Topic: Is this the future of foosball?

[Daniel]

Free foosball
http://www.foozi.co.za/index.html

Looks like it working check out these numbers over 1300 tables in 800 different venues.  I think they have done this in just a few years.  They are holding tournament and starting leagues.  This is in south Africa but if does well might it take over?  If it gets more people playing foos bring it on.

[JimWaterman]

I think it has a lot of promise!  It's similar to a concept Larry Davis was brainstorming about a few years ago!
Here's hoping there will be foosball tables in every school, library, ballfield, airport, fastfood joint,  etc...

[foozkillah]

Free foosball
http://www.foozi.co.za/index.html
Looks like it working check out these numbers over 1300 tables in 800 different venues.  I think they have done this in just a few years.  They are holding tournament and starting leagues.  This is in south Africa but if does well might it take over?  If it gets more people playing foos bring it on.

That's exactly what I've been following and trying to convince our Shanghai Fred down here in South Florida, before he returns to Shanghai, China in a few days.  The morons that be for North American foosball sponsorships (I mean all of them, except Brendan's Warrior push) basically were too busy, too full of themselves, and too marketing-retarded.  If your org basically asks for a sponsorship deal or program, from a logical corporate choice, national or global, ALL THEY CAN DO IS SAY NO.

Foozi's braintrust basically asked a "nondescript, obscure" corporation that matches: Coca Cola Corporation.  They said yes.  And when someone like them with that kind of promotion muscle says yes, you go from 50 tables in a few venues to what you have presently.

The opposite, which has happened to the birthplace of professional foosball (HERE, duhh) showcases how stupid and self-centered and pea-brained foosball on a national scale has been here for over 2 decades.  After observing and supporting Foozi there, and Australia NZ, too , I believe, Coke Corp could come here and make everyone forget all other tables.  I hope they do.

[Daniel]

Become a fan of there facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Edenvale-South-Africa/Foozi-the-worlds-first-foosball-table-advertising-platform/153164333131?ref=ts

[raithza]

Interesting.. Haven't seen one of their tables around but will keep a look out. What are the tables like?

EDIT: There are about 20 venues listed in Stellenbosch where I stay - most of them are in residences where I can't go, but the foosball table in Aandklas is notoriously ***ty, though I haven't been there in +- 2 months so it might have been replaced.  It seems as though it's just a list of all places with foosball tables though...

[Daniel]

Even if the table is not the best just the idea of lots of new fooser trying this game for free sounds great.  This might just be a great beginner table.  This is what we need lots of new players.

[WillD92]

It would be cool if they were water proof too!  Are they?

[foozkillah]

It would be cool if they were water proof too!  Are they? 

They definitely are both beer-spill-proof and liquor-spill-proof.  HAHAHA... The purveyor, bar owner, venue owner, etc. would just have to keep the plxglass-top clear and free of smudges.  And aerials could be fun again, if they raised that top... sidestepping the problem of showoff idiots shooting aerials continuously off the table.

[foozidamon]

Hi all

My name is Damon - I'm the chief negotiator, marketer and overall nice guy from Foozi.

It's great to see such a lot of interest and support from the foosball in community. South Africa is pretty soccer crazy, and when we noticed that foosball is such a popular sport, but players are still paying for it, we thought we could really try something unique. The concept is based on the fact that a soccer table is quite a large piece of equipment in a room, and players (and spectators) can spend hours literally staring at it as a game goes on. Seemed like a great opportunity for potential advertisers to create a positive brand experience for players in an enjoyable environment, and cover the cost of the machine and the games!

We place the tables in high-traffic social areas, where young people are likely to congregate and this allows advertisers to reach an attractive target market. As far as we can tell, this is the first time in the world that this approach has been taken. The venues get the tables for free, the players play for free and the advertiser covers the cost.

Given that the product is essentially an advertising platform as well as a foosball table, we've had to come up with a new patented design that optimizes branding inside and out, without losing too much playability. Also, since the tables are free to play, and the venue gets it for free, we've attempted to make the table as strong as possible to take a lot of potential abuse in certain venues. It's led to the design of elements that are relatively unique: full sides, strengthened glass top, solid steel bars, etc. We've only launched relatively recently, and we don't have very many tables made, but we've had a lot of very positive response from venues, advertisers and players. One of the problems we've had is in keeping costs down to ensure that the advertising costs are low enough to entice advertisers to use this platform. This has led to some shortcuts being taken in terms of playability - for a newbie or ordinary casual player, the table is perfect, but we've found that some of the pro guys feel it's a bit stiff (which it is). We're working on a pro table at the moment, which will iron out all issues, and won't be used for advertising.  For now, though, our model is based on advertising and cost is a big driver to make that work.

In terms of the numbers mentioned here: it's not exactly right: We have over 800 venues signed up to receive 1300 free Foozi tables. But we don't place the tables until we have the advertisers, so we've only made about 100 tables in total (so far). Coke, Powerade and EA Sports have used our ables for small campaigns, but we're still looking for a large-scale advertiser to really take this to the world on a large scale. Somebody mentioned a venue in Stellenbosch, South Africa called Aandklas - they don't have one of our tables yet, but they are one of the venues signed up to receive one as soon as we have an advertiser.

