Foosball 101 > Tips
Foosball Tips
From years of playing the game and doing research in this space, we have compiled a list of all the important tips ranging in subjects from optimizing your offense and defense to purchasing your first table and properly caring for it. Dedicated to saving you years on the learning curve, use these pointers to take advantage over the competition.
Focus on Mastering One Shot
While they may know other shots, professional players really only master a single shot on offense. It takes years of development and repetition to narrow an offense down to perfection and if you spend all your time trying to be completely well rounded and equal at every kind of offense, you will water down your skills. Most professionals focus on the pull shot or the snake shot because these are the fastest shots that allow for the most options to score on your opponent. If you focus on one shot you can also become more skilled at setting up the shot, which will limit the amount of times you turn over the ball while trying to maintain control and set up your shot.
Foosball Shooting Grip
Most beginners tend to grip the foosball handle with their hand too hard. Keeping a loose grip on the handle will allow for maximum movement and speed and limit your resistance. You will know that you are holding the handle right if there is a small gap between the skin that connects your thumb and index finger and the handle. If this skin is completely wrapped around the handle, you know you are gripping it too hard for shooting. Remember, a handle is not a tennis racket or baseball bat that you have to swing! Also, turn your wrist quickly and the rod should spin about 180 degrees when taking the shot. Turning your wrist a quarter of a turn will not provide enough speed on your shot. You can also shoot an open-handed shot where you actually roll the handle on your wrist in order to increase the speed of your shot.
Use Handle Wraps
To further improve your grip, make sure you are using handle wraps such as tennis wraps around the handles. If you have never seen this, we will teach you how to install these handle wraps properly on your table in this instructional video.
While they may know other shots, professional players really only master a single shot on offense. It takes years of development and repetition to narrow an offense down to perfection and if you spend all your time trying to be completely well rounded and equal at every kind of offense, you will water down your skills. Most professionals focus on the pull shot or the snake shot because these are the fastest shots that allow for the most options to score on your opponent. If you focus on one shot you can also become more skilled at setting up the shot, which will limit the amount of times you turn over the ball while trying to maintain control and set up your shot.
Foosball Shooting Grip
Most beginners tend to grip the foosball handle with their hand too hard. Keeping a loose grip on the handle will allow for maximum movement and speed and limit your resistance. You will know that you are holding the handle right if there is a small gap between the skin that connects your thumb and index finger and the handle. If this skin is completely wrapped around the handle, you know you are gripping it too hard for shooting. Remember, a handle is not a tennis racket or baseball bat that you have to swing! Also, turn your wrist quickly and the rod should spin about 180 degrees when taking the shot. Turning your wrist a quarter of a turn will not provide enough speed on your shot. You can also shoot an open-handed shot where you actually roll the handle on your wrist in order to increase the speed of your shot.
Use Handle Wraps
To further improve your grip, make sure you are using handle wraps such as tennis wraps around the handles. If you have never seen this, we will teach you how to install these handle wraps properly on your table in this instructional video.
Foosball Defense
- Move your 2 defense rods together as one solid defense unit. Make sure your defensive players do not overlap one another and try to avoid crossing back and forth. You can space your defensive men slightly apart in a formation so there is not enough width for the foosball to go between your men. This small gap (about 60-70% of a ball width) between your men can make a huge impact if you use it correctly.
- Always be playing defense. Your job while playing defense is to always follow the ball no matter where it is on the table. A lot of beginner players when learning to play defense get distracted or don't realize that a lot of reflected foosball shots can be blocked simply by following the ball on the table. If the ball is on the left side of the table and your partner has the ball on offense, your men should be too! Your men should be constantly moving if you are doing this properly.
- For one on one games, you can use your thumb and pinkie finger on your left hand to play both of your defensive rods at one time. You will have to hold the actual rod right in front of the handle but not the actual handle in order to get a good grip. This formation will come in handy when your opponent is taking foosball shots from the defensive side of the table. Learn this foosball tip and use it with the technique above for maximum effectiveness.
