Foosball: An In Depth Look

FABI Foosball

A great family game that doesn’t take up too much space is foosball. It can be played by either 2 or 4 players and requires a bit of hand eye coordination and a competitive spirit!

Trying to decide how much to spend on a foosball table can be a challenge. First, you must decide if you want a toy or a game. If you only want a toy, consider going to a place like Walmart/Costco/Canadian Tire. You can expect to pay about $200 – $400 and also expect that this type of table will not stand up to the test of time. Understand that you are buying a toy as compared to a game and that your toy won’t take much abuse.

If you decide to go with the game route, you can expect to pay anywhere from $700 and up. For this price you can expect that the foosball table will stand up to aggressive play from up to 4 grown adults and should last a very long time. If you are buying the table for your kids to play on, you should be able to send the table with them to college (unless you become addicted and want to keep it!).

Now that you have hopefully decided on purchasing a good quality game, there a few decisions to make. Here are a few guidelines to help with the decision process:

Telescoping Foosball Rods

Rods: There are 2 types of rods – telescoping and non-telescoping. Telescoping rods make for nicer play since the rods don’t pass all the way through the cabinet and out the other side. Often if a table has non-telescoping rods it turns into a full contact sport for the player on the other side! You can expect to pay a bit more for a table that features telescoping rods. As well, you want to be sure that the rods are made of steel and they have some give or flex to them. When the play turns aggressive, players will sometimes lean on the handles which in turn flexes the rods. If the rods are made of plastic for example or just cheap metal painted silver, they will snap in half.

Playfield: Most European models offer a playfield which features ramps in the corners and sides, as compared to American models which feature 3 goalies across so the ball doesn’t get stuck in the corners. European foosballtables also feature one goalie which doesn’t rotate all the way around – often American goalies will rotate all the way. It is interesting to note that for tournament play, you aren’t allowed to rotate or spin any of your players all the way around.

Foosball Goalie

Foosmen

Players: The midfield features 5 foosmen per rod, the opponent’s attack features 3 foosmen per rod, the defense features 2 foosmen per rod and the goalie (if playing on a European table) features 1 foosman per rod (or 3 foosmen if playing on an American table). On a FABI Foosball table, the players will stay where you leave them, in any position on the rod, as compared to being foot heavy and always returning to a foot down position.

Outside or Cosmetics: There are many different options, but essentially you want something heavy and durable. For example with a FABI Foosball, the cabinet is made of 1 inch plywood with a layer of arborite on the outside. Short of taking a baseball bat to it you really couldn’t damage this table.

FABI Foosball Cabinet

Legs: You want to make sure that the table has good, strong, durable legs that won’t bend or buckle with pressure. The FABI table features legs that are made of steel and have a rubber stopper on the bottom. Some tables do feature leg levelers which is good if you have an uneven floor.

A note about coin-op tables. Some people think that in order to get a good quality table, they need to purchase a coin operated one. This is not necessarily so. In the case of the FABI, the only difference between the coin-op and home version is that coin-op feature. Other than that, they are exactly the same. The same rods, the same play surface and the same legs.

Foosball is a game that can be enjoyed by the young and old alike. I play with my 6 year old son all the time in our showroom, and he always beats me! We have been selling FABI Foosball tables since we first opened in 1999 and have had a positive experience selling them. We don’t have people bringing them back because it broke in the first 6 months of play. They are strong and durable and will stand up to the test of time! We have one on display in our showroom and we would welcome anyone who wants to come in a check it out and have a game!

Who are you when you’re at your Best?

The Breard Family

This was a quote I heard today – Who are you when you are at your best? I really made me stop and think. Who am I when I’m at my best? Am I at work? A parent? A wife? A daughter? Now I’m really thinking – who am I when I’m at my best?

The first thing that came to mind was when I’m at work. I am an expert in my industry and am proud of my work and accomplishments. But is that really when I’m at my best? Next I thought about my family. Really when I think about it, this is when I am at my best. Without my family life being in a good place, every other part of my life goes out of whack.

This lead me to think about family vs work. Most of us have incredibly busy lives – I know I do and it’s sometimes hard to balance work and home. So many of us have both husband and wife working, usually with a commute of some sort. Since we all have to eat at the end of the day, its usually family life that suffers. But family is (or should be) the most important thing. What good does a 2 week vacation in some tropical destination do for you and your family if the other 50 weeks a year you’re not connecting in a meaningful way?

Family time whether it’s husband and wife, with kids or without, brothers, sisters, parents or grandparents should be about connecting. What better way to connect than over a friendly game of 8 ball? How about a recreational game of darts? Foosball? Shuffleboard? Table Tennis? You don’t have to be good at any of these games in order to enjoy them. Heck, you don’t even need to keep score! But its a great way to get the conversation going! It’s amazing the words that flow when we aren’t stuck in front of a TV or playing the latest video game.

