Foosball

Foosball is one of the few sports simulations that has proven to be as deep and competition-worthy as the sport it simulates. Which, in the case of foosball, is not football. But soccer.

According to the authoritative (and makeover-worthy) site Foosball.com, "the inventor of the first foosball table was a Frenchman named Lucien Rosengart, who lived from 1880 to 1976. An employee of the Citroen automobile factory, he amassed a huge fortune through his inventive genius. He is accredited with the invention of the minicar, frontwheel drive, and the seat belt, to name a few, besides babyfoot, the original name for foosball."

Well, Lucien, you did a bang-up job of inventing. Today, according to Foosball.com, "every week 1.9 million people play a game of foosball - in the United States alone."

As you know, Foosball really has nothing at all to do with football as played in the United States, but is actually a simulation of soccer, which is called "football" by those who don't know better, and explains the existence of the North American Table Soccer Association.

If you've been away from a foosball table for too long, you might find this little virtual game of Coca Cola foosball good enough to remind you what the game is all about. If that's not enough, take a look at this video of foosball mastery, in action. For more about the strategic depths of foosball, visit the highly instructional Foos U.

Foosball is such a successful simulation that people have gone on to create simulations of it. Both "Team Foosball" and giant foosball offer larger-than-tabletop, significantly foosballish, smaller-than-soccer-field-size fun.