Subject: Americans Trip to the France Foosball (Babyfoot) World Championship - LONG POST Author: Bruce Nardoci Date: 1998/05/27 (revised 4/99) Forum: rec.sport.table-soccer The first "world championships" on "French style" tables (Bonzini in this case) was held in Nantes France on May 21-24, 1998. Although there have been many large tournaments in France for many years, including the "French National Championships" which are held each year (but are limited in participation to only citizens of France with valid foosball "licenses" from the French foosball federation), this was the first tournament called a "World Championship", and other countries were actively requested to come and participate. The impetus for having this first World Championship was to coincide with the World Championship of soccer which is held in a different country every 4 (?) years (and is being held in France this year), which is an event considered bigger than the olympics in the rest of the world. Note: Foosball is called "baby foot" in France (i.e., soccer is called football in France and most of the rest of the world, therefore "baby" football). French style tables are different than the German style tables (such as Tornado) that are predominate in the USA. French style tables have telescoping rods which don't stick out of the far side of the table, have metal (aluminum) men, a grippy play field surface, and typically cork balls. German style tables have one-piece rods, plastic men, plastic balls, and a slicker play field surface. The extra "grippiness" of the French style table results in a style in which most shots and passes are executed with the ball in a pinned position, using various fakes to "create" holes etc., vs. The German style where most shots/passes are executed with the ball beside the man's foot, using mainly speed and shooting at existing holes. Also, in France, 1 man passes are legal, and games typically are played to 7 (not 5) points. I and my wife and a few other American Rene Pierre table (another "french-style" table, similar to Bonzini) players arrived in Paris a couple days before the tournament was to begin in Nantes, to do some sightseeing. While there, a few of us went to the Paris "hot spot" for foosball where some of the best players in France normally play, to have some fun and get used to the somewhat different French style of play. We ran into 4 or 5 of the top players in France (whom I’d previously met on my trip to Strasbourg last year), and had fun playing against them for some $$. What was most interesting was the apparent lack of many rules besides blatant jarring (so far as the barroom was concerned - the World Championship did have stricter rules). The players would switch positions while the ball was in play (WITHOUT calling a time out, or asking if you were ready for play to resume after they had completed the switch), usually just as I caught the ball on my 3 bar so that the stronger goalie would get on back, and sometimes when they caught the ball on their 3 bar to get a different shooter on front. However, after a few times of that happening the next time they tried it when I caught the ball on my 3 bar I quickly did a push-kick while they were switching, which seemed to stop them from doing that anymore ;-). Another "interesting" rule was that if you scored, and you reached into the goal and grabbed the ball before it went down inside the table, you had the option either marking up the point for yourself, or TAKING AWAY a point from the opponent. I wasn't completely sure of the value of that strategy, but I suppose that it was useful in a situation to help you beat your opponent 7-0, since they indicated that traditionally if you get skunked you have to buy your opponents a drink. There was also some rule I could never figure out where in some situations one team could have 6 points and the other 5 points, and the team with 5 points could win the game by scoring a 6th point (even though they then would both only have 6 points). I also learned to use the strange "doorknob" shaped handles a little, which was something I couldn't begin to learn on my trip to France last year. Seriously, they are short handles shaped like the tops that you used spin on the ground as a kid, which the majority of French players seemed to prefer. I'm sure I wasn't holding it right though - I held it similar to the was I would a normal American handle, except that my forward fingers would be on the bar itself since the handle was only a couple inches long. The French players would either hold it like you would when opening a doorknob, or would coil their hand around it like a snake in a manner I couldn't begin to fathom how they could shoot with. Some even put "wraps" on them. I also learned how to properly "spin" the rod to get power and accuracy (you roll your hand DOWN off the handle, not UP as you’d naturally think to do). We left Paris Thursday morning to go to the town of Nantes where the tournament was being held, via a 200 mph train which was so smooth you couldn't really tell you were even moving. France has a very beautiful countryside. The tournament in Nantes was held in a gymnasium (similar to a basketball gym in the USA), just down the street in easy walking distance from the hotel where everyone stayed (sounds like the direction Tornado is headed in ?). There were about 75 "normal" tables, and a few very "special" ones. As I mentioned in my post last year about my previous trip to France, the