- Avoid ricochets and bounces off your defense tip. The most annoying goals are the ones that can be avoided with a few defensive fundamentals. If you have a 3 man goalie rod like many Tornado tables, you will notice that numerous shots will hit your 2 outside foosball men that are not even in front of the goal. Remember that these men are strictly to keep the ball in play and are not used to defend any shots. By simply tilting your men backwards when obvious shots are going to hit the wall, it will avoid accidental bounces from hitting your men and scoring on yourself. Instead, let the ball hit the wall and catch the ball with your 2 bar defense rod.
- Vary your movements and patterns. When playing defense against more advanced players, it is important to learn to alternate your defensive movements and patterns in order to distract and make your defense more unpredictable. Don't tip off your opponent by doing the same motions over and over. The mental portion of foosball defense cannot be overlooked.
- You don't need to cover the entire goal. This is sometimes also referred to as a zone formation defense. The goal is a total of 5 widths of the ball, but this defensive tip will show you that you don't need to completely defend all 5 holes. Think about it while looking at the diagram below. Please also note that your man's toe is the same width as a foosball. If you have a defensive man covering 50% of hole 1 and 50% of hole 2, a straight shot towards either hole will still be deflected. What is the point in covering all of hole 1 and none of hole 2 with this man? The only disclaimer to this tip is for spray shots and bank shots that come in at angles that can take advantage of this zone defense. Watch your opponent to see if you can take advantage of this foosball tip.
Foosball Defense Diagram
Foosball Table Shopping
Like any big purchase, always do your research before purchasing a table. The tricky part about this foosball tip is you may want to spend less on your table if you don’t currently play a lot of foosball. Knowing how much you will use the table is important before you spent $500+ on a good quality foosball table, especially if you don’t end up having anyone to play with. However, we recommend spending this money up front so you aren’t disappointed and end up suffering with a table that has low performance. There is a drastic difference between the capabilities of performing shots and ball control from one table to another.
Not only do you want to research individual foosball tables, but also do your research on the different brands that are available. Start your research by learning about all of the different table features and foosball parts. This is an important step and that’s why we have also put together an entire section dedicated to helping you research the numerous models out there on the market today with detailed reviews to give you the pros and cons of each.
Like any big purchase, always do your research before purchasing a table. The tricky part about this foosball tip is you may want to spend less on your table if you don’t currently play a lot of foosball. Knowing how much you will use the table is important before you spent $500+ on a good quality foosball table, especially if you don’t end up having anyone to play with. However, we recommend spending this money up front so you aren’t disappointed and end up suffering with a table that has low performance. There is a drastic difference between the capabilities of performing shots and ball control from one table to another.
Not only do you want to research individual foosball tables, but also do your research on the different brands that are available. Start your research by learning about all of the different table features and foosball parts. This is an important step and that’s why we have also put together an entire section dedicated to helping you research the numerous models out there on the market today with detailed reviews to give you the pros and cons of each.
Cleaning is key if you want to have your table for years to come without reducing the play of the game. A lack of maintenance will result in damage which will impact the accuracy at which you can perform. We have seen where people carelessly spill drinks on the table that are not cleaned up and can warp the table surface. There are other situations where people use WD-40 on the bars and they can wear down the parts over time. These tips will tell you the right things to do to avoid ruining your game.
Materials Required to Maintenance a Foosball Table:
Make sure you wipe down the table with a clean, dry cloth to remove any of the loose dirt and debris from the playfield. Next, put a light amount of rubbing alcohol on the cloth and wipe the top surface down. The alcohol will not harm your table surface and it will evaporate quickly if used sparingly. You may need to apply multiple coats on stubborn black stains.
After your table top surface is clean, you will need to take a separate cloth or cotton rag and apply a small amount of foosball silicone to the rods of your table. This will keep the rods maintained and slick for the best table operation. Do not use WD-40 on your rods! This will make your rods slick and move faster for a short period of time but will dry out your bumpers and bearings and make your table wear down faster over time.
Foosball Bumpers Lube
One tip that you should know, especially if you play foosball on bar tables, is you can slide the rubber bumpers to the end of a foosball rod to clean and lubricate the rod. As the bumper slides down the rod, it will clean some of the build-up off the rod. Also, some foosball silicone is usually still on the inside of the bumper and this will lightly lubricate the rod to give you a smoother and faster rod. We do not recommend using this application technique on your home table because you should just apply more silicone to the rod instead of sliding your bumpers down the rod. Sliding your bumpers on the rod can cause them to flake and wear down the life of the bumper, especially if you have applied WD-40 to the rod in the past. Read our foosball silicone section to learn how to properly apply silicone.
