Table Recommendation
sunde...@yahoo.com
found anything because I am kind of picky about what I am looking for.
I grew up with a great table in my basement, and I am looking for
something similar. I want wooden players with metal rods that spin
freely, but the most important thing to me - the single-man goalie -
seems hard to find. I have heard that the Tornado Storm is a good
table, but it has the 3 man goalie that I hate. I am looking for
something competition-style that is very durable, but I also don't want
to spend a fortune. Can anyone in the group recommend a good table?
Thanks.
sundevil67
sjde...@yahoo.com
> I want wooden players
This pretty much means Jupiter Block Diamond, Topper, or one of the
other similar Belgian tables, but not the new Eurosoccer version which
has plastic men. They are incredibly grippy.
> the most important thing to me - the single-man goalie -
> seems hard to find. I have heard that the Tornado Storm is a good
> table, but it has the 3 man goalie that I hate. I am looking for
> something competition-style that is very durable
If you're in the United States, competition-style means "Tornado"
(hence, 3-man goalie) unless you're in parts of the Southeast where the
French-style Bonzini tables are used.
They're idiosyncratic but fun, though the balls aren't going to roll as
straight as on Tornado (it uses cork balls that warp easily, and a
linoleum play surface). But it's much grippier, easier to shoot
front-pins on, and much easier to shoot bank shots on. On the
downside, it's much harder to shoot slide-shots on and the telescoping
rods aren't as strong as the Tornado rods.
They're also pricier than Tornado.
Tornado, Bonzini, and the Italian Garlando table (slicker than Tornado,
1-man goalie) are the most popular tournament tables in the world.
Others of note:
FABI and Roberto Sport (italian), Lemacher and Lowen(German, similar to
the old Tournament Soccer tables, grippier than Tornado but more
slide-shootable than French tables, 1 goalie), Rene Pierre (French,
akin to Bonzini), Futbolin (Spanish, very slippery).
Lemacher might be the closest to what you're looking for, but importing
a table costs $$$.
Shelti also make a very good table that's close to Tornado but grippier
and with wider feet on the men; also 3-man goalies. There aren't many
(any?) tournaments on them, but they're a tournament-caliber table
(good control, rugged, etc). Dynamo has another Tornado-style table.
sundevil67
didn't really mean that it had to be the same table used in actual
competition - just that it should be rugged and made for serious play -
not a toy-like table for the kiddies. It has to take 4-man abuse. The
triple goalie really bugs me though - I wonder where the table I grew
up with came from, or if the rules were just different back then.I am
sure my folks didn't import it from Europe! I was in New York. Anyway,
I am in Arizona now, and am willing to spend probably around 1k for a
table. I am not opposed to a used one if it is the right one. Maybe I
can cut the extra goalie-men off of the Tornado.....
Thanks.
sundevil67
Garrett Cribbs
Bonzini)
Actually you can find Bonzini tables all across the U.S. Only tournament
competition is held on the East coast.
We've done tournaments as far as Utica NY and as far south as Orange Park,
Florida.
As far as idiosyncractic, that is only true depending on which side of the
fence your're standing.
It is primarily a pin shooters table, the majority of U.S. foosball players
have great difficulty controlling the due to the lack of practice.
The cork ball provides great control, but looses it's shape after a period
of time due to the compression of the material.
Avgrage price is $1.25 vs Tornado ball at $3.25. The telescopic rod does not
inhibit a slide or pull series.It takes practice and the desire to put table
time in.
Life expecteancy of a Bonzini table is about 20 years.
We can recieve part for tables manufactured in the 1950's. A pretty good
testament to their quaility and longivity.
You can check it out at http://www.bonziniusa.com
As far as a good U.S. table with one goalie, you can purchase a Shelti with
a one-man goalie retrofit kit.
The Shelti 315, 400 series are good tables. But if you can afford their Pro
series, that would be the route to go.
I am the U.S. distributor for the JGC which manufactures a table which has
wooden men. We currently stock the Eurosoccer but do not have the wooden man
table in inventory. I can try to get a price quote if you wish.
Alan Cribbs
Cribbs Inc.
Bonzini U.S.A.
"sundevil67" <sunde...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1134924343.8...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
sjde...@yahoo.com
> Wow! That's a lot of info to take in. When I said "competition", I
> didn't really mean that it had to be the same table used in actual
> competition - just that it should be rugged and made for serious play -
> not a toy-like table for the kiddies.
Dynamo and Shelti are the only 2 tables sold in the US that aren't used
in tournaments but are competition-grade--I prefer Shelti of the 2.
The only thing where Shelti is significantly below Tornado as far as my
tastes go is the width of the man (Shelti's are wider than Tornado's
already wide men).
But I will say that if you get whatever table is used for tournaments
in your area (Tornado, or Bonzini in parts of the southeast) then going
out and playing weekly draw-a-partner tournaments can be a lot of fun
and you'll have a table to practice and play on that's like the one
they use.
> The triple goalie really bugs me though - I wonder where the table I grew
> up with came from, or if the rules were just different back then.
Through the 1970s and early 1980s Tournament Soccer tables were the
most popular tables in the US--if the men were plastic and had feet
just a bit narrower than Tornado, that's probably what it was. If the
men were metal and had extremely narrow feet then it was probably a
French-style table (Rene Pierre/Bonzini).
> Maybe I can cut the extra goalie-men off of the Tornado.....
Negative. The 3-man goalie tables don't have ramps in the corners--you
use the 3rd man to get the ball out of the corners, as well as to set
it up more quickly.
If you're going to go with a US table I'd suggest learning to play with
the 3-man goalie, after about a week you'll get used to playing with it
and not having balls constantly slopping in off the wing men.
If you still find it bothersome you can mount the wingmen upside-down,
so that you can still use them to dig the ball out of the corners but
they're out of the way. But you won't be learning the tournament/bar
style table, so your game won't be as good "on the road" if you ever
play outside your home.
As Alan mentioned, Shelti has a conversion kit to put in banks and
eliminate the 3rd man.
sjde...@yahoo.com
> As far as idiosyncractic, that is only true depending on which side of the
> fence your're standing.
Well, going back and forth between Tornado, Garlando, Lemacher,
Eurosoccer, etc is much less of an adjustment than going from Tornado
to Bonzini, or Garlando to Bonzini, etc. Basically, if you're on any
side of the fence other than Bonzini, it looks a bit more different
than the other tables.
That's not a bad thing, it's a fun table and has a lot to offer. But I
think it is the most different table that's popularly used (I don't
count Futbolin as sufficiently popular).
That why I used the word idiosyncratic.
> Avgrage price is $1.25 vs Tornado ball at $3.25. The telescopic rod does not
> inhibit a slide or pull series.
No, it's not the rod but the ball that inhibits a slide/pull series.
Yes, it's possible to shoot a good pull on Bonzini. Frederico, Jamal,
Dieter Thiele, and others show that it's possible to shoot a front-pin
on Tornado, too, that doesn't mean Tornado doesn't inhibit pin shots
compared to Bonzini--and Bonzini is certainly not as friendly to slide
shots as Tornado, Garlando, Lehmacher, etc.
In addition to pinning better, Bonzini has much better bank shots than
Tornado.