Comments on: History of Foosball

By: JIMWICh

JIMWICh — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:03:00 +0000

Foosball is the greatest, purest, and most perfect competitive sport ever created by mankind. No goal in a net, swooshy basket, tumble across a line, or tedious putt into a hole can compare to its brutal, beautiful, and dare I say sacred, thwack.

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 03:43:00 +0000

In 1975 I met a guy who claimed to have the patent on Foosball, He had set himself up in a house close to Land’s end and made acoustic guitars as a hobby. He made one fantastic instrument per week.

By: Bex W

Bex W — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:37:00 +0000

Whatever, just remember no spinning.

By: EH

EH — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:56:00 +0000

Let me tell you about the Battle of Schrute Farms…

By: Noah Sheola

Noah Sheola — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:41:00 +0000

So it was either invented in the 1930s or else maybe in the 1890s? I don’t see why this should be so hard to settle. Surviving tables and documentary evidence such as photographs from the late 19th century either exist or they do not. How much effort did the author really put into figuring this out?

By: EH

EH — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:05:00 +0000

Hah, does the “Community” episode parody that to any detail?

By: Dick Selwood

Dick Selwood — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:29:00 +0000

Ooops = sorry. That does indeed count as “Fin de siècle”

By: Sebastian Spinczyk

Sebastian Spinczyk — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:39:00 +0000

Ironically, table soccer/foosball is called “Kicker” or “Tischkicker” in Germany.”Fußball” simply means football, i.e. soccer.

By: Sebastian Spinczyk

Sebastian Spinczyk — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:37:00 +0000

By the way: The most epic Foosball scene in cinematic history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ERKjDZjFE

By: David Pescovitz

David Pescovitz — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:32:00 +0000

Did you read the article that I linked to?

“Some say that in a sort of spontaneous combustion of ideas, the game erupted in various parts of Europe simultaneously sometime during the 1880s or ’90s as a parlor game.”

By: theophrastvs

theophrastvs — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 20:11:00 +0000

certainly that would make the most sense given the name sharfes ‘s’ ß and all: Fußball

By: Edward

Edward — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 20:03:00 +0000

I had always thought foosball had been invented in Germany

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:54:00 +0000

It actually has its roots in the Roman Colosseum, where condemned men would be tied in rows to logs. Galley slaves would be brought in bear the weight of the logs at either end, moving them side-to-side and otherwise manipulating them in a manner that would cause the condemned to kick a ball around the Colosseum grounds until a goal was scored. (I may have made that up.)

By: Dick Selwood

Dick Selwood — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:52:00 +0000

Come on – 1937 is hardly “Fin de siècle”