In closing I will leave you with this thought. Do you want your family to remember playing games and having fun, great conversations and laughing together or remember playing endless video games, watching TV and waiting for the most important people in their lives to stop being so busy doing things that when it comes down to it won’t matter in the long run?

I’m interested to know what family games you remember playing growing up and what games you are playing now! Send me an email or comment below.

The Game Room Expert Kelly: The Gift of Time

Father’s Day is soon approaching! What better time to spend some time with dad that to shoot a game of pool or darts? When I was in my late teens and early 20’s, playing pool was my passion. I played everyday, every chance I got. When Father’s Day came around, I never knew what to get my dad. He had enough shirts/ties/socks etc. had everything he needed to play a round of golf, doesn’t wear any jewelry or cologne and he already had a good size collection of glasses I had given him with a bottle of wine or rum! What to do? Well I decided the best gift I could give, would be to spend some time with his daughter! So we took my car, went out for dinner, then went to whichever pool hall was my favourite at the time. I shudder to think about some of the places I took him over the years, but he always seemed happy just to be out with me.

These days, everyone has everything they could ever ask for – at least that’s the way it seems. This Father’s Day, instead of buying dad something that will just sit in his closet or drawer, why not give him something he can’t ever have enough of – time with his son or daughter! If you have a pool table at home, even youngsters can challenge dad to a game of pool. It doesn’t have to be a proper game of 8 ball – why not try our new Poker Pool cards which includes games like Go Fish or Texas Hold’em, to be played right on the table!  You never know – dad just might be a pool shark! This is all about spending time with your dad and getting to know him as well as letting him get to know you too. What better way than over a game of pool!

If you have a dartboard, we have something similar with Dart Cards. If outdoor games are more your style, we have a variety of things from horseshoes to badminton. Whatever your interests are, I’m sure your dad will be more than willing to play! You will remember playing these games with him for the rest of your life, just like I remember playing pool with my dad! He’ll remember it too – if he’s anything like my dad, he’ll bring it up with everybody first chance he gets!

Now I must admit, that although I played quite a bit of pool and was getting quite good, my dad usually won. Not that I was keeping score or anything 🙂 I would love to hear your stories about what you did with your dad this Father’s Day!

The Game Room Expert Kelly: No Batteries Required

With the age of video games, a great game of backgammon sure is refreshing! I remember playing Crazy 8’s with my parents when I was about 5 years old and I couldn’t even hold the cards properly! My mom taught me to play Cribbage when I was about 7 years old, and we still play every once in a while! Scott & I are both teaching our son to play checkers as well as Go Fish and the big plus is that he will talk to us about his day. He may be little, but many things happen during his day that are just as important as the things that happen to me. So he talks (and talks and talks – Scott says he gets it from his mother!) and he learns to think about cause and effect of the moves he makes or the cards he plays.

At Hot Shots, we are committed to family time. We are committed to providing games that everyone can play, from the young to the old. A deck of cards offers thousands of different games – Euchre, Crazy 8’s, Go Fish, Bridge plus so many others! Cribbage, Checkers, Backgammon, Crokinole, Shut The Box, Poker Chips – these are all games that you need to interact to play. And that gets people talking! Playing pool or darts is another great way to relax and unwind with friends and family.

So it’s time to shut off the computer games and get out the cards! Tell me what your favourite game is and how often you play! I want to hear from you!

Kelly’s Hot Game Room Thoughts: Games for Family

So we have just passed our 12th Christmas at Hot Shots! Many things have changed, but some things have stayed the same. Our motto from almost the beginning has been “Games the entire family will enjoy!”. This still rings true today and it shows more and more in the products we choose to carry. This season we did very well with games like Shut the Box and Crib Wars which we seem to sell out of almost every year. We had some new additions to our best sellers this year which included Dart Cards and our table tennis supplies (which we have expanded on in 2010). What got me thinking was that these games were big sellers and they were all games that promoted family time! In this day and age, where time is at a premium, it is nice to see that families are still trying to come up with games and activities that everyone can participate in and enjoy.

This year we had many families coming in and the kids were the ones who were encouraged to “find something for Dad” or “lets pick out something that Mom will like”. Every year we sell families pool tables that are delivered right at Christmas as a family gift. To me, this is a great gift in so many ways. Not only will the tweens and teens get some fun out of it, the adults will too! And when there is a family get together this holiday, maybe everyone will gather around for a rousing game of Poker Pool or Billiard Golf – both of which are so much more fun when they are played with 4 or more players!

So whether you are playing cards, pool, darts, shuffleboard, foosball or hosting the Family Olympics of a combination of all (as we have had customers do!), we hope you enjoyed your holiday season with the friends and family that you love. We would love to hear stories of a game you played this Christmas! Pictures are great too!