| Topic: Why does the passing rule exist? |
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I am a beginner at foos and I've never played with tournament rules. I am just wondering why the passing rule needs to exist. What would people abuse without that rule? I ask because I feel I would lose interest in playing foosball if I needed to follow a bunch of rules. I play for fun and never intend to be good enough for tournament play. |
Posted: Jul 16 2009 12:47PM
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Welcome to the board RC, You'll have to be more decriptive about the exact rule that concerns you - there are lots of rules just dealing with passing. And yes, they are all there in order to stop someone from having an unfair advantage. Have you read the rules (I wouldn't bother if you just want to play for fun), or has one of your playing opponents complained that you're playing "wrong"? Tell us a bit more and you will get a more complete answer back. Unfortunately, the rules of play really change depending on *where* you play foos - we usually call those the house rules. So whether you're playing in a buddy's basement, a lunch room at work or at a bar they will often have unique "house rules" and it's usually best to honor those. A tournament player really shouldn't show up somewhere else and just tell you that you're doing it "all wrong". Playing for fun should be just that - FUN. But conversely, if you're playing at Soho or Commodore you may be asked to follow our rules. Earl Nicol |
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Well pretty much all the rules regarding passing in the ITSF rulebook. There seems to be just two. 1. You can't pin/stop a ball on 5 man, and then pass to 3 man. 2. You can't knock off the side wall twice on 5 man before shooting or passing. I don't understand what unfair advantage you can gain here. |
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OK so you've actually read the ITSF rulebook. That was probably a mistake if you're only playing for fun. j/k I don't blame you for having the initial reaction of: What the heck do they need all these rules for?? I also don't blame you for stating "I would lose interest in playing foosball if I needed to follow a bunch of rules". Anyways, if these rules weren't there, a tournament player could take advantage by: 1. Hovering over a pinned/stopped ball and pass at two different angles ("uphill" or "downhill") almost instantaneously. 2. Continuously and rapidly bouncing the ball of the wall in order to (again) pass at two different angles ("uphill" or "wall") almost instantaneously. Most of us haven't practiced these skills because they are against the rules, but rest assured it could be done. |
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It still has to get pass the other player's 5 man, so I still don't see the problem. |
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You have a point. It's easier to show you on a table - hopefully you can drop by Soho tomorrow. But it's the instantaneous angle that makes any good pass un-stoppable. |
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Sorry I should've said "passing series". The passing series means that we can hit (at least) TWO different angles through the opposing five bar at any time. Pass it through where they aint - it's as easy as that. Gotta go for now... |
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No. 1 makes perfect sense. No. 2 however, even if you bounce off the wall rapidly (with the guy closest to the wall) you would have to skip that particular (or touch a different) man in order to make a proper pass. It's almost impossible to do that on a Lehmacher while maintaining an advantage. That's probably why here I can bounce off the wall almost infinitely. What did I miss? Actually that's one rule I never got. |
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Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGiTpAgTqYk If you're stationary or bouncing off the wall you can easily go either way at any time. The reason most people want to pass so close to the wall is because they can pass a tight wall pass. I've also heard that they USE to pass stationary but then it was too boring for TV so they changed the rule. Maybe old timer Tim can clarify on that. |
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hmm, let me see... is this a post or an email?  Well prior to playing on tornado's we had tournaments on pro soccer - pin passes were legal on that table and there was no limit on how many times you could go to the wall by my recollection. I do have an old rule book so I could look it up sometime. As far as I can remember we never have had dead ball passes allowed. However while playing on kicker tables in germany dead ball passes were allowed but that was a real funky table. It was affectionatly reffered to as "the piece of sh^t" I enjoyed it though :) as it was unlike most other tables I ever played on. Most of the time Jurgen and I just laughed as we played, it was a hoot! |
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So it sounds like the rule is bunk. You guys can already do what the rule is preventing without stopping the ball. Sure its a little harder, but not by much. It seems a lot more likely that it was to prevent the game from being boring to watch as Nelson says. But I also find it boring to watch tournament level play where they stop the ball with their 3 man and take a long time to shoot, so should they ban that too?? |
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1. You can't pin/stop a ball on 5 man, and then pass to 3 man. This is obvious to me. If I had the ball in a pin on my 5 bar, I would just keep rocking it in the backpin until either the downhill or the uphill opened up. I think done right, the passing percentage would be near 100%. Definately a huge advantage to pass this way. Because its in a pin, its already in the perfect position for the brush, and the downhill would just be screaming fast every time forcing the guy on the wall constantly, leaving the open every time. 2. You can't knock off the side wall twice on 5 man before shooting or passing. Another no brainer to me. If I am knocking it off the wall continously I can just keep tapping it until the guy is at a distance where he cant race my downhill. Ideally, this is another 100% pass. For reference, look at any good 2 bar passer who uses this pass style (tony spree, jeff pipken jr. I know of off hand) - these guys are nearly 100% everytime. Huge advantage. To me, the elimination of the deadball pass and the creation of reasonable time limits made the game more interesting to watch. And if it was up to me, the whole game would be 1 ball rollerball. For the most part, I hate any sort of deadball playstyle. |
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Bah. I can't edit. I mean leaving the open lane at the end of the first paragraph. When I played at home before I started going to tournaments, I never used rules, they just take the fun out of the game. Only if you start playing tournaments should you care. |
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That's what this is for  |
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Jeff is correct. Before those rules came in, passing was virtually 100%. There was no ability to play defense against the five bar. People would put the ball in play and it would end up on their three bar. Took a big part of the game away and led to a very boring style. Having rules that force you to move the ball from man to man and pass it while it is still rolling, makes it harder to pass as consistently and as accurately. This means that defending against five bar passes is possible and, as a result, the game has more dimensions and is more entertaining. Without having seen the level of play and faced people who pass the dead balls or the pin passes it is very hard to appreciate this distinction. Nevertheless, the rules are there for, in my opinion, very good reasons. Without them, the game would be much less entertaining to play or to watch. |
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Like I said. 2 to 5 series is different cause you can use the same guy for bouncing the ball off the wall and passing. Once you have to switch guys to pass from 5 to 3, rebounds off the wall are not better than a quick tic tac. |
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