This Game Is Simple
One Shot And One Pass... That's All You'll Ever Need!
By Foosball Fanatic
This FAQ can be distributed, emailed, faxed and printed by anyone,
anywhere. It will be posted occasionally in alt.sport.foosball. I do not
use a spell checker, and frequently do not make sense. These are my
theories on the art of foosball. I have no scientific studies or data to
back up these ideas but I think you'll find them logical and useful.
YOU ONLY NEED ONE GNARLY SHOT
OK Slick, remember back when you were "wet behind the ears" hanging out at
the old college bar. You posessed over 37 great shots...Like the Pull-Kick
Angle Long, the Push-Me Pull-You Back Pin, the Back Pin to 5-bar
Trickster...Well those shots are all fine and dandy to amuse and amaze
your friends but rarely do they win a serious game of foosball. Perhaps if
there was a freestyle event these shots would dominate but in RL they
suck. Anyways, this game is simple because you only need One Shot! You
need one shot that can be executed into one of the three holes
(short/middle/long or up/middle/down).
You do not need 10 shots. You do not need 3 shots. Why? Because there are
only so many hours in the day and you need to practice, and you need to
become an absolute expert executing your one shot. In a critical match
would you rather execute a shot that you practiced 10,000 times or would
you wiff a shot from your 30 shot repertoire. You need to train your body
to consistanly hammer out your best effort. I'm even against wasting time
practicing a back-up shot. If you have to go to your back-up, it means you
have praticed your "One" shot enough!
WHAT SHOT SHOULD I SHOOT?
If you haven't picked a shot yet, I strongly urge you to choose either the
Pull or the Roll-Over. These two shots win 90% of the major foosball
tournaments and are both fairly easy to learn. It's easier to find pro's
that shoot Pulls and Snakes and you can watch these men and women and
study their form and execution. If you want to stand out in the crowd then
you might choose a Pull-Kick or Push-kick. These are also good shots yet
less popular and harder to master and harder to find pro's for
instruction. And if you really want to make it hard on yourself then
choose a back-pin or a push.
YOU ONLY NEED ONE GROOVY PASS
I still here some pros say you need 10 great passes. This is bullshit and
again a waste of practice time. You need "One" pass aimed at the up or the
down (lane or wall). Greg "Jeep Perrie" taught me everything I needed to
know about passing...One pass with two holes and hit the pass as hard as
you can! Many will disagree but at a (4-4) 5th game situation, the last
thing I want to do is have to pick from 10 marginal passes that have a low
chance of success. I'd much rather look at the two holes, choose up or
down and hammer that red sphere. I've also argued with many no-goods about
the speed of the pass and I say full speed is the only speed. If you are a
soft to medium speed passer, you may dominate at the local level, but you
will get chewed to bits by the Tommy Atkisson's and Johhny Horton's of the
world who have ultra-fast vibrating defences that always get a chunk or
tip of your soft pass. Fast-handed baiters will destroy soft-medium
passers at the higher levels. Pick one Pass! Hammer that Ball!
WHAT PASS SHOULD I USE?
The Brush series is used by 70% of pro playersand can be hit uphill or
downhill. It is a great pass to learn and very effective. The Stick series
is fast and hard and at the lane or the wall and is very effective when
executed and caught properly. Choose either Brush and Stick series and you
will soon become a pro-master ;) No Chips, No middle men, No rookie
downs...these all suck. Near-wall and Far-wall are equally good. The
Far-wall works well because it is less popular and defences aren't as
advanced on that side. I prefer the Near-wall because I'm lazy and hate
reaching over the table 5,000 times to position the ball to practice.
PROBIBILITY THEORY
Foosball is really a game of math percentages. You have the ball, you now
must make a choice...every choice has a percentage chance of success. For
example, I have the ball on the five rod, I have fired 17 left hooks and
made 3 and I've attempted 2 passes and made 1. I've got a 17.6% chance of
scoring the left hook and a 50% chance of making the pass... I think "If I
make the left-hook, the sexy mini-skirted babe playing pool will think I'm
pretty cool" "If I pass, the game will be boring"...So I shoot the 5-bar,
wiff, and loose....AAAUUUGGGHHH - Keep your game simple and effective.
Think about what is working and what is not. Do the things with the
highest chance of overall success.
THIS GAME IS SIMPLE...AND DULL
It really is the basics that win foosball games.
So that's it...Shoot a Pull or a Snake, and do a Stick or Brush passing
series. Keep your game simple and focused. I know it's dull, but the more
you win, the less dull it will become. If you want wild excitement play
2-ball roller ball and rocket ball. Here's 5 examples of top Pros and
there simple styles:
Terry Moore Snake-Brush
Dave Gummison Pull-Stick
Johnny Horton Pull-Stick
Louis Cartright Snake-Brush
Adrian Zamore Pull-Brush
Enjoy Life...Play Foosball More Often
A.D.
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