjoy the game – online and offline!
FOOSBALL TIPS
As you play more, you get better, and will seek new ways to improve your game. The world’s best players have come up with their own improvisational solutions for some common performance issues, in the offline foosball game. Grip is key and sweaty palms defeat coordination and skill, some players have found that:
- Improve Grip: Nervousness = Sweat = Losing Scores. How do you avoid sweaty palms? Soft leather golf gloves help with grip, or some try: tennis racket rubber grips, cricket handle grips, balloons! Or even laytex condoms! Don’t want to DIY your equipment? Several companies produce products to combat slippery rods and palms. Many players wrap their hands, or the rods, with specially designed absorbent, tacky tape, available from most foosball accessory suppliers or sporting goods stores.
- Training Tricks: The world’s best foosers practice everyday, for many hours. However, even the best are sometimes unable to find an adequate opponent to keep up with their need to practice. A Rod-Lock lets you make several bars stationary, during game play. With a Rod-Lock positioned, you can practice, independently, on tricky passing shots and to improve stylistic moves. The trick to winning the game is how you control your passes and shots to greater and greater consistency, so when training , many players set themselves personal targets of so many successful passes or shots in a row. It is harder to practice defense on your own, but as a DIY trick, just cut pieces of wood to hit the ball and catch the rebound. Some players use a device called the ‘Powerball’ to increase wrist strength.
- Beware of Injury: Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) are common among regular players and strains or arthritis in shoulders and elbows. The injuries build up over time and players should observe any changes, resting from play if there are signs of these physical stresses.
- Drinking Games: Some foosers report that they have imposed the “under the table” rule in certain circumstances (e.g. whitewash) during fun games. That means, the loser fooser or rule breaker is made to crawl under the table, where he takes a sip of a pint. Some venues even keep the area under the tables particularly nasty for this treatment, according to fooser lore. Cheers!
FAMOUS FOOSERS
Foosball first started getting some well-known players and worldwide mainstream attention in the early 1970’s, as international championships began to be organized foosers started training and developing individual style and technique. Many of the original and best players still compete today. Below is a compilation of past and current world top-ranked foosball players – do you think someone is missing from our Hall of Foosball Fame? Then email us, we’ll add in your pick for current and past foosball champions:
Current Champions & International Masters (as of end 2005)
FrÈdÈric Collignon,
Todd “The Duke” Loffredo,
Billy Pappas,
Rob Atha,
Wolfgang Reszler,
Giuliano Bentivoglio,
Arturo Carletta,
Tony Spredeman,
Jamal Allalou,
Tom Van De Cauter,
Adrian Zamora,
Bobby Diaz,
Terry Moore,
Pawel Sielski,
Gil Jackson,
Jim Wiswell,
Doug Fury,
Ken Allwell,
Mark “Smiley” Shuer,
Mike Bowers,
Laszlo Teke,
Tom Spear,
Gus Trevino,
Tommy Adkinson,
Hans-Friedrich “Jet” Kircher,
John Smith,
Martin Fritsche,
SÈbastien Meckes,
Ismael Saban,
Marcello Manganiello,
Norman Cloney,
Womens Champions:
Cindy Head,
Moya Tielens,
Gena Murray,
Melissa Mosser,
Verena Rohrer
Samantha Di Paolo,
Estelle Jacquot,
Maggie Strong,
Petra Koncz,
Liz Hill,
Dusty Bambenek,
Stayce Fowler,
Christina Fuchs,
Angela Sine,
Mariella Mento,
Louise Herring,
Best of the UK:
Rob Atha,
Tanny Iqbal [1961-2003],
Tich Degun,
Juj Sohi,
Alex Shovelton,
John Shovelton,
Boris Atha,
Les Jones,
Rhys Roberts,
Dave Ziemann,
Dave Perrott,
Martyn Harris
*Thanks to Boris Atha and Dave Oates from The British Foosball Association (www.britfoos.com) who helped gather history and facts for Miniball 2™. Internet research and Wikipedia.org was also used as reference.
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