Tables
A vast number of different tables exist. The table brands used at the ITSF World Championships are the "French-style" Bonzini, "American-style" Tornado, "Italian-style" Roberto Sport and Garlando and the "German-style" Tecball. Other major brands often used in international competitions include Fireball, Kicker, Deutscher Meister, Rosengart, Jupiter Goldstar, Eurosoccer, Löwen-Soccer, Warrior, Lehmacher, Leonhart.
Several companies have created "luxury versions" of table football tables. One of the most notable is the Opus Table created by the Elevenforty company. There was also a 7-meter table created by artist Maurizio Cattelan for a piece called Stadium. It takes 11 players to a side.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 to play. Other tables – notably the Tornado model – 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 between table types is found in the balls, which can be made of wood (cork in the case of traditional French tables), various forms of plastic or rarely even marble and metal, varying the speed of shots a great deal, as well as the "grip" between the man and the ball and the ball and the playing surface.
One of the newest additions to the foosball table family, the Fireball table, is manufactured in China. In 2010 it became an officially-recognized ITSF table, approved for use in internationally-recognized competition.
Read more about this topic: Table Football
Famous quotes containing the word tables:
“O these encounterers, so glib of tongue,
That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,
And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
To every ticklish reader! Set them down
For sluttish spoils of opportunity
And daughters of the game.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood rose, and left it on its stalk?
At rich men’s tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Eddie Felson: Church of the Good Hustler.
Charlie: Looks more like a morgue to me. Those tables are the slabs they lay the stiffs on.
Eddie Felson: I’ll be alive when I get out, Charlie.”
—Sydney Carroll, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Rossen. Eddie Felson (Paul Newman)