Topic: Catching foosball fever... again!

[man caveman]

thanks for the reply Alan. I picked this thread because it was relevant to what I wanted to talk about, my new table and foosball fever. I am not good but I always liked foosball. didn't get to play to much though. in high school we went to the local college rec center to play but the college guys would kick us off after awhile. then in my nightlife days there was one nightclub that had a coin op in the back. when we went there I would spend a couple hours on it. a lot of our local hangouts had pool tables but the night club was the only one with a foosball table. my brother gave me that p.o.s spalding table with no legs sitting on a card table.I thought about getting a slate pool table which I'm a lot better at by the way but didn't want to go through the hassle of getting it down to my mancave. seems like tornado is the most recommended table on this forum but out of my price range. I've been searching craigslist for months and found the good deals on low and midrange tables go quick. I researched  Jupiter "what little I could find" and made a quick  decision to buy it. my first rules to  my teenaged kids were no spinning and do not break the wooden men! the table was set up for freeplay but you still had to push the machanism to get the balls out and the counter had over 1800 on it so the wood players must be strong. the playing surface seems ok but the balls would wobble around so i bought some new  36mm cork balls and they wouldn't fit past the stop so i removed it and also had to shim the tray so you could pull the balls out. the bearings were dry but seem to be ok after cleaning the rods and some silicone. speaking of silicone,a little trick i learned from air soft if you want liquid silicon and don't want to send off for it if you have a local hobby shop they have small bottles of silicone. rc cars use silicone in there shock absorbers. thanks to the vets and novices like me on this forumn for all the info. me my kids and there freinds are enjoying foosball this winter.
p.s. alan i'm by no means a bussiness man but did you ever think about an ebay store to list your tables. search for jupiter or bonzini on ebay and you get nothing.

[Alan Cribbs]

M.C.,

We have a niche market that focuses on a clientele that is more prone to detailed research due to the base cost of each unit. What started out as a "hobby business" 15 years ago has steadily grown with a cautious approach. Our dealer network (brick and mortar stores) are limited and we have restricted "internet sales partners". While some may think this restricts overall sales, it affords us quality sales in terms of customer satisfaction and "word-of-mouth" referrals. You typically do not find many Bonzini's on E-Bay or Craig's list. Active players may attribute to 4%-5% of product sales annually. Most customers are looking for a table that will remain attractive in the home and stand the test of time. The business has come at a cost as far as maintaining my own playing skills, but has been very rewarding in building a positive image for the product and the players with their charity work.