foosball.com Rules

Foosball can be played at many different levels. From college dorms, home entertainment rooms, at a YMCA, at offices and at tournaments around the world! There are 100,000's of people who play foosball in tournaments every year in the world, and who knows how many space aliens are playing every day. We have provided some rules of play for you to use. Please select the "level" of play you want or how restrictive of rules you would like to operate under. Did you know they have referees judge matches at the higher levels of play?

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Full "Official" Rules of Play for Tournaments. These are the complete rules used in the USA for Tornado Style "USTSA" Tournaments. Bonzini rules can be found here. Have a rules question? Email an Official!	Simplified/Abridged Tournament Rules of Play. Same rules for tournaments, just written in human language and shortened to cover only one page. This is great if you want to learn the rules but don't want to deal with all the big wordy stuff.
Basic Rules of Foosball. You want to play but you don't want to deal with all the technicalities! Here are the 3 Golden Rules! I. Tables have 9 Balls, so you play best out of 9 which is first team to 5 goals. II. If a ball goes into the goal legally, it is a point, no matter who hit it. III. NO SPINNING THE RODS!!! IV. Here are some more rules you should 'try' to use as well! 1. Coin toss to see who serves first. 2. Serve the ball through the hole any way you want, but you must touch the ball with a man before you score. 3. After goals, team scored UPON serves the ball. 5. Ball off the table is given to the team last scored UPON. 6. If the ball stops moving and you can't reach it, "Dead Ball" give it to the team last scored UPON. 7/8. You can call 'Time Out' if you have the ball. Make sure the other team is ready before you call 'Time In'. 16. You can't reach into the table for the ball while it is in play. 20. Be polite, no swearing, and have fun. 22. You can only have the ball for 15 seconds in any one place. Have a rules question? Email an Official!