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Table football

Overview

Table football, also known by many other names, is a table-top sport that is based on association football (soccer).

Although patents for similar games may exist from as far back as the 1890s, the game of Table Football as we know it today was first invented in 1922 and patent

Patent

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention....

ed in 1923 (UK patent no. 205,991 application: dated 14 October 1922 and accepted: 1 November 1923) by an Englishman by the name of Harold S.

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Is there any table soccer game apart from foosball? because a friend of mine told me he use to play a board game bought by his aunty when he was young...

So I was looking to purchase a used Foosball table off of Craigslist.I know I want one goalie and banked corners like I used to play on (deutscher Mei...

Encyclopedia

Table football, also known by many other names, is a table-top sport that is based on association football (soccer).

History

Although patents for similar games may exist from as far back as the 1890s, the game of Table Football as we know it today was first invented in 1922 and patent

Patent

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention....

ed in 1923 (UK patent no. 205,991 application: dated 14 October 1922 and accepted: 1 November 1923) by an Englishman by the name of Harold S. Thornton of North London

North London

North London is the northern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes.-Boundary Commission:At its widest extent, North London is the part of Greater London that is north of the River Thames...

(1895-1951).

The concept was conceived after Harold had been to a Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English professional football club based in Tottenham, North London which currently plays in the Premier League...

football match (he was an avid supporter). He wanted to provide a game that replicated football that could be played at home. The inspiration came from a box of matches; by laying the matches across the box he had formed the basis of his game.

His uncle (United States resident Louis P. Thornton, who lived in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...

) visited Harold and took the inspiration back to the States where it was patented in 1927 (United States Patent Office No. 1,615,491). The patent eventually expired.

In 2002, the International Table Soccer Federation

International Table Soccer Federation

The International Table Soccer Federation is a non-profit organisation based in France that promotes table soccer. The ITSF endorse Soccer Tables that meet requirements for international competition from manufacturers such as Garlando, Roberto Sport, Bonzini, Tornado and Tecball.-Current...

(ITSF) 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

International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on 23 June 1894. Its membership consists of the 205 National Olympic Committees....

(IOC) and General Association of International Sport Federation (GAISF).

The sport

To begin the game, 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 center of the table. The initial serving side is decided with by coin toss. Players attempt to use figures mounted on rotating bars to kick the ball into the opposing goal. Expert players have been known to move balls at speeds up to 56 kmh (35 mph) in competition.

Rules consider "360-degree shots" or "spinning" (using the palm of the hand to swiftly spin the bar all around, instead of using wrist strokes to kick the ball with a bar-mounted figure) to be illegal. However, shots short of a full 360-degree rotation are legal.

The winner is determined when one team scores a predetermined number of goals, typically five, ten, or eleven in competition. When playing Bonzini competitions the target numbers of goal is seven.

Table football tables can vary in size, but a typical table is about 120 cm

Centimetre

A centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the current SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of...

(4 ft) long and 61 cm (2 ft) wide. The table usually contains 8 rows of foos men, which are plastic, metal, wooden, or sometimes carbon-fibre figures mounted on horizontal metal bars. Each team of 1, 2, or 3 human players controls 4 rows of foos men.

The arrangement is standard. Looking from left to right on one side of the table, the configuration is as follows:

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

Table football can also be played with four people in "doubles" style, in which there are teams of two people on either side. In this scenario, one player can control the two defensive rows and the other team member uses the midfield and attack rows. In informal matches, three or four players per side are also common.

Competition

Table football is often played for fun in pubs, bars, workplaces, schools, and clubs with few rules. Table football 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

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...

. But the professional tours and bigtime money events began when the founding father of modern professional table soccer, Lee Peppard of Seattle, Washington

Washington

Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

announced a "quarter million dollar tour" in 1975. Peppard went on to award several million dollars in prize monies, and, ever since his Tournament Soccer Organization went out of business in 1981, several organizations 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

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

every four years. In 2006, Austria, Germany and Belgium took the Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively.

Tables

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

Garlando

Garlando is a company based in Italy that produces pocket billiards and table football tables.-History:Garlando was founded officially in 1954 at Spinetta Marengo – a small village near Alessandria – by Renato Garlando, the father of the present managing director, already in the...

, "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

Maurizio Cattelan

Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian artist born in Padova, Italy, in 1960. He is probably best known for his satirical and controversial sculptures, particularly La Nona Ora , depicting the Pope John Paul II struck down by a meteorite....

for a piece called Stadium. It takes 11 players to a side. Another unique table football 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.

