Topic: WORLD TABLE SOCCER ALMANAC

[marty]

Hay guys and gals i got my gold collectors edition almanac yesterday by johnny lott
and kathy brainard , out standing book. not done reading yet, over 700 pages
but can tell ya so far A+ . for being out of foosball for 22 years and then starting
to play again for the last 2 years it sure has taken me back and helped to fill it
the gap that i missed . good job Johnny and Kathy

[Billings Semi-pro]

Marty,

Bring that book with next time you visit Billings.  Does the book mention Montana (from this decade) very much?

[marty]

no problem jeremy  just got started but yes see a lot of lee pepper and the first tournament soccer tornaments in missoula

[bbtuna]

anyone else order or get their book yet?  I can't wait, i love history and this documents that foosball does have history and thousands of stories to tell

[gpeters]

I'm also interested in purchasing this book sometime soon.  I have high hopes for it.  However, I read their original book from about 1981 (got it from the public library) and found it to be heavily biased towards Tournament Soccer tables.  Back in the 70's I played on Garlando, Deuschmeister, Tornado, Dynamo and TS tables.  Yet there really was nothing significant mentioned about vendors other than TS. 

From some earlier comments I've read on this website, I suspect there could be very little coverage of Tornado tables, perhaps because of some kind of past feud between Johnny L. and Valley?

I would like a complete coverage of the history of foosball.  Do you think this book delivers that?

[marty]

yes order the book it covers all of foosball from the early 1900s to now
 there is alot of history on all of the tables, and players who played them, including tornado, bonzini,ts,dinamo, in the us as well as over seas tables i have not heard off. over 700 pages

[Old Meister]

gpeters, Tournament Soccer was THE promoter of foosball back at that time. Up until then there wasn't any big tournaments. The rest were like Harvard and Sportscarft tables of today, they were there but I never saw them promote any big tourneys. Maybe other areas of the country could say differently but TS was the one in the midwest. That was the scenario Johnny Lott emerged from at the time of his first book. Foosball had just emerged out of arcades and barrooms and into the big lights as a professional sport with sizable prizes. Grandmaster and I posted about the Super Singles tournament in Minneapolis in 1977 Where there was 120 tables in a single huge hall. They had a Porche Targa as first prize! Tournament Soccer was the only manufacturer who even tried to do anything like that in the states up to that time. Tornado was just another table other than TS. It seemed a no-name table that played alright but wasn't a Tournament Soccer table.

[gpeters]

Thanks for the good info Old Meister and marty!

I think the title of their first book was a little misleading.  I read it about four months ago because I caught foosball fever again.  Instead of "The Complete Book of Foosball" it should have been titled "The Complete Book of Tournament Soccer Foosball".  I'll get their new book soon.

Old Meister, you and I are somewhat alike.  I'm 53.  I played from about 1973 to 1978 in Stevens Point and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   Back then there were so many people playing on different kinds of foosball tables in bars, dormitories and gamerooms.   I didn't have the drive and discipline to pursue tournaments ... it was just fun playing whereever I was living on what vendors tables were in the area.  Playing in bars was a much different mindset from tournament play.

I didn't play too much on TS tables, but when I did,  I thought they were built to last forever.  I think they first appeared in Milwaukee around 1975.  TS was trying to capture the market from Dueschmeister?, Tornado and Dyanamo in the bar scene.

I recently started going to a very good foosball bar in Denver, Colorado.  Eck's Saloon.  They play on Tornado tables in weekly Friday night tournaments that draw about 30-40 people.    There are many excellent players there and I'm more disciplined at trying to learn things from them.   I don't think I have the time, nor the skill, to realistically pursue any kind of ranking (rookie, semipro, etc...) in official tournaments, but I still enjoy playing the game.