Foosball.com Forums
Chat Area => Archives => Topic started by: ElSnapitan on December 28, 2008, 11:30:37 PM
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hi all. Just bought my first Foos Table and I have some questions about it. The person I bought it from said they paid 600.00 for it 2 years ago. It is in great shape. Has solid bars, bearings and men. It made almost completely from solid wood. The playing field looks to be a plexi material mounted on a plyboard-esk board. It has absolutely no markings on it as to what company actually made it. I have taken some pics and I hope that somebody can give me some insight about this table.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/ElSnapitan/IMG_3241.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/ElSnapitan/IMG_3242.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/ElSnapitan/IMG_3243.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/ElSnapitan/IMG_3244.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/ElSnapitan/IMG_3246.jpg
Thanks,
Snappy
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I really hope you didn't buy that table. By the looks of it it looks like an older Sportscraft table. These tables are slick, the men design is bad, the rods are junk, the bearings are bad. The table looks light as a feather, and has cheap plastic ball returns..... all in all it looks like an OLD Sportscraft Model which should be sold for $100 or less. (I frankly wouldn't pay for the table)
This is just my opinion. If you're looking for a table just to hit the ball around on, and don't really have any interest in competitive play then it should meet your needs. I really hope you either paid little to nothing for this table, or that you have this guys number.... because I would tear him a new one.
That all being said, I bought a table with the intent of practicing and becoming competitive. If you want a table to play with friends, or just for fun... then you might still be satisfied with this table if you got a great price.
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El S,
Now I wouldn't go on the warpath too quickly now and firebomb the former owner's house, as Nate "Syronis" suggests, especially since whomever you bought it from probably was just as unaware of how different those tables are from "tournament" quality boxes. I've known quite a few foosers who started on their recroom or cousin's or friend's tables like these, as well as at a lot of the old local teen centers, who graduated to playing on "tour" tables. Didn't seem to hurt them .... welcome to foos, brother!
If you just want to have this table for some fun at home, with some friends, it should be good enough. Light-duty as the table may be, if you don't have too many big "bruisers" playing on it, it should be passable as a recreational table. Looking for a good, "sticky" ball would probably immensely help playability. Are the rods solid, or hollow? Solid rods would probably help the weight of the table, but also increase the wearing or rubbing away rate of the bearings.
Basic pull and push shots, pull and push kicks and the palm roll versions of these shots should still be executable on the table, now that you have it. Not knowing your skill level, these basic shots are where the ball is set below the rod, not pinned. And practicing these shouldn't hurt you too much with using these shots on other tables like a Tornado, TS, Warrior, Dynamo or Sportcraft.
Executing pinned shots, however, whether using open or close-hand, including the standard rollover, or "snake", would really depend on your ability to stay on top of the ball with that "ugh!" squared toe, and the ball's ability to be pinned. So find yourself some good balls that you can pin either on the front (heel toe) or the back (back pin with the front of that "ugh"! square toe). I've always recommended practicing bank shots from a front (heel toe) or a back pin, so being able to pin would be paramount if you wish to practice these slightly "fancier" but fun shots.
Practicing classic brush down, brush up, and square wall passes will probably NOT transfer readily to the "tour" tables you'll see at bars and poolhalls, however, because of the figures' toe shape. Practicing "stick" or "lane" passes (perpendicular to the rods), however, as well as bounce passes off either wall, should carry over pretty well, and won't hurt your game on the other tables.
Hey! It's your first, and if you didn't pay too much for it, what the heck...have a ball. Keep those screws tight, and replace the men and fastening nut and bolt the moment they start loosening or breaking, because that's one lowlight of that old 70's TS & German table design. And be sure keep those rods lubed with good hobby silicone oil, to minimize wear on the bearings and rods. When practicing by yourself, you might want to rotate and practice evenly on both sides of the table.
