No problem, thanks for taking the time to reply.
I was at Mort's last Wednesday, I think the tables they have are the "fridge" T2000 models. They have the same side strips as my table, the white ones. I'm pretty sure the men are the same, they look identical to mine. They have the newer black plastic handles but with everyone using wraps the difference is negligible. They also had the newer thinner bearings, I could tell right away when setting up my pull shot. The new red 5hr tumbled balls were the biggest difference and I posted about those in another recent thread.
Thoughts - I already got some of the newer balls so that's covered. The good news is they play very much the same on my table.
I like the extra rod you get with the thinner bearings, but I did notice they kept coming loose on the table we were playing on (also had a slope to it, not sure if it was warped or just not level but Gummy wouldn't play on it). I think functionally the new bearings make a difference in play so I might want those - my question is do I need both sides or is the thinner inside half compatible with the ones I have? I can handle $50 for this, $100 is pushing the value barrier.
I'm not sure how much of a difference the new side strips will make because I wasn't able to see any so maybe I"ll wait on those. Mine are at least clean, the ones at Mort's all have a bunch of lint, crumbs and crap glued to them with pop and beer. I also just cleaned mine up and reglued any loose or misaligned spots. It takes a bit of detailing to clean those cracks out
![Tongue :P](https://www.foosball.com/forum/Smileys/ichat/tongue.gif)
The rods on my table play like new, they have those fine scratches from a lot of intense game play, but they're all like new other than that, no bends at all, not even the 2 man rods. It defies reason if they weren't heat treated, which is why I kind of wondered if they started playing around with ht rods before the grey mables used the merkels.
I was looking at that light once before. The way my mind works tho is "how can I build that better for half the cost?" so I can put the difference toward other upgrades. Right now the lighting is pretty good, it's centered exactly under a ceiling fan with a light on it. I put some better bulbs in and took off the decorative cover and even modified a few common household items to make a "fooscam" mount that screws onto the threaded rod that holds the cover.
I am super happy with this table, I paid more than your recommended prices but the table is mint and Nancy is an old friend so I didn't try to bargain her down. I also got tons of spare parts, all the tools, and she came over to help clean and set it up. The other thing was availability, I wasn't going to get a better deal in the foreseeable future and our Thursday foos nites had waited long enough.
One last table question. I searched for previous threads on this too and couldn't find it - where is the play counter located? I don't think the coin-op was ever used on my table but I'm curious now because I couldn't find it anywhere on the coin-op mechanism.
As far as practice, I'm doing mostly ball control drills that I've seen on foos vids and working on shot consistency. I never had a good 5 bar, so my focus on learning new things is there. My shots are good, they just need to be reworked a little for consistency (practice drills) and to be more graceful so they aren't so hard on my hand and arm. I always had a "pure power" shooting style that wasn't a problem in my 20s when I was still bulletproof, but now that just hurts way too much when I miss or stub. I'm basically doing the same shots, but trying very hard to loosen and soften my hands on the grip so I can get a better feel for that sweet spot where the shot is perfect and almost effortless. It's a lot of constant internal coaching.
As far as my 5 goes, I had no idea what I was supposed to be practicing at first, so I kind of developed this mis-timed tic tac thing where I greatly vary the distance and timing between tics and look for holes, usually a wall or 1st lane, but any lane will do. I need muscle memory and coordination the most, the transition between the lateral movement and the forward stick or brush is still pretty ugly. It's getting better every week as I practice and that's all I'm looking for right now is consistent improvement.
I'm not teaching myself any new shots and don't plan to. From the front I have what I always called a "turnbolt pull" because of the way I visualize and shoot it. I like to shoot precisely square so it's like a lock bolt or bolt action rifle where the bolt has to fit perfectly square in the opening before the cylinder can turn. I can hit sprays, 7s and go deadman, but rarely find it necessary. I'll basically shoot a long over and over until they virtually sit on it, and then start hitting straights. Even if they leave a straight, if the long is still open I'll go for it just because I have more confidence in it and it makes that statement to a goalie.
My 2nd shot is a pushkick and I shoot it the same way - hard and square and prefer the long hole. Here I use my options more but the ones I use most are the long smash to the far hole, the short smash to a very tight near hole (both look the same til it's over) and a very tight inside dink - all from the same starting position and grip. This is proving to be a little tougher with the new balls so I'm reworking the shot to be able to adjust my timing while looking for the holes on the fly. Kind of a hybrid thing between looking and timing - again, a lot of internal coaching.
From the back it's just more of the same but with a few more tricks and reverses thrown in just in case someone gets my number. I can't purposely do a bank to save my ass, and tbh I don't care that much, I'd rather refine and hone what I've already got.
I know one shot wonders and guys with so many weapons in their arsenal it makes you dizzy and both win and lose games because of it. I'm aiming for a balance, a blueprinted main money shot and a favorite fun shot that's almost as good, better ball control and quicker, more reliable pickup/loose ball skills.
I can tell right now, the hardest thing is going to be keeping the explosiveness of my shots intact while trying to make them more graceful and effortless. This is key tho, because it's not fun when it hurts and the only reason I play this game is for fun. It's fun to face challenges tho and confidence is high that I'll get it figured out. I know some of the older guys here have been thru this same thing, any suggestions would be helpful.
Sorry for rambling, but that's basically the whole story
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