For anybody in the Stellenbosch area, we will have 5 tables in the small student shopping centre (called the Neelsie) from the end of October where you can check them out, enjoy a few free games and let us know your thoughts.

Thanks for your time. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or queries on damon@foozi.co.za.

Cheers
Damon
FOOZI

[raithza]

I assume it's you guys that will be organising the tournament in the Neelsie then?  Is there any place in stellenbosch that has already received a table, so I can get used to it before then?

[foozidamon]

Hi Raithza

We're not organising the tournament, we're just providing the tables.

We don't have any other tables in Stellenbosch yet, however 5 tables will remain in the Neelsie after the tournament (sponsored by Klippies and Cola).

I don't think any of the entrants will have had experience on a Foozi table, as almost all the tables used so far have been in Johannesburg.

Regards
Damon

[raithza]

Ah ok. Had a look on your site and it seems the tables have square feet... suits me perfectly

Also - thanks for your initiative in promoting foos in SA & stellenbosch - great stuff and I wish you the best for foozi!

[raithza]

The tables are in the Neelsie now - had a few games on them & would like to share some thoughts.

First of all - the tables look amazing! definitely the coolest looking tables I've seen. Besides that I could really feel the advertising sinking in subliminally . Seriously though, I think that any advertiser would love this kind of exposure.  The tables are solid as can be, I think if you rolled them off a flight of stairs you could still play with them after.  Also saw a lot of new players (as apparent by the amount of spinning) giving the tables a go which is good for the sport in the long run.  From the viewpoint of a new player/advertiser/venue owner, it's a great idea and executed very well.

HOWEVER: anyone who is more experienced than a complete beginner at foosball will not like these tables.  There are a LOT of issues with the playability and it's not just limited to the rods being stiff.  A few notes:
- Rods are way too heavy, to the extent that playing on these tables is quite a workout!
- the balls are bad, too light, and their grooved shape makes it hard to do any kind of control. Forget about pinning the ball.  Higher quality balls is probably the easiest way to make a major improvement in playability. Why not have 1 or 2 high quality balls in the tables rather that 9 crappy ones?
- the goal area needs some work - balls rolling laterally accross the goal tend to roll in without any way of stopping them (short of lifting the table)
- The reach of the 3-rod's side men is way to much (they reach to halfway across the goal!)
- there is about 3/4cm of space which the man on the 5-rod closest to the wall can't reach- this makes wallpasses stupidly easy and completely unblockable. It's all I'm going to be doing on my mid bar! 100% pass rate, ez!
- The tables are free play - which makes it hard to play pickups. i.e., if me and my friend go to play foosball, we'll generally challenge a table, by putting the R2 on the table. Having to pay for a game gives that game value, and puts a timer on the game rather than letting 2 people play indefinitely if they want to.

I can continue for quite a while with the table's problems as a player, but the point stands that accomplished players will not warm to these tables.  If a venue I play at replace their tables with one of the Foozi tables, I will stop going there to foos - even though the foozi's are freeplay.  You will DEFINITELY need a 'pro' version of your tables if you want to gain any kind of acceptance within the foosball community.  I understand that this will increase the price of the tables - but, you can make them coin-op to compensate.  I mentioned earlier the problems with a freeplay table in a bar/public environment.  Still, I do see a large market for the freeplay, cheaper table, even if only to get people to START playing foos

I think you can still distribute your pro-version under the advertising model, with the coin-op income used to offset the cost of the table.  At the end of the day you will still have your exposure for your advertiser, venue's will be happier to stock your table, and players will be happier with a table offering higher playability.  I'm sure it won't be hard to find people to consult for what the tables need to be acceptable for competition play. I can even see Foozi tables, marketed properly, overtaking Garlando's as the official comp tables in SA, depending of course on the quality of the pro version.

Sorry if I came across a bit harsh, I am biased as a player though .  I'm looking forward to the tournament.. You can find me in the finals, I'll be the guy winning

[foozidamon]

Hi Raithza

Thanks for the comments. We've noted most of them from the more skilled players and are busy implementing the changes at the moment, which we'll be implementing across all our tables. These include:

Different balls (top of our list!) - In fact if the Neelsie tables were sent 2 weeks later, they would have the new balls inside.
Different positioning of the men on the bar (which will fix the 3-man bar problem and gaps on the sides)
Limit to goalkeeper movement
Changing the handles
And, hopefully, putting lights inside the tables...

Regarding the rods, that's not a problem we've heard before. Normally, if they're well greased (Vaseline works brilliantly) they're extremely smooth. Also, the ball rolling into the goal sounds like a balance problem - the feet at the base of the tables can be individually raised or lowered to level the tables. It's not a problem we've encountered before, and we've had the SA champ and no. 1 ranked SA league player testing our tables...

[foozidamon]

Regarding the "R2 for the challenge concept", we've found that people still do that in most venues, put R2 on the table to reserve the next game... and then just keep the R2. Players seem to respect that method...

We will definitely be releasing a pro table, which will only be available to purchase and won't have any branding, other than limited Foozi branding. These will probably be launched after the Fifa World Cup. The coin mechanism is a relatively inexpensive optional extra.

Good luck for the tournament! We really do appreciate all comments, and we try to implement most reasonable recommendations as fast as we can!

Thanks
Damon