thing that strikes you the most when you see the tables is that none of the tables have handles or balls on them - the players bring their own handles and balls to play with, like a pool player would bring his own pool cue. (If you're in a bar/gameroom and didn't have your own handles/balls, you could buy or rent them from the establishment or tournament staff.) There was a wide variety of different size/shape handles used, and a smaller variety of balls than I saw last year since a new rule went into effect this year limiting you to either an unpainted cork ball, or a hard plastic ball. One of the special tables was a TWENTY TWO player table (11 pairs of handles on each side, just like soccer has 11 men per side), which was almost a 4 th as long as the entire gymnasium. The rods were laid out in the following pattern (if I remember correctly): 1 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 5 5 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 1 such that except for the normal 2 goalie rods, and a 5 bar in the center of the table, you were playing with all "3" bars on "front" and all "2" bars on back. Also, on one side of the table it had all normal Bonzini handles, and on the other side it had all "doorknob" shaped handles. The 22 man table wasn't wider, just LOOOOOOOOONGER. I assume it was specially built just for this World Championship tournament. There were always people on it (all the tables were free play), and several times I saw it full with 22 people. I never really played on it (although I did stand beside and look at it several times). From what I saw, the number of balls used depended on the number of players. If it was just 2 or 3 or 4 total players, they'd use one ball, but if it was a bunch of players, they'd typically start out with one ball, but eventually some would get bored so they'd wind up putting more than one ball on. It was so big though, that I also saw several times where two different sets of players would play on it at different ends of the table, at the same time. Typically when a lot of people played, they'd use more than one ball, because the people at one end of the table would get bored waiting for the ball to work it's way down to their end. Also, French national TV got two representatives of the foreign countires that were at the tournament (Alan Baker as a USA representative, a Frederico Collignon as a Belgian representative, and filmed them playing on the 22 man table. It was kinda funny: Frederico would methodically work the ball down the table, meticulously passing from one rod to the next, until he’d get most of the way down the table where Alan Baker would get control of the ball and "slap" it down to the other end, whereupon Frederico would start the process over again : - ). The other "special" tables were a new "electronic" version of the Bonzini table, which had striking paint jobs to say the least. However, the most amazing feature was small TV monitors INSIDE each goal hole which displayed who was playing, what the score was, etc. They were also tied into the computerized chart to automatically display match status/score etc on TV screens for spectators, record the match results and indicate the next match, and other functions I couldn't figure out. You could change what was displayed on the TV screen (e.g., to see your position on the chart, how your next opponent had done, etc) by pressing some buttons on the top of the table side. In order to start a game on these tables, your name was encoded onto a credit card sized card, which you held beside a certain point on the table side which would read the info from the card (it may also have recorded the match results and other stuff on the card when you were through playing). While fascinating, I was mostly wondering why it didn't do some of the things you'd expect a electronic table to do, such as automatically reflect the new score when a point goes in a goal (you had to push a button on the top of the table side to add a point, or to subtract one if you made a mistake), or possibly measure shot speed, statistics (the number of balls that went into the push side or pull side or middle), etc. The electronic table was made by a third party entrepenuer company (called "BAB") - they bought Bonzini tables specially built/painted by the Bonzini factory, and then modified them with their electronic stuff. This was not the first electronic table I have seen. Back in the late 70's Rene Pierre had an electronic table, but I only saw a brochure on it so I don't know what all it did. I do know that it would allow you to win a "free" game if the number of points you scored was the same as a randomly selected number by the table (similar to the way "matching the score" on a pinball machine works). I have played around in the past with designing an "electronic" table, thinking about all the neat features I'd put in it. Some of the ones I came up with are a glowing floor (like the one they used in the TV show "Space: Above and Beyond") so that you don't need to have an overhead light, automatic scorekeepers and shot speed timers (electric eye in the goal, digital score/speed display on the table wall), possibly "cheering" sounds when a goal is scored, and many other neat or silly features. However, I doubt any electronic table would be economically feasible as a mass play table (it would be expensive to maintain/repair), but it might be a money maker as a novelty table (e.g., one at each establishment that