Topic: A time Question

[Steve]

After a point is scored how long befor play has to start on the next ball.Can you step away and take a drink without useing a timeout?

[Rob Scanlon]

25. Delay of Game
Play shall be continuous, except during time outs. Continuous shall be defined as no more than 5 seconds duration between a ball scored and the beginning of the ready protocol. A delay of game penalty may only be called by an official

[papafoos]

In a tournament setting, you could probably get away with a quick sip provided it wasn't distracting.  Keep in mind, some players are looking for a reason to bitch and you shouldn't try getting a drink after every ball.

In a bar setting, get the feel for how the other players are doing it.  Serious players want to play under tournament conditions for the most part, but in a bar setting, it's not unusual to take a drink between balls, chatter a bit, or point out any interesting sights walking by  and still observe the tournament ambiance.  Less serious players might take a drink in the middle of a shot.  So it all boils down to how the current crowd is playing.

[bbtuna]

if you are playing in a tournament, you need to abide by tournament rules or however the tournament director wants to play them because they have ultimate power at tournaments...vast majority will follow standard rule set

http://www.table-soccer.org/rules/documents/ITSFRulesEnglish.pdf

specific rules for time between are as stated in the Delay of game rule but in practical terms, if you randomly grabbed for a drink of water or something in between as long as you weren’t milking it, no one is likely to say anything…now if you take your time and do it after every ball that is another thing and that is why the rule is written

BAR RULES (fun time BAR RULES) are another thing, especially when it comes to time outs...you have to have an agreement with the people you are playing with or rules adopted by that bar location or it could get ugly...

we play the "one sip rule" (thanks Bill) between balls or ball off the tables, any or all players can take "one sip" of their drink without it counting as an "official" time out...time between games is sort of negotiable...depends on who needs a drink or to go to the bathroom...we try and get people to do this when they are not up to play next but hey, some times, when you are “having fun” what are you going to do?

With that said, under normal “One Sip” rules, you should know you can have 2 or 3 sips between games

there are of course exceptions, some have been mentioned, others are location specific...like we have pool playes too close so some times there is the pool cue in the butt time out which also doesn't count and the table is quite close to other tables and when the place is busy, sometimes we have play stoppage times outs for "crowding"

[Steve]

My reason for asking is one player is a by the rules player the rest dont care ,like you said as long as it is not milked ,he got mad said it nothing less than cheating and we heard it all night .Then something else happened and we heard that all night.I like to play by the rules but a little bending won`t hurt in a Bar tournament oh well I guess you don`t know a person until you play them in foosball.