Topic: Best Foosball Table For 500 Bucks

[Doughy]

Hello,

I have a 500 dollar budget and I need to find a foosball table.  I know that the really nice tables are over my budget, but I still would like to find one that is solid.  I found this Deluxe Thompson online for $475:

http://www.foosballstore.com/products/description/510.cfm

Is this a decent table?  Any other suggestions?

[Will17]

you will get a barage of people telling you get a tornado coin op on here - and they are right. Nothing else comes even close for quality and you will be able to find an older one within that price range. It might take a month or two before one comes up but just keep checking and you will find one. Where do you live?

[Doughy]

you will get a barage of people telling you get a tornado coin op on here - and they are right. Nothing else comes even close for quality and you will be able to find an older one within that price range. It might take a month or two before one comes up but just keep checking and you will find one. Where do you live?

I live in Salt Lake City, UT.  The Tornado Coin-ops are almost 2000 dollars, aren't they?  Where would I get a used one?  I've already checked craigslist.

[Syronis]

Keep checking craigslist, you can also look on ebay (although shipping is a bitch). I bought a cherry coin op about a month ago for $600, with gas included, I drove an hour and a half to pick it up,  it probably cost around $680. If you have a budget of $500 right now, just save up for another couple weeks and try to increase that budget to $600, then you should be in the range of finding a nice used coin-op. As other people on here will tell you, taking your time and investing another hundred dollars or two will pay off in a table that will last you a lifetime.

[Doughy]

So, you're talking specifically about the Tornado brand coin-op, as seen in http://www.foosballstore.com/products/description/964.cfm ?

[Will17]

http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/spo/852250159.html even this one is only a G and it is in great shape. The best thing about buying a tornado coin op is you will be able to sell it for the same amount you bought it for. Something will come up on ebay or craigslist soon.

[foozkillah]

Get a coin-op..

And don't get that log table or the bathtub objet d'art foostable that bbtuna was expounding on in the other threads, or you'll get a hernia!  

[Will17]

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/spo/861645101.html you could offer this guy 500 for his older one... he has to sell two so he might go for it, and its not too far
http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/tag/834852594.html
This one is 500 but might be sold. its worth the drive to vegas though

[papafoos]

Doughy, head over to Wendover.  There's a Tornado in the gameroom at one of the casinos.  I don't remember the name of  the casino (Nugget I think).  It's across the street from the Montego Bay.(not sure of that name either)

At any rate, it doesn't look like anyone plays it.  It had a broken man and the rods were gummy.  Find out who the vendor/owner is and ask him if he would sell it.  You might get lucky.  Offer him 300 if it's still in bad shape.  If he doesn't take it, go to the casino, put your 500 on red and double your money....or not.

[bbtuna]

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BUYING A TABLE.

Tornado is proven to be the best built table ever made (Bonzini has a very long positive track record as well but it is a much more expensive table, very hard to find, and Tornado has represented 99% of all tournament foosball in the US for over 20 years)

Tornado $2000?  Never unless someone rips you off.  You can buy a “tournament used” Tornado (which means a couple tournaments and it is basically brand new) and get it shipped to your house for about $1250.  You can get a gently used Grey Marble off the private market for $900 or less.  The oldest models sell for $500 and under.  These tables are 12 years old but don’t let that stop you, they will still last a lifetime with minimal up keep.

Some of the older models may need a little maintenance but if you are careful that shouldn’t be very much to bring the table in to near perfect playing shape.  Many of these older models have been on location for 10 plus years so depending on the owner they will range in shape from little or no maintenance required to so bad it isn’t worth it.  What to look for is a separate post.

Don’t waste your money on a lower model Tornado buying the name, buy a used coin-op…they are not hard to find and they will literally last your lifetime.  Shipping should never be more than $150 and anyone wanting to charge more is trying to make up some of the cost of the item in shipping.

I obviously don’t have a life and I track coin-op table sales on eBay and below are examples of what you should be looking for…these are all sold but they are all in the price range you want.  It may take a couple of months but don’t be in a hurry, plan well, get you money ready, and be patient and you will get a table you will be very happy with.

Tornado has a brand new model coming out with a lot of changes and I suspect over the next 4 months you will see a ton of tables up for sale.  If it was me, I would save my money and plan to get a grey marble coin-op, over all, so far, my favorite table but the Brown Marble is a close second.

Use the time you search on eBay, Craigs List, and other places to save more money.  Try and squirrel a little more money each week to cover shipping or going up.  You will be looking for a Brown Marble or Cherry model…the BM is the oldest of their tables but it was probably the best built one of the bunch.  The Cherry just seems to sell for less.  I have a Cherry at home and it plays different (not that you would probably notice) but it is still a great table.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=330273997298
The shipping on this one is $375 but that just means you contact them ahead and negotiate or you plan to pick it up…this table for $300 is a steal

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=350097794291

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280264843168

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=120298226688

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=230284137935

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=300251987425

[Doughy]

Awesome.  Thanks.

My budget is stuck at near 500 because I am buying this table for a University department.  I can't really "save up."  I might be able to squeeze up to 750 though if I found a convincing deal.

[alaskan thunder]

BUY TORNADO COIN-OP ONLY. EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST A TOY!!!!!!!!

[bmtran]

Oh man, I totally feel you on the whole "buying for a university department" thing and trying to squeeze the money. But let me tell you. Anything less than that Tornado Coin-Op is really not going to cut it. I go to a school where there must be 10 tables on campus (within the dormitories, etc.) and my campus organization has the nicest table in the school. But still, it's in really really really annoying condition. It's a Tornado Cyclone II, and just through my organization playing it for only 2 years (after being played for an unknown amount of time, we bought it used), the playfield is warped (it can never be level), the pins in the men are loose (makes bouncing less "live"), the bearings are shot (I think someone used WD40), and the rods are terrifically bent.

Now I'm not saying that these things could have been fixed if it was a coin-op. But the rods probably would have lasted longer if it was the coin-op, if you take care of it well, you won't run into the problem of the bearings, the pins is a usual problem and only requires small maintenance, and I don't even know how the playfield got so messed up.

Anyway, get the coin-op. it'll serve you well.

[Will17]

http://denver.craigslist.org/tag/863857183.html

This Roberto Sport table is also one of the official tournament tables, however it is not the table used most commonly used in North America, in fact there probably has never been a tournament on this table in north america. However it is still a good table... Kind of a suprise to find it actually. I wouldn't buy it but its an option.

[bmtran]

that's strange... i saw that in the austin craigslist too...