would attract enough curiosity play to make $$). A little about the rules used in the France tournament that are different from Tornado: You had your choice of using one of 2 types of balls - an unpainted cork ball, or a white plastic ball. If you wanted to use a cork ball, and your opponent wanted to use a plastic ball, you would use the cork ball on your serve, and the opponent would use the plastic ball when it was his serve. One man passes are legal (except if the ball is sitting completely still - you can do a one man pin pass as long as you're "dribbling" the ball on the man so that it's not just sitting still). Spinning the rod on a shot as many times as you want is legal, but it is illegal if you're spinning the rod and you respin it before stopping it completely from the first spin. You can take you hands off the handles (to wipe sweat off or whatever), and then put them back on and immediately shoot if you wish (without touching the ball to 2 men or waiting a second or whatever). You can only call a time-out between balls, NOT while the ball is on the table (which I found out on match game in my final DYP match :-(, and you only get 1 time out per game. You can only make 2 "air ball" shots a game, although you can attempt as many as you want (making a 3rd one is a technical), or do as many air ball passes as you want. If the ball goes off the table, it goes to the goalie closest to where it was last on the table; except if it goes off the table between the 5 rods, in which case it goes to one of the 5 rods (I never could understand the logic as to which 5 rod it went to - that didn't happen many times). They also had an interesting way of determining who got the serve. If both teams wanted to use a single ball, one team would put the ball in one of his hands and hold his hands far apart so that they were nearly at at each end of the table (using the table to block the view of his opponent) and the opponent would then guess which hand the ball was in - if he (the opponent) got it right it was his (the opponent’s) serve. Seems like someone could cheat by throwing the ball from one hand to the other after the player had made his selection but while the table was still hiding his view of the hands ;-). If the teams each wanted to use their own ball (e.g., one team wanted a cork ball and the other a plastic ball), the player would put one of the balls in each hand and if the opponent picked the his own (opponents) ball he (opponent) got the serve. Also, since a lot of matches were played 1 game to 7, when the total number of points scored by you and your opponent added up to 6 (i.e., the half-way point of the game), the ball went to the team that did not get the first serve of the game, regardless of which team scored the 6th point (although this rule was haphazardly applied). In the matches that were 2 out of 3 games, the person who lost the first game would get the first serve of the 2nd game, but if it went to the 3rd game you would decide the serve again by using the ball(s) in hand method. While you could request a Ref, the Refs I saw rarely made calls - usually a player would ASK for a call (such as losing a pass because of a jar) and the players would stop playing while the Ref rendered his decision. The tournament format was also much different that in the USA. In the main events (Men's Doubles and Singles, Women's Doubles and Singles - yes, they separate Men and Women like Tornado is trying to do, not allowing women to play in the menus events and vice versa, Mixed Doubles, and DYP), everyone played four "qualifying" matches against 4 different (randomly selected I assume) teams. Each of the qualifying matches were 1 game to 8 points. You reported not only who won, but by what score (e.g., 8 to 4). After all these qualifying matches were done, the tournament staff would enter the results into a computer which would "seed" the teams based on the qualifying matches play. For instance, everyone (I assume) who won all 4 matches would be seeded the highest (with the seeds within the 4 match winners determined by the point difference between how many total points they'd scored and how many total points had been scored against them). Next, everyone who one 3 of the matches and lost one match would be the next seeds (with the total points scored for/against determining the seeds within the 3 game winners), and so on for the 2 and 1 and 0 game winners. (I assume that, for instance, all the 4 game winners got higher seeds than any of the 3 game winners, although it's possible for a 3 game winner to have a betters points for/against value than a 4 game winner, etc, and thus the seeds could've been based strictly on the points for/against basis, but I doubt it since that wouldn't be giving any extra credit for winning the game if they did that.). Also, besides seeding, the process was used (I believe) to eliminate people from the rest of the tournament. For instance, if they had a 64 team chart (for this example, although there were many more players than a 64 team chart could handle) and there were 88 players, they would put the top 48 seeds on the chart, which left 16 open "slots". They would then take the next 32 highest rated seeds and have them play one more 1 game match against someone else in that 32 team field (highest seed playing lowest, and so on), with the 16 winners getting placed in the 16 open slots on the 64 team chart. The players who lost in that 32 team playoff were out of the tournament, as