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Foosball Rules You Need to Know About

Rajib Singha
Foosball is a simple game, and its rules easy to follow and put into practice. Read to know more about this popular game.
Foosball is also known as table football. The game has been around for years, and still now it holds great popularity among people who fancy it.
Harold Searles Thorton can be regarded as the father of foosball, as he was its inventor. It was invented back in the year 1922, and got patented in 1923. The figures which are used to play the game are known as foosmen, and they are arranged as goalkeeper, defense, attackers, and players in the mid field, as in a regular football match.

Foosball Rules and Regulations
The match starts by flipping a coin. The winning team gets the option of either going for the first serve, or choosing the side of the table they want to play from.
For instance, if a team chooses the side of the table, then the other team gets the chance of doing the first serve.
For serving the ball, there are serving holes on each side of the table. The player must place the ball into the hole and push it onto the table, or the ball can be simply placed by hand at the feet of a figure at the center of the table.
A score can be done only after the ball has been touched with a foosman. After the goal has been scored, the scoring team gets the next serve.
An important rule of the game is, the ball must touch the field, before it touches the player. In some cases, the ball may get knocked off the playing table and hit the player or other objects.
In such cases, the ball is declared to be a 'dead ball'. When this occurs, the team who scored last gets the reserve. A dead ball may also occur if the ball stops and is far away from the reach of any foosman. In this case, as well, the reserve will go to the team who scored last.
One of the rules of foosball is 'timeout'. There will be two timeouts for each team. During these timeouts, the players have the privilege of leaving the table. However, the period must not exceed 30 seconds.
It has to be known that a timeout may not be called at any time.
It is legal to call for it only when a dead ball has occurred, i.e., the ball has been knocked off the table or has completely stopped moving. It becomes illegal to call for a timeout when the ball is in play.
Then there is change in position. In a doubles game, players are allowed to swap their positions only during a timeout, when a goal is scored, or a technical foul is called. The ball can be kept in possession of a foosman for a period of only 15 seconds, and not more than that.
Spinning of a rod is prohibited. Spinning occurs when any foosman is rotated more than 360 degrees in order to strike the ball.
If a goal is scored with the help of spinning, then it will be declared as a dead ball, and will be reserved again. If the ball has been hit by spinning and does not go into the goal, then the opposing team gets the chance of continuing the play from the current position, or for a reserve.
If spinning of a rod makes a suicide goal, then the point will be scored by the opposing team. A spin is not considered illegal if it has not managed to hit or advance the ball, but it may be taken as an element of distraction by the judge.
If a ball hits the goal and bounces back to the playing field, it is still considered as a point. Jarring, sliding, or lifting of the table is also considered illegal. There are predetermined scores before the start of the game. Typically, there are 5, 10, or 11 goals, which when scored determines the winning team. In some games, target points are eleven.