I actually used to play a bit on similar outdoor tables with an even slicker glass surface at local movie drive-thru concession arcades in Eastern Ohio, Western PA, and Southeastern PA. Bringing an old yellow Dynamo or similar "sticky" ball to replace the hard plastic miniature soccer balls really helped the playability and fun of the tables, way back in the day, 78/79/80/81. Learning and adjusting to shoot both back pin and front pin shots on those square toes made switching to pin shots on a bar TS greentop or a student union Deutsch-Meister so easy, it was pretty much a joke! And learning to pass, as a lefty, mind you, on the 5bar from a backpin with those toes really helped later on the tournament tables.
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Good feedback fooskillah...
ElSnapitan... The Cabinet actually looks pretty durable and isn't too bad looking in general. It's a lot better than some other generic low end home tables!
Here's a link to pickup a few "foosballs" that might improve playability of that table if you are looking to get a "more controlled" style of play => http://shop.foosball.com/soccerfoosball.html (note: i'm NOT recommending this soccer ball, but other balls linked from this page will help quite a bit).
The rod size looks like a standard rod size to which you could experiment about a bit and try to put on some of the better controlling foosball men such as the ones on this page => http://shop.foosball.com/tornado.html
Just curious... who is using the table the most? what are their ages? Jim
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congrats on buying your first table...you can have fun on any table and learn a bunch of things...those of us here would have recommened something else but you know, the most important thing is that you like playing, that you like playing enough to buy your own table
if you continue to like the game you may want to upgrade your table some day and if that happens, make sure you come back to this site for help...lots of table purchasing information given out on this site
I was into really expensive audio equipment...I owned speakers as an example that cost over $10,000 and this was not the top of the line, it was the second to lowest in the line of speakers ... theirs went up to $80,000 at the time (now way over 100k)...Kharma was the name of the company...many many companies no one has ever heard of making unbeliebable equipment
for the people who use this kind of equipment Boze is considered junk...it doesn't even register on the entry level of high-end but they are marketed well and many people buy it thinking they are getting the best of the best
when I had (and have) friends or family who have gone out to purchase their own stuff and didn't ask me and they are excited because they bought Boze or whatever, then I am excited with them and ask how they like it and they are always stoked
it really doesn't matter if there is something better, there is always something better, the thing is, do you enjoy it...if they love music or movies and their new equipment makes them happy, isn't that ALL that really matters
it is easy when you are crazy about expensive audio equipment to loose sight of the reason for the equipment to begin with and that is the music
serious fooser can do the same thing and forget it is about the game and having fun
again, Congratulations, keep us up to date on how it is going and if we can do anything to help, let us know
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thanks for the replies guys. I was trying to find a playfield that I could swap out for the one that is in there now ( and get some sticky balls hehe) i can't stand the soccer balls lol. Are most of the playfields the same size for the most part?
As far as who plays on it, that would be me and my 3 kids ages 13,12 and 10 right now.
I will have to check the rods again to see if they are solid or not. They didn't feel hollow like some of the others I was checking out in the stores but I will let you know. I know they are pretty sturdy but now that I think of it I think I remember that they are hollow. I was switching the men around on the rods. Some of them were backwards.
Thanks for the info and if I can replace the playing field any advice would be helpful.
Thanks again,
Snappy
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well... I would kind of have to agree with Nate on this one. Hopefully you didnt pay too much for this table. No more than 200 or 250. You can get a Tornado home model that will last alot longer for around 500 or 600. Especially with kids that are grown enough to exert some force on the table. I think those rods are solid, I am pretty sure I have seen that table being sold at Dick's Sporting Goods stores. As far as replacing the surface... you might be S.O.L.
Even if you were able to replace the surface, what type of surface would you replace it with? I think a Tornado table surface goes for about 300. If that is the case I dont think it would be worth it...
If you are just playing for fun then the table should serve its purpose... just get some better foosballs.
Oh and for those that dont know... the ball return... (lol) is EXACTLY the same kind used on the Warrior table... haha