I used to play professional foosball. Played in the 94 world championships in Dallas. Imagine 150 foosball tables in one big room.
The control level is extreme. Possession and the 5 bar is critical. Single player matches are insane, doubles is incredibly coordinated with passing between defense to offense.
The biggest difference between pinball is the chance to practice. Shooting against a goal without another player is technical, like hitting a ramp in pinball repeatedly, but without a defense moving the goal rods back and forth, you miss out on the mental game, decision making and timing the shots.
The other huge difference is the learning curve. The only way to learn well is to play, which requires 1-3 other players. In pinball you can learn a lot by playing by yourself, watching tutorials, etc.
But the biggest difference is the skill level between rookie, intermediate, expert and pro levels. As a rookie I could destroy any great college / frat player. And I’d get destroyed by intermediate/expert players. In a major tourney I saw the best players in my area get destroyed by the pros. In pinball, anyone can win a game, but in foosball that’s really not the case. It can discourage new players and eventually did me in too.
The other difficulty is keeping tables on location. Anyone may play pinball machines in a bar or public location. Individuals are not going to drop coins in a foosball table and the frequency of pick up games is very low unless you have a good player base, but is far more rare than pinball. I used to operate 3 locations and 2 weekly tournaments. Eventually those went away when player numbers dropped.
Eventually I found pinball and have never been happier with a competitive game and awesome player base.
We need some tornado foosball tables at replay fx next year and I’ll challenge anyone too some good games. Would love to show off some moves, maybe get some good games in with some other former foosball players.