As Henry and Brandon carried the Foosball table out of the Lounge, we bid farewell to an era. With its departure, hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of memories and enjoyment left a feeling of emptiness within us. All of the best of sevens won and lost, the money-matches, and the trash-talking (I'm looking at you, Josh ;) ) would never be the same anymore. We never asked for any of this; we were content with our Foosball lives as they were. But times change, and eventually so did our beloved Foosball table.
Just as the old table left, a new one took its place. To a bystander, it is a complete upgrade. Most notably, the table doesn't look like it came out of dumpster. With its polished wooden frame and strengthened interior, there aren't many competitors on the market that could surpass its build and beauty. The table almost looks out of place in the Lounge, giving off an aura of dignity and cleanliness; words I'm sure no one can attest to when describing the Lounge. Furthermore, the table offers a new squad of players controlled by wooden handles (in contrast to the taped-together players and rubber handles of the old table), increasing their endurance so we don't resort to replacing them with playing cards folded in on themselves as a substitute.
However, to us Foosballers, the table is unanimously regarded as a downgrade. Yes, we agree that the table looks and feels nice, but all we care about is gameplay, and in that aspect the new table is lacking. Unlike the concave surface of the old table, this table's surface is flat. Slightly tapping the ball causes it to move across rows, meaning trapping (an important tactic where you control the ball through moving it parallel to the goals) is near impossible, lowering the skill expression of the game and negating the role of the "three" row by a large factor. Furthermore, the flat surface makes the ball prone to getting stuck a lot, requiring us the physically move it with our hands, which is a big nuisance and slows the pace of the game. As a result, I've seen a decrease in the number of games played and overall enjoyment between us. The hierarchy that first brought order to the table for now has been abolished as we struggle to reestablish what drew us to the table in the first place: a few minutes of pure excitement and unpredictability.
Nevertheless, we're a determined group and won't give up at this slight inconvenience. If we can't have the old table back, why not turn the new table into our old one? For obvious reasons we can't physically alter the table itself and risk destroying it, so we've resorted to modding it in various ways. While we decide on a way to return the table surface to a concave state, we've dismantled one of the Lounge's tissue boxes and used it to add slopes to the areas that infringe on the ball getting stuck the most. Furthermore, we've also removed/reduced each row's rubber sidings to give players an increased range of motion and allow them to hit the ball from any part of the table.
While we wait for more modifications to take place, a new gamemode has come to light: two ball doubles. Played in 2-3 minute sessions, the team to score the most goals or get both balls into the goal at the same time wins. Although this mode takes away from the "skill/organization" of one ball doubles, the unpredictability of two balls is a necessary sacrifice to counteract the slower pace games are being played at. So far, I've enjoyed play-testing this gamemode even if I have to compromise my skills built from hundreds of hours on the old table. However, it's only been a week since the gamemode's conception, so there aren't many opinions on it as of now.
As uncomfortable playing on the new table makes me and as much as I wish for us to go back to the old one, I'm optimistic to see the outcome once we mod it to our content. However, as ordinary human beings we will forever complain about the new and reminisce about the old.
Below are my quantified opinions on the tables. What are your thoughts?
OLD TABLE NEW TABLE
BUILD: D A
GAMEPLAY: A C till further improvements
ENJOYMENT: A D (B with the new gamemode)
