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Knowing a few foosball tips and tricks can help you improve your game. For people who love to compete, losing is like a heartbreak, so you will always do the best you can to win the game. If you are still a beginner, you might want to look at a few simple tricks on how to play it properly.
Remember that this game is not all about luck. It requires focus and skill, so if you really want to be good at the game, you need to practice and learn how to play it properly. Here are a few simple tips and tricks to help you play foosball like a pro.
Foosball Tips and Tricks
1. Always Have a Relaxed Grip
When you are too tense while playing, there is always a tendency that you will grip the handle too tightly. That’s fine in the first few games, but you can’t let it ruin your play. This will constrict your movement, and it will slow down your response time, so you need to relax your grip and breathe a little.
Your knuckles should be on top, and your thumb should be wrapped a bit loosely on the handle. You need to put some space between your fingers and palms and the handle. This would allow you to immediately react to the shots made by your opponents and provide more power to your shots when you flick your wrists.
2. The Players Should Be a Little Inclined
It is very common for the players to be angled because this position allows them to receive the ball from the opponent once it is shot in their direction. However, take note that the angle should be different depending on the position of the players.
Midfield players and your goalie should be inclined away from the goal of the opponent. The head should incline towards your goal. This will give you better chances of blocking the shots of your opponents.
For all your attackers and defenders, they have to be inclined in the opposite direction. It means that their heads should be inclined towards their opponents. With this position, you can easily block the balls and maintain your position after you block them.
3. Vary Your Rod Movements
If you’re playing against a great foosball player, you’re going to lose if you let them notice a pattern in your defense. You need to play the defense all the time, but this is also the reason why most players subconsciously create a pattern when they are moving their defense rods. For experienced opponents, this would mean an instant score for them.
The best way to trick them is to vary your rod movements. This will prevent them from knowing where your defenders will be. It will make your move unpredictable, which would lead to mistakes on their part.
4. Start with a Single Shooting Technique
If you’re a beginner, don’t be a jack of all trades, master of none. It’s nice to have multiple offensive tactics, but you need to master one before you move to the other. For starters, you need to hone a single shooting technique before you practice others.
By mastering a single shot, you can at least have a guaranteed goal in a game. Your opponent might get the hang of it and find a way to block your shot, but getting a goal is great for your first few games. You will get more as you play foosball more often.
Practice makes perfect, so if you find a technique that will work for you, try to use it as much as possible until you completely master it.
5. Learn How to Do the Dummy Shot
This is one of the best tricks that you need to learn when playing foosball. You need to trick your opponents into thinking that you are going to make the shot. Instead of pushing the ball forward, you will stop right before you hit it and do another thing.
Take note that this technique is a bit advanced, and it would require a great amount of poise. You can position yourself like you are actually hitting the ball, but you need to stop at the last second and switch your gears. Instead of hitting the ball hard, tap it sideways and pass it to the players beside you before you take the shot.
Not everyone will fall for the trick, so you need to know the right timing to use this.
6. One Hand Should Be on the Goalie
This is one of the hardest parts of playing foosball. Your stronger hand should be handling the attack and defense, while the weaker hand should hold the goalie.
It may seem really hard at the beginning since the goalie is your last line of defense. You just need to keep practicing to make sure that you can get the hang of it. It’s fine to let a few hits from your opponents pass through the goalie, but you have to learn from your mistakes.
This will require fast reaction times and sharp reflexes, so it would take time before you can fully utilize your goalie with your weaker hand.
7. Learn the Wrist Flicks
When you take shots, you can make faster and stronger hits if you turn your wrist quickly. You’ll know that you are doing it properly if the rod turns around 180 degrees. This is the reason why you need to have a relaxed grip on the handle. It is easier to snap your wrists if you are not holding them too tightly.
By flicking your wrists, the ball will have more speed and momentum, and it would be harder for the opponents to block your shots.
You can also check our article on the 12 Pro Tips for Buying an Air Hockey Table.
Conclusion
All these foosball tips and tricks are easier said than done. Once you start doing them, you will realize that they are all very difficult. For beginners, you might need to spend a couple of hours or even days just to do a few of these tricks, but it’s part of the learning process. You cannot be good at this game in just a few days. Most professional players spend years mastering it, so if you made progress after a few days, be proud of yourself.
If you want to get yourself a foosball table and practice all these tips and tricks at home, we have a wide range of options for you to choose from.