Warrior just came out with a new table which they're promoting as "the best foosball table in the world!" and are advertising a new tour, including the 30K Rocky Mountain Open. I figured, OK, I'll take my vacation time by going to Colorado to celebrate my 62nd birthday and try out this Warrior table. I haven't played in a tournament in 20+ years so this seemed like a good idea. Also, since I find a rollover/snake shot to be unblockable and Warrior is going to ban the shot, I thought this would at least relieve me of that worry. So I go to their website and read the rules and what do you know, the snake is only banned in the open events, not the pro and under events. Even worse, they have a new, incredibly dumb rule prohibiting fast play! Get this, you have to have your hand on the rod for at least 1 full second before you can advance the ball!! So fast, rocket-ball style players like me, and a lot of other people, have to abandon their playing style and wait for the sloth across the table to mosey on back to the goalie position before we can shoot. If, during a singles game, the ball is loose and flying around the table and lands within reach of your 3man rod, and the opponent isn't back there yet, YOU CAN'T SHOOT!!! You have to put your hand on the rod and wait a LOOOONG second before coming back to life.
A second is a long time in foosball. Lots of people play the Italian style fast game. Eliminating this style from tournament play is unfair, unnecessary and just plain stupid. If someone isn't capable of adjusting to an opponents fast playing style they shoud take up pool. And as for the snakeshot rule, why is the snake/rollover prohibited in one level of play but not the others? is it a legitimate shot or not? Apparently, Warrior doesn't know. This is weak and lame and unprofessional.
Tornado has nothing to fear from Fireball or Warrior. Fireball abandoned it's customers in this country and Warrior doesn't know what it's doing. I hope they both fail. All Tornado has to do is stay the course and sit back and watch the competition self destruct. As for me, I'm going the the Tornado Nationals in St. Louis and play as fast as I can.