Foosball tables are an excellent way to have a game room in any room of your home. Apartments and dorm rooms can accommodate them, and they provide hours of entertainment. The first foosball table was a dedicated bar game, plain and simple. In soccer crazed Europe, the game became a substitute for actual soccer, and when players returned form the field the first place they stopped was the pub, so it was a natural progression. Many early tables were designed to sit on top of an existing table. Rather than its own free standing entities, these home made versions were very unlike the polished, refined pieces of equipment that we have today.
Today there are a few different variations on the foosball table. The European style is not encountered much in America, maybe because we like things fast and primitive; European foosball is a game of precision. Balls are often made of cork, so they travel much more slowly. Traditional wood design also slows the game down. A one-man-goalie system is more common there too, which generally results in lower scoring games. American foosball by contrast is characterized by speed and high scoring. Of course, this is a precision game too, but the tempo is much faster. This type of foosball was popularized by Garlando Foosball Tables, one of the best known brands in the USA.
Foosball is found in nearly every country in Latin America, Europe and beyond. Anywhere there are soccer fans, and beer fans, the foosball table is never far behind. It’s a classic bar game, and many bars make a good extra chuck of change, literally, from having one in the room. A bar foosball table often has a lid that flips open for cleaning. This comes in handy when there are spills, which there eventually will be.
Rene Pierre Foosball enjoyed a brief period
of mainstream fame in the seventies, when the sport had televised tournaments
and even a feature film. Dazed and Confused, the classic teen comedy,
had a scene at the rec center with rows of foosball tables all packed
with kids enjoying the game. In recent years, with video games becoming
more popular, and more impressive, the game’s stature has fallen
somewhat. Parents can consider foosball as at least a marginally more
active game. Indeed, a heated match can certainly make you break a sweat.