Names

The most common English names are table football, footzy, bar football and foosball, though table soccer is also used. Among French-style players it is known as baby-foot .
Foosball can also be spelled "foozball", "foozeball", "fooseball" and (though rarely) "fuseball".

Here is a list of its name in several countries:

Region	Name
Arab countries Arab world The Arab World refers to Arabic-speaking countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast...	widely known as كرة قدم (Korah Fatel) in Arabic, which means "rolling football." It is also called بيبي فوت (baby-foot) in some Arabic regions, including Palestine and Jordan.
Argentina Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...	metegol
Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...	Wuzler (also spelled Wuzzler), playing table football is called wuzeln
Belgium Belgium The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...	Tafelvoetbal/Kicker (after the brand of foosball tables)
Bolivia Bolivia Bolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....	Futbolín
Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...	Pebolim or totó
Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...	Футбол на маса ("table football"), also джаги
Canada Canada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...	usually foosball, but often referred to as jitz which initiated from the Italian word "gitoni" which means foosball or table soccer. People called it gitz for short and spelled it "jitz" for elegance. In the province of Quebec, it is known as baby-foot.
Chile Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...	Taca-Taca
China People's Republic of China The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...	桌上足球 (table football)
Costa Rica Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...	Futbolín
Croatia Croatia Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...	Stolni nogomet
Czech Republic Czech Republic The Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...	fotbálek, regionally (mostly in Moravia) also kalčo (from "kalit" a slang for "to play")
Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...	Bordfodbold (lit. "table football")
Estonia Estonia Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...	Lauajalgpall
France France France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...	Baby-foot or Babyfoot
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...	Table football is commonly known as Tischfußball, Tischkicker or Kicker in German.
Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....	Ποδοσφαιράκι ("Small footbal")
Guatemala Guatemala Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...	futío
Hungary Hungary Hungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...	Csocsó
Iceland Iceland The Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...	Fótboltaspil
India India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...	Fusball
Iran Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...	فوتبال دستی (handheld football)
Israel Israel Israel officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...	כדורגל שולחן (table football)
Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...	calcio balilla, bigliardino or biliardino (from "biglia", little ball) or even calcetto (less frequent, since "calcetto" is commonly used to indicate Five-a-side football Five-a-side football thumb\|240px\|alt=Men playing football on artificial grass pitch.\|Five-a-side game on astroturf pitch.Five-a-side football is a variation of association football in which each team fields five players , rather than the usual eleven. Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller... ), and in particular areas fubalino
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	テーブル・フットボール, loanword Gairaigo Gairaigo is Japanese for "loan word" or "borrowed word", and indicates a transliteration into Japanese. In particular, the word usually refers to a Japanese word of foreign origin that was not borrowed from Chinese. Japanese also has a huge number of loan words from Chinese, accounting for a... , pronounced teburu futtoboru
Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...	Galda futbols
Lithuania Lithuania Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...	Stalo futbolas
Malta Malta Malta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed European country in the European Union. The Southern European island nation is an archipelago that includes the inhabited islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino, along with a number of smaller, uninhabited islands...	Ċomba
México Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...	futbolito
Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...	Tafelvoetbal
Other Spanish Spanish language Spanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula... -speaking countries	In some other Spanish-speaking countries the terms fútbol de mesa or futbolito are used, although the latter might also refer to football played on a smaller field.
Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...	widely known as پٹّی (patti) in Urdu Urdu Urdu is a Central Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the two official languages of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of five Indian states... , which means "pitch or strip"
Peru Peru Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...	fulbito de mesa or futbolín
Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...	piłkarzyki, which roughly translated means "small football players"
Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...	Matraquilhos or matrecos
Romania Romania Romania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...	Fusbal or Fotbal de masa
Russia Russia Russia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...	кикер or настольный футбол
Serbia Serbia Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...	Stoni fudbal
Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...	Ročni nogomet
Slovakia Slovakia The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...	Kalčeto
South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...	Tata box/Ma tata/Foosball
Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably... , Colombia Colombia Colombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean... and Costa Rica Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...	futbolín (In Spanish autonomy of Galicia, where is spoken a language linked with Portuguese, it's also called matraquiños and ferriños)
Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...	Töggelichaschte
Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...	手足球(桌上足球)
Thailand Thailand The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia.It is bordered to the north by Laos and Burma, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Burma...	ฟุตบอลโต๊ะ (table football)
Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...	Langırt
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...	table football
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	foosball
Uruguay Uruguay Uruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...	futbolito
Venezuela Venezuela Venezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...	Futbolín
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers...	Slug

Robotic players

Robot

A robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent. In practice, it is usually an electro-mechanical machine which is guided by computer or electronic programming, and is thus able to do tasks on its own...

s designed to play table soccer by roboticists at the University of Freiburg

University of Freiburg

The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Hapsburg dynasty as the second university in...