well as the 11 players from 77 to 88 who didn't make the initial (48 plus 32) seed cut. After the qualifying and the chart had been filled out, the tournament continued in a 2 out of 3 games (games played to 7 points) single elimination format. However, I did see some matches being played 1 game to 10 points, and there was some sort of funky double elimination system if you got into the $$ paying positions on the chart, but I didn't really understand it (it had something to do with how well the person that beat you in the single elimination part of the chart did). This format certainly was interesting, and had some good points. For instance, when you arrived at the tournament you received a packet of information which included your 4 qualifying matches in Doubles, Singles , and Mixed pre-set. You knew exactly who (well, at least their registration number) you were going to play and what day and exactly what time (your singles matches were spaced out every 15 minutes, doubles every half hour - just 1 game to 8 remember). Some people played every 15 (or half hour in doubles) , and others would skip one of the 15 (or half hour) time intervals while others played - I guess due to having too many players for the number of tables to have everyone playing at the same time). However, once all the qualifying matches were over, there was a long wait while the staff worked out the seedings etc for the single elimination chart. Sometimes they would fill this time by having "pre-set" qualifying matches for another event, or if the single elimination chart for another event was ready to go, run for an hour or so, but there were still large chunks of the day when NO matches were going on. However, with it being single elimination, and 2 out of 3 (or 1 game in some events), there was certainly no danger of the tournament running long, and events were over very early each day (10:00 or 11:00pm at most). The long breaks were an ideal opportunity for people to play for money, and I saw several interesting money matches, including one for $200 a ball (played to 10 balls). The idea about having people "qualify" for getting into the main chart, and for seeding sounds like a good one in theory, but I noticed that in practice it didn't really work well. This was because since you only played 4 qualifying matches (which were only 1 game which leads to upsets etc), and the quality of your 4 opponents can vary widely from the quality of someone else's 4 opponents, and thus the results really weren't all that reflective of the qualifiers respective skills. For instance, my partner went 4-0 in qualifying in singles and was seeded 14th in the tournament, but had to play one of the top players in France in the 2nd round (whom presumably got a tough draw in his 4 qualifying matches and must've lost 2 or 3 of his games). I looked at the chart and the seeds (which were also on the chart) seemed to have very little correlation to who actually won the match, which shouldn't be the case for good seeding). The Forward Shootout event was single elimination 1 game (to 8 I think). The "International Cup" was an event where each country there (that had at least 10 players there) formed the 5 strongest teams they could, with each country ranking it's teams from #1 through #5. Then, in the qualifying round each country played all the other countries (with the #1 teams playing each other, the #2 teams playing each other, the #3 teams playing each other, etc) one game to 7 points. The country that won 3 of the 5 matches against the other country "beat" that country in the "match". The qualifying round determined the country seeding/matchups for the final round. The final round country match-ups were based on the seeding from the qualifying round (still the #1 team playing the other country’s #1 team, etc), and were played 1 game to 10 points. There wasn’t really a "pit" area for the finals or other big matches like there Is in USA tournaments. Players would just stand and drag chairs to whatever Table a big match was called on. The finals of one event was really funny - for some reason they kept changing the table it would be on (I guess the players involved had differing preferences, and the camera filming it had setup problems at some locations). They’d announce it on one table and everyone would run and drag their chairs to get the best view, then a minute or so later they’d announce it had been moved to another table, and everyone would run and drag their chairs again. This must’ve happened 4 or 5 times to 3 or 4 different tables for that one match, each time the spectators scrambling like mad from the table they were at to the new table. I know, everyone's dying to know the results of these tournaments. While I know a lot of the faces of the top players in Europe, I only know a few of the names, so I can't give very good results (hopefully it'll be posted on the Web somewhere). However, Frederico Collignon dominated the tournament, winning singles, doubles, and Forward Shootout, coming in 2nd in DYP , and placing about 3rd in Mixed I think. Although he had several close and matchball matches (losing any one of which would've put him out of the tournament), and some help from his Belgian teammates who would forfeit to him when they were matched up against him in exchange for splitting the $$, it was an amazing feat, considering that it was a single elimination tournament (and 2 out of 3 at that - even the player who is considered the greatest