Materials Required to Maintenance a Foosball Table:
- Cloth or cotton rag
- Rubbing alcohol (70-90% is best)
- Silicone (DO NOT USE WD-40 to lubricate your foosball table!)
Make sure you wipe down the table with a clean, dry cloth to remove any of the loose dirt and debris from the playfield. Next, put a light amount of rubbing alcohol on the cloth and wipe the top surface down. The alcohol will not harm your table surface and it will evaporate quickly if used sparingly. You may need to apply multiple coats on stubborn black stains.
After your table top surface is clean, you will need to take a separate cloth or cotton rag and apply a small amount of foosball silicone to the rods of your table. This will keep the rods maintained and slick for the best table operation. Do not use WD-40 on your rods! This will make your rods slick and move faster for a short period of time but will dry out your bumpers and bearings and make your table wear down faster over time.
Foosball Bumpers Lube
One tip that you should know, especially if you play foosball on bar tables, is you can slide the rubber bumpers to the end of a foosball rod to clean and lubricate the rod. As the bumper slides down the rod, it will clean some of the build-up off the rod. Also, some foosball silicone is usually still on the inside of the bumper and this will lightly lubricate the rod to give you a smoother and faster rod. We do not recommend using this application technique on your home table because you should just apply more silicone to the rod instead of sliding your bumpers down the rod. Sliding your bumpers on the rod can cause them to flake and wear down the life of the bumper, especially if you have applied WD-40 to the rod in the past. Read our foosball silicone section to learn how to properly apply silicone.
The game can be dangerous so keeping your kids safe in order to have a table in your home is critically important as a parent. Skim through these tips in order to ensure you are doing what you can to prevent an injury.
Rods Can be Dangerous
The bars sticking through the other end of the table are the most obvious danger on the table. They are especially risky because the height of them is typically around the head and neck area for smaller children. There are a couple things you can do from purchasing rod end caps which will put a rubber cushion on the end of the medal. You can also look for a table with telescoping rods that don't go through the other end, but most manufacturers don't offer this feature.
Balls Can be a Choking Hazard
If you have infant children around who love to put everything in their mouth, a simple rule to always put the balls up when the game isn't in play is a great way to prevent an issue. Put a cup in a high location nearby and you will not have to worry about this.
Avoid Sharp Corners
Just like the rods, there are many sharp corners on a table that can cause injury. Just like you would wrap a fireplace or coffee table with rubber bumper kits, you can try this technique for foosball as well.
Keep Chemicals Out of Reach
Cleaning and maintenance is an important part of owning a table and can protect your investment and extend the life your table. However, since we recommend the usage of Silicone and Rubbing Alcohol in this process, make sure you keep these out of reach from your children when you aren't using them.
Hands Off the Playing Surface
Kids always want to reach into the table surface and grab a ball or man. Make sure you sit down with them and talk about the potential for injury so they don't stick their hand in and get pinched or hit by a swinging player.
Rods Can be Dangerous
The bars sticking through the other end of the table are the most obvious danger on the table. They are especially risky because the height of them is typically around the head and neck area for smaller children. There are a couple things you can do from purchasing rod end caps which will put a rubber cushion on the end of the medal. You can also look for a table with telescoping rods that don't go through the other end, but most manufacturers don't offer this feature.
Balls Can be a Choking Hazard
If you have infant children around who love to put everything in their mouth, a simple rule to always put the balls up when the game isn't in play is a great way to prevent an issue. Put a cup in a high location nearby and you will not have to worry about this.
Avoid Sharp Corners
Just like the rods, there are many sharp corners on a table that can cause injury. Just like you would wrap a fireplace or coffee table with rubber bumper kits, you can try this technique for foosball as well.
Keep Chemicals Out of Reach
Cleaning and maintenance is an important part of owning a table and can protect your investment and extend the life your table. However, since we recommend the usage of Silicone and Rubbing Alcohol in this process, make sure you keep these out of reach from your children when you aren't using them.
Hands Off the Playing Surface
Kids always want to reach into the table surface and grab a ball or man. Make sure you sit down with them and talk about the potential for injury so they don't stick their hand in and get pinched or hit by a swinging player.