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. . 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

Technical University of Denmark

The Technical University of Denmark was founded in 1829 as the 'College of Advanced Technology' . The initiative was taken by the renowned physicist Hans Christian Ørsted who also served as its principal until his death in 1851...

. The robot uses a camera mounted above an ordinary table. .

Featured in literature, art, and entertainment

Table football figures prominently as a Scottish bar sport in the short story "Kingdom of Fife" by Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short films.-Biography:...

.

Table football has been the subject of movies such as Foos: Be the Greatest and Longshot

Longshot

Longshot is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero best known as a member of the X-Men. He was created by writer Ann Nocenti and artist Art Adams.-Publication history:Longshot debuted in a six-part, eponymous 1985-1986 mini-series that parodied television...

. The German movie Absolute Giganten
Absolute Giganten
Absolute Giganten is a 1999 German language film, directed by Sebastian Schipper. Set in Hamburg, it depicts how a group of young Germans react to the prospect of one of them leaving for ever, and involves drink, V8 engines, and an extraordinary game of table-football.It was Schipper's first movie...

features a table football game on film. In the award-winning Italian movie Il Postino
Il Postino
Il Postino is a 1994 Italian language film directed by Michael Radford.The film was originally released in the U.S. as The Postman, a straight translation of the Italian title...

, which is set in the 1950s, the eponymous character of Mario Ruoppolo fell in love at first sight with Beatrice Russo while playing table football. In the 1998 Adam Sandler

Adam Sandler

Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, musician, screenwriter and film producer. He is the founder of Happy Madison Productions, a film production company that also developed the television series Rules of Engagement.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, he went on to...

movie The Waterboy
The Waterboy
The Waterboy is a 1998 American comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. It stars Adam Sandler alongside Henry Winkler, Kathy Bates, Jerry Reed, and Fairuza Balk. Lynn Swann, Lawrence Taylor, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, Paul Wight and Rob Schneider have cameos...

, Kathy Bates

Kathy Bates

Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...

's character refers to American football

American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...

as foosball throughout.

Television shows have also featured table football. The characters Joey Tribbiani

Joey Tribbiani

Joseph Francis "Joey" Tribbiani, Jr. is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends , and the title character in the spin-off, Joey , and is played by Matt LeBlanc.-Background:...

and Chandler Bing

Chandler Bing

Chandler Muriel Bing is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends , played by Matthew Perry.-Background:...

from the Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. The series revolved around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City, who occasionally live together and share living expenses. The series was produced by...

TV show (1994-2004, USA) often play table football. The sitcom featured a Dynamo table in earlier seasons, and later a Tornado (Valley) brand table, each of which were central to many episodes. It was destroyed in The Last One

The Last One

"The Last One" is the series finale of the television situation comedy Friends. The episode serves as the seventeenth and eighteenth episode of season ten; the episode's two parts were classified as two separate episodes. It was written by series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and...

by Monica, when Joey's pets (a chick and duck) are stuck inside. In House
House (TV series)
House, also known as House, M.D., is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The program was co-created by David Shore and Paul Attanasio; Fox officially credits Shore as creator. The show's central character is Dr...

and in Zoey 101
Zoey 101
Zoey 101 was an American live-action situation comedy television series starring Jamie Lynn Spears. The series was originally run as a TEENick show on Nickelodeon, beginning on January 9, 2005....

, table football is played by characters in leisure settings. In an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000, often abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc...

, Dr. Forrester and Frank told how they took a table football table, caulked it, filled it with water, and turned it into a water polo

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. It is the oldest continuous Olympic team sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper with a maximum of six substitutes. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Gameplay involves swimming, players passing the ball...

game.

In the Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...

version of The Sims 2

The Sims 2

The Sims 2 is a 2004 strategic life simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims, which debuted on February 4, 2000. It was first released on September 14, 2004 for Microsoft Windows. A port to Macintosh...

, the player is required to beat the NPC Torin in a game of table football in order to move to the next house.

External links

International and national federations