How to Understand Foosball Rules

Taking its name from the German word for association football (soccer), "fussball" or foosball has been a popular bar and recreation room game since the 1970s. Foosball leagues have sprung up worldwide, and play has been organized into tournament rules. Here is a synopsis of how to play foosball in tournament format.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Starting the Match

1. Flip a coin.
2. Give the winning team choice of which side to play on or whether to take the first serve. Once made, the decision cannot be taken back.
3. Assign the unused choice to the team that lost the toss and stick them with having to pay for the first game of the match. Teams alternate paying for subsequent games.

Serving the Foosball

4. Verify that both teams are ready to play.
5. Have a member of the team that won first serve insert the ball into the server hole on its side of the table.
6. Drop or push the ball onto the playing field. The server may spin or otherwise influence the roll of the ball before it leaves the server hole but not after it touches the field. The ball cannot be guided toward the opponent's goal; it must be touched by at least one of the serving team's figures for it to score a point.
7. Strike the ball with one of the figures. Continue play until the ball is knocked off the table, is declared dead or scores a point.

Continuing Play

8. Advance or block the ball's movement on the table by using the figure rods. Rods may not be spun more than 360 degrees, and the ball may not remain in one position for longer than 15 seconds.
9. Declare any ball out of bounds if it strikes any part of the top edge of the table or any object not part of it. If the ball touched the two-man rod before going out, the serving team gets the ball back at the two rod if they sent it off the table; if the other team did, they re-serve the ball. If the ball leaves the table under any other circumstances, the serving team re-serves the ball.
10. Call the ball dead if it reaches any place on the table where no figures can strike it. If the ball goes dead between the two-man rods, it is served again by the team that served the ball. If the ball is called dead between a two-man rod and the goal, it goes back in play in front of the figure nearest where the ball went dead.
11. Allow two 30-second player timeouts per game, after which the ball re-enters play in the location and possession of the team that had it before time was called. Players on a team may switch rod positions during a timeout, but at no other time, except when a goal is scored or a technical foul is called.
12. Score a goal if the ball is knocked into the opposing team's goal. If a team inadvertently knocks the ball into its own goal, the other team scores a point.
13. Play until one team scores five goals and is leading by two goals. If the team that scores a fifth goal is leading by only one goal, continue play until one team opens a two-goal lead.
14. Switch sides with the other team for the next game in the match within 60 seconds of ending the previous game.

Tips & Warnings

• Subsequent serves are made by the team that gave up the last goal, whether in the middle of the game or to start a subsequent match.
• Unless they have given verbal notice otherwise, the opposing team is considered ready to play once the serving team taps the ball.
• Official timeouts may be called to bring in or replace an official, to perform emergency maintenance on the table, such as repairs or removing foreign objects, or if a player takes ill during the game.
• Players may not jar or alter the table in any way, reach into the playing area during play or catch the ball in mid-air.
• Players making sudden movements or sounds away from the rod where the ball is in play is considered illegal and these actions may nullify a point scored when the action was made.