player in the history of France, Gerard Moullou (sp?), didn't place in singles after losing one of his early round single elimination matches), and that there were over 300 players in singles, over 200 teams in doubles, and a bunch in forward shootout, with many great players. He is without a doubt (at least in my mind) the most accomplished/versitile player in the world, being able to be that successful at the top level of both the French style and German style (as he has done very well on Tornado tables too). I was, however, constantly amazed at the ineptness of most of the top French players at defending his walking the ball in the middle shot series. They would basically shift their men around in the area between the 3/4th holes of the goal, leaving either corner open almost all of the time, essentially letting him have target practice (which is similar to the way a lot of Tornado players I've seen try to defend him). I would think that the French would be better at it than that, considering that a few of them shoot that style (the two Americans who played against him in the tournament, in Forward Shootout and International Cup, defended him pretty well). Also, it was interesting to watch his versatility. For some matches, he would choose to use the plastic ball, for others the cork ball (the Belgians play on Jupiter tables, which have unpainted cork balls). Sometimes he would use his bare hand on a handle wrapped with what looking like a car washing rag, and others he would put a rubber sleeve on the handle and use a glove. Other than Frederico (who is Belgian), the Belgian's seemed to do the best considering there were only about 30 -35 of them there, yet many of them finished in the money, including an old friend of mine whom many Tornado players know, Ismael Saban. The Belgians are considered by most in Europe, including the French, to be the best players in Europe. Of course the French, with many good players, took the majority of the $$ places (including the guy who beat me and my partner the first time I went to France last year, who took 2 nd in doubles - he was the 1994 (I think) French National champion, and his name is something like Damon). As to the Americans, there were 14 of us (USA Rene Pierre players) who went (not counting girlfriends and children) - 10 strong players, 2 top girls, and a couple "rookie" level players. None of us won $$, although several of us finished one place out of the $$ in some events. We had difficulty adapting to the balls. The cork balls they used were unpainted (and thus much stickier than the painted balls we use), and were much lighter than the cork balls we use, which affected our shooting accuracy and passing. Also, unlike the previous time I went to France when I only saw a handful of players using plastic balls, somewhere between a third and one half of the players seemed to use the slick plastic balls that are used on a lot of the German tables. This is fine if you shoot the style the majority of the French players use (which is basically a slide pull series done from the front pin position), but isn't very good for the walking/faking the ball around in the middle style used by the USA RP players (and the Belgian players). Other than myself and my partner (Alan Cribbs), the rest of the USA RP players had little or no experience playing with plastic balls, and were ineffective whenever they had to play with one. In fact, I think the vast majority of the matches the American players lost were to opponents using the plastic balls. We did have some minor successes. We were competitive with most everyone we played, and generally only lost to very good players. I don't know all the Americans situations, but I can speak about myself and my partner. In doubles, we lost 7-5 on match game to the Belgian team that is generally regarded as the 2nd best team in Europe (behind Frederico) - the guy's last name is something like Carletta, but I can't remember it now (he won the DYP). The match also included a couple of interesting "calls" by the judge in the final game (not that they had much to do with the outcome). On one call, the Belgian team asked the Ref for a "jar" call on a pass from their 2 bar to 3 bar. The judge indicated that it wasn't a jar. However, after about 10 minutes of arguing in French by the Belgians with the Ref (me and Alan had no idea what was being said), the ref awarded the ball to the Belgians, saying that Alan had "grunted" during the pass which caused the forward to miss catching it. Earlier in the match, the Belgian goalie was upset at getting lit up, and kicked the table so hard that it moved about 6 inches. He did it again in the 3rd game, but this time Alan was resting his hand inside the table and got a finger pinched between a man and the wall, and had to spend about 5 minutes before he could play again (no foul was called on the Belgian player who kicked the table). In singles I lost one place out of the $$ (I think - it paid 32 places) on match game to a player who wound up getting about 8 th place. Also, during the qualifying matches, I played the 1952 France national champion runner up (whom they call the "vice champion", and was selling an instructional video at the tournament) and beat him (of course, he's about 100 years old now ;-). Alan lost in singles on match game to a player who came in about 4th or 5th. In Forward shootout, Will Wall played Frederico in a match where the winner would get $$ (for 8th place), and lost