#9 LET THERE BE LIGHT

This FAQ can be distributed, emailed, faxed and printed by anyone, anywhere. It will be posted occasionally in alt.sport.foosball. I do not use a spell checker, and frequently do not make sense. These are my theories on the art of foosball. I have no scientific studies or data to back up these ideas but I think you'll find them logical and useful.

Don't you hate bars with foosball tables lit by candle light. I mean these tables are in the corner and Gus the owner is too cheep to use anything stonger then a Scoobie Doo Night Light to brighten up the table. Don't you foos venders hate kissing the butt of Budweiser just to get them to put up a beer light...and it always takes months to get one and the pool tables always get priority. And how about those locations with 30' ceilings where you have to buy 60' of chain and an extention ladder just to hang a light over a table...and as soon as you get it up the owner says "I think we want to move the table 5' to the right" AAAUUUGGGHHH.

A well light table easily makes 10%-25% more income and I want to share with you the famous FOOSBALL FANATIC LIGHT. After years of torture with lighting above, I decided I needed a better lighting system. Johnny Lott had the right idea with the light connected to the table on the electronic Stryker...but this would be expensive. Here are the plans for the Foosball Fanatic $30 Super Light.

FOOSBALL FANATIC SUPER-LIGHT INSTRUCTIONS

PARTS

• (2) 1.5"x8' Black PVC Pipe...like for sprinklers and gardens and plumbing
• (2) 1.5" Black PVS C-Corners
  
• (4) 1.5" Brackets Clamps
  
• (1) 48" Shop Fluorescent Light
  
• (1) Can of PVC Glue
  
• (2) Eye Hooks
  
• Some Screws

OK, all of the above materials can be found at a hardware store like Home Depot.

CONSTRUCTION

Cut one of the 8' PVC Pipes in half. I choose black PVC because it looks better than white but you could use white too. The second piece of PVC should be cut to the length of the table...56"...the 40" piece remaining is scrap.

Glue the three pieces together with the C-corners to form a giant "U"...The 48"goes into the C...the other end of the C gets the 56"..the end of the 56" gets another C and the other 48" goes ito the open end of the C...Glue these all together...Giant U is all we are after. One of my buddies "Jesus" like to use screws as opposed to PVC glue so he can take them apart...I personally feel the Glue makes a stronger frame. Another dude has also altered teh design and is using 2" Pipes and C's for extra sturdiness..but I've never had a problem with the 1.5"

OK, Now let's mount the "U" to the table... You need a backet that can be tightened around the pipes and also has a whole to be screwed to the table. The only draw back to this light is you have to make 4 small screw holes in your table...but they are on the sides and they are the same as the holes used for the ashtrays. You need to mound 2 brackets on each side of the table. 2 will keep the light straight.

IMPORTANT You also must make sure to mount both brackets on the bottom half of the table. If you mount one on the top and one on the bottom then you cannot open your table. If you mount both on the top the light will whip around when the table is opened. With the bracket on the bottom the light stays stable, and is tall enought for the table to be opened without bonking the light.

So now you should have a foos table with a black upsidedown "U" going over it.
Now put to Eyehooks into the U. Now attach your Shop Light to the Eyehooks.

Here is an ASCII Attempt at drawing the beast. You might have to do some finagling to see the picture.

Or better yet here are some Pictures.

        <- 56" (1.5") PVC Pipe>
   |--------------------------------|<-- "C" PVC Corner | || || /="=========================\" || || Light || || || <-- 48" (1.5") PVC Pipe on both sides || || || || || |---------------------------| || || | | || || | FOOSBALL TABLE | || ||+| |+||<-- One Bracket here || | | || ||+|---------------------------|+||<-- One Bracket here 

When finished the light looks great.
And, you will have the brightest tables in the world.

EXTRA TRICK

Another extra cool trick is to buy two 48" Fluorescent tube covers... these slide over the light and then if then are hit by a ball they are better protected.

The Cord...You can run the cord down the outside of the pipe and secure it with some zip ties, like the ones they handcuff crooks on Cops with and then use extension cords...this works good if you have your foosball near walls so people won't step on lose electrical cords. You can also drill a giant hole in the PVC to run the plug down. You can drill a small hole and play Mr. Lectrian by disconnecting the cord from the light to feed it through the small hole. You can also cut a half inch slot at the top of the PVC...then put the cord through the slot before you glue on a corner C...this leaves only a tiny hole and you don't need electrical work.

Feel free to send your shareware fee to A.D. ;)

Good Luck, and thanks for reading FOOSBALL FANATIC