Playing table football to win: how to practice control

Football, soccer, The Beautiful Game – call it what you want, but there’s no question that it’s in right now. With the World Cup just a few days away, nations across the globe are all getting into the football spirit, and that includes us here at the Games Room Company! As you might expect, we always see a fantastic level of interest in our table football games at this time of year, and it’s fair to say that things can get a little competitive. We’re here to help you get the edge with the first in our two-part series on how to win at foosball. This week, it’s all about control…

1. Passing

We couldn’t really start anywhere else – passing is as integral to the game of table football as it is to its full-scale counterpart. Not only does it make it easier to befuddle your opponent and thus get in an easier goal, but let’s be honest, it also makes it a more dynamic and interesting game to watch!

As well as practicing your standard lane and corner passes, try and think a little outside the box. Passing forward can be tricky unless you’re shooting, but practice side-to-side between your players on the same bar. Personally, we find that the 2-bar or the 3-bar is the easiest to practice this kind of passing. You can even pass back to your goalie, and use it to make a surprise shot. It’s a (literal) long shot, true, but it just might work! Be careful to make sure your goalie’s definitely there to catch it, though…

2. Front and back pins

Now, here’s where it gets tricky. You might sometimes find that you need to reach one of your players forward to stop a ball that’s getting too far ahead, or drifting a little far behind. For many beginner players, making this kind of stop in the first place is often a matter of luck. For you though, it doesn’t have to be – you can put it there yourself!

It’s true there’s a certain art to trapping the ball against the table like that from a distance, but once you’ve mastered it, it opens up a whole range of options. You can roll to the left or right, then release the ball and strike it quickly – either with your original player or the next one over – for a shot that’s almost impossible to stop. If you need a bit more momentum, you can tap the ball very lightly and repeatedly as you move it. You can watch this player for a more in-depth explanation and demonstration – note that he’s using a Tornado foosball table, known for being exceptionally easy to practice on!

3. Circling technique

Essentially, this is the next stage of practice after you’ve mastered your passing technique. It involves moving your player’s feet in circles around a stationary ball, to distract, confuse and cause impatience. Obviously, the art is not to knock the ball accidentally, and that’s what you’ll have to practice in order to avoid! It works because we’re wired to react to motion – especially in competitive games – and having your players moving but the ball stationary creates an inherent contradiction that makes it difficult to focus on anything but one or the other. If you’re quick enough, you can take advantage of that to score!

So then…ready to get started?

You can trust us to know what we’re talking about here at The Games Room Company – you can generally rely on us to have at least one or two fantastic foosball tables on display in our Weybridge showroom. If you’re around during one of our lunch breaks, you might even be lucky enough to spot us having a go on them! (It can get quite competitive at times…)

Of course, table football has an enduring appeal all year round, but for enjoying this sort of fantastic summer weather we’d recommend our RS2 Stainless Steel Outdoor Table Football. It’s made by the brilliant designers in RS Barcelona, and take it from us – the Spanish know how to make a good table football game! You can even specify players with your own team colours, so you can be the one to personally propel your team to glory!