to Frederico on match ball when he blocked Frederico’s shot but didn't realize you have to completely stop the ball before the shot is over (we don't play forward shootout on RP, so he didn't know the rules), and when he stopped blocking the ball went into his goal for the winning point. Another USA player, Rick Owens, also finished one place out of the $$ in forward shootout, including defeating the guy who's considered the best goalie in Europe. My wife also got to the 3 rd round in forward Shootout :-). I also went a long way in DYP, although it only paid 4 places. There were probably other good moments, but I didn't get to see many of the matches since most of them were going on at the same time. Our best moment, however, was coming in 2nd to France in the international cup (including beating the Belgians). Besides Trophies, we also were given a Bonzini table for 2nd, which we drew for out of a hat among the USA players. Id like to recognize the USA players who comprised the USA team: myself, Mac Avery, Alan Baker, Buddy Burchette, Alan Cribbs, Kevin Lashmit, Jimmy Little, Rick Owens, Jimmy Parris, Will Wall (who was injured and couldn't really shoot); and alternates Doris Little, Tina Nardoci, Peyton Smith, Raymond Soriano. Note to you Tornado players - none of them besides myself and Alan have played in a Tornado tournament, so don't bother trying to figure out if you know any of them. A funny thing about Buddy Burchette though: when the French pronounced his name with their accent etc, it would come out as Boody "Birdshit". I think he now knows he has a nickname for life :-). I was told at the France tournament that starting in September, the plastic ball will no longer be legal to use in French Foosball Federation (FFBFS) tournaments (which is good - in my humble opinion its not really a "French-style" table tournament if you use plastic balls which limits what you can do). The only ball that will be legal after September is the cork ball, and it will be a heavier (14 grams vs. 10 grams) than the one used at the French World Championships. I got a chance to play around with the 14 gram cork ball on the last day of the tournament (Ismael Saban, a Belgian, had one with him - apparently it's also the ball they use on Jupiter tables). It was a pretty good ball, much better than the 10 gram cork ball (14 grams is the weight of the painted cork balls we use in the USA, although it's still a little grippier than I'd like due to being unpainted, but that's just a matter of playing with it some to get used to it). I'm looking forward to playing with the 14 gram cork ball in the future, and the USA Rene Pierre players are already talking about switching over to it here in the USA too. I would like to see them dye (not paint) the ball white or yellow though, as the unpainted brown color is difficult to see. Some players would put/smear powdered soap on the playing surface around their 3 (and 2) bars. I'm not sure if it was to make it slicker, or grippier. Some players would take sandpaper and scratch the playfield surface under their bars to make it even more grippy (I should've looked to see if this was done by the plastic ball players, or if they thought the unpainted cork ball wasn't grippy enough!). Other players had files with them, and would file the paint off or scratch it up on the feet of their men. Although after a table gets played on a long time, the paint on the feet starts to wear off, it was still a shame to see brand new tables scratched up like that). Apparently the French are trying to gradually standardize their rules. When I went there last year, players could use any ball they wanted, and there was a wide variety of them used (even a Tornado ball I think), although they wouldn't let me use a wadded up ball of aluminum foil I made so there must've been some limits :-). This year they limited tournaments to just the 2 balls (10 gram cork or 20 gram plastic), and next year just 1 ball (14 gram unpainted cork). They also got rid of the 5 bar pass "deflection" rule, and allowed 5 bar shots (since the rest of the world doesn't have those rules). I also understand that next year the "heads" the Stella table players were allowed to use won't be allowed either. It is important to have standardized playing characteristic, no matter what table you play on, so no one is handicapped by another players equipment. However, I do hope they keep their rules flexible in areas that don't really affect the opponents playing ability, such as using your own type of handle, possibly the "heads" on the players, etc. The French players, and players from all the other countries (the Denmark players were a fun loving bunch :-) were all extremely nice to us, and made for a wonderful experience. The tournament was very fun, with final matches being on large projection TV screens, beautiful trophies, coverage by national TV and newspaper/wire services (some pictures were sent out that could be picked up by newspapers around the world - maybe It'll appear in USA Today), posters about the tournament were all over France (and the rest of Europe I presume). There was food at the tournament site (a word of warning, apparently the French are happy if meat is brown on the outside, even if the inside is still completely raw) - although the food at the restaurants we ate at was wonderful (when I could keep the other American players from eating at McDonalds!). Of course, playing on the 22 man table alone was worth the trip!