British Foosball Association

How to Play - Player Skills

Basic Attacking

Having played against your mates down the pub, you probably have a fair idea of the basics of scoring goals - Hit the ball hard past the defenders and keeper and towards the goal.

Unfortunately this relies on your opponent leaving you a clear path into the goal... something most defenders learn to cut out very quickly!

The three key aspects of effective shooting from the 3-bar are detailed below:

1. Setting up the Shot
2. Types of Shot
3. Which Shots Work?

Dont underestimate the importance of practicing getting the ball under control with your attacker bar. Take you time to set the ball up in exactly the right position before you shoot, to give you the maximum chance of scoring.

Attacking well is much more than just hitting the ball on target. The most difficult part is often getting the ball to your attack in the first place! Once it is there, shooting well will require control, sideways movement, speed or deception and instinct.

Midfield Passing

Top players usually try to pass the ball from midfield to attack when they get the ball on the 5 bar instead of shooting directly from the midfield. Midfield shots rarely work against good players paying attention. At tournament level, the winner is not necessarily the player with the best shot, but more often the player with the best 5-3 bar passing and defending skills, which in turn create more shooting opportunities and deny those of the opponent.

Control

Better players will invariably control the ball with the attackers (3-bar) before unleashing a shot. This may or may not mean stopping the ball dead, but will usually involve passing between men on the 3-bar at some point, even if just to position the ball in a more convenient place. Being able to control the ball when it comes within range of the 3 bar is one of the essential skills of table football.

Sideways Movement

Once the ball is under control, players will usually move the ball one way or another along the line of the 3-bar in order to create a clear path into the goal. This can involve hitting the ball from one player to another (most common example being the Pull Kick), or a drag with a single player.

Speed vs Deception

'Big shots win tournaments', and whilst big often means fast, it can also mean deceptive. Speed in this sense is usually how fast you can move the ball along the line of your 3-bar, not necessarily how hard you hit it into the goal. Top players all have shots that are set up in the same way but that shoot in very different areas of the goal, and many do this by having a fast shot and mixing in a slower dink every now and then.

Having controlled the ball on the 3-bar there are a number of different shots possible. Here is a very basic guide to getting started with them.

Pull or Push shot (aka. Drag shot)

The idea here is to position the ball directly in front of one side of the goalpost, then move it across the goal and shoot very fast to the far side.

1. Position ball stationary (usually) to either the left or the right of the middle attacker.
2. Pull the bar (or push it if the ball is on the far side!), keeping the man in contact with the ball.
3. Twist your hand so the man’s legs tip back slightly. The ball should push forward as a result, and the man should slip round the back.
4. When the man is firmly behind the ball, give it a good flick of the wrist to hit the ball forward - ideally the final shot involves re-coiling back slightly on the ball (‘squaring off’) to make the ball go straight, rather than spraying off at an angle.

The key to this shot is dragging the ball fast to beat the defender to the other side of the goal.

Variants on this include setting up a drag shot but only pulling it approximately half way across the goal, while the defender is racing to the corner, or hitting a straight shot when the defender is 'cheating' (edging too far over in an attempt to cover your lightning like speed).

Pull/Push Kick (aka. Tap-Bang)

The idea here is to start with the ball wide of the goal (with defenders covering 'wide-man' shot), and then hit it to the middle attacker who hits it into the (hopefully) empty goal.

1. Position the ball just inside either of the wide attackers on the 3 bar. The ball can be either touching the wide man to begin with, or the man can start off slightly away.
2. Pass ball quickly towards the central attacker, who strikes the ball (producing the double noise of a tap followed by the bang of the ball hitting the back of the goal).

The shot basically involves yanking the bar as fast as possible towards (or away from) you, and flicking the wrist at the right time to knock the ball forward. At it’s fastest the shot is all about timing, and top players can play it with their eyes closed.

Variants are used to prevent defenders from specifically marking the exact spot the attacker wants to shoot in. Often a slower near-post tap bang will be mixed in with a fast, far-post tap bang.

The Dink

This starts off looking like a ‘Tap-Bang’, but instead of passing the ball to the middle man, the ball is dragged inside and shot by the wide man. The shot is all about deception, as it requires the defender to move out of the way before the shot can be made. This is often most effective after scaring someone with a quick Tap-Bang.

A variant is the fast wide-man shot, where the ball is dragged at pull (or push) shot speed around the marking defender, and the ball shot to the near post. This requires the defender to be leaving a near post gap.

The Front Pin

This is the shot used by the world’s best player, Frederic Collignon, amongst others. The ball is held in a pinned position under the front attacker, and flicked to one side and shot. The shot's effectiveness is down to the fact that the ball can be moved either way or hit straight. This shot is the most effective shot on the French/Belgian style tables, which have a cork ball making it very easy to pin.

1. The ball starts off with the centre attacker pinning the ball under his feet, with the ball in front of the man.
2. Move the ball to the middle of the goal by releasing the pressure on the ball slightly, and pushing/pulling the bar.
3. Keep pressure down on the ball and roll the man off the ball to either side, and draw the man back behind the line of the ball. The ball should be rolling to the side, in the direction in which the man was rolled off.
4. When the attacker is behind the line of the ball, bring him back behind it and then fire it forward.
5. Variants include starting the shot from either corner, or ‘walking’ the ball back and forth across the goal to create openings in the defence. This is easier on grippier tables (e.g. Tornado, Bonzini) than on most glass-top types.
6. Another variant is to fake and then unleash a rollover shot into the straight hole that the defender has just opened - like a ‘straight’ snake shot with the palm of the hand, but remember to catch the rod before it becomes a ‘spin’.

The Snake

The shot that has to be seen to be comprehended. It is possibly the most devastating shot on tornado, and is getting more common on other table types.

Essentially the shot involves pinning the ball with the centre attacker, flicking the ball sideways, and rotating the bar 350degrees to strike the ball forward.

1. Trap and position the ball like for a front pin shot.
2. Release your grip on the bar, and place your hand down in front of the bar so your wrist is touching the bar. Wrap (snake!) your wrist around the bar to give you a good grip for the snake part of the shot.
3. The snake part of the shot is a 2-stage process that should work as one fluid motion. The bar is pushed or pulled with pressure on the ball, starting the ball moving sideways. The bar is rotated rapidly by yanking your arm up as quickly as possible so your hand rolls up the bar. The spinning man will hopefully hit the ball at exceptional speed into the goal.

Things to try to if you are struggling executing a snake include curling the hand slightly underneath the bar before yanking it up, as this will sometimes give a little extra control and grip to the bar.

After hitting the ball, the bar must be grasped in the hand, otherwise the bar will keep spinning, and the shot will be illegal.

There is no simple answer to the question "Which Shots Work Best". Shots that would be saved be even the most inexperienced novice could beat a pro defender if deceptively mixed in with more devastating shots.

Some shots work better on some tables than others, due to a combination of foot shape, type of ball, table surface, and table construction.

Tables with less grip (i.e. harder to trap and pin the ball) generally favour free flowing reaction based shots such as drags and kicks. The more grip the easier it is to pin the ball and hence a greater emphasis will be put on pin shots.

It is important to develop a variety of effective shots, as players will be able to block certain shots better than others.

Which Shots Work on my Table

The following table broadly categorises the suitability of shots depending on table type.

To Pull or To Push

In general, pull shots tend to be favoured amongst the top players. This is partly because humans are able to pull faster than they can push, and partly because it is harder for the opposition defender to see and therefore react to the pull action.

When to use Dink shots

The Dink shot works best when your opponent is trying to race you long or 'cheating' (moving defender further over than he normally would), in anticipation of a fast shot to mid or far post.

Success is therefore down to your opponent believing you will shoot a Kick to the far post, and the Dink will therefore not work if your opponent is hugging the near post.