Tips and Tricks for Foosball / Table Soccer

Bonzini And Rene Pierre Foosball Tables

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The French Foosball tables are built for the European Foosball playstyle more than the US playstyle. In a lot of European countries, the Bonzini table is set to be the standard tournament table.

Bonzini and Rene Pierre Foosball Tables

The French football tables are characterized by their relatively soft linoleum-coated play surfaces and their telescopic rods to which the players are attached.

You usually play with cork balls on the French tables. The texture of the cork and the softer surfaces of the tables makes it easier to control and maneuver the ball. French table football tables are therefore very versatile and easy to play for the vast majority.

In addition, the tables with their telescopic rods have the great advantage that the rod with the aluminum players moves back and forth outside a fixed rod, instead of the players being attached to a rod stitched directly through a hole in the football table. This avoids being hit with a pole during a game if you are inattentive!

Versatile and popular in Europe

French foosball tables typically come with a green linoleum playing surface. The playing surfaces of linoleum are characteristic of being softer than many other of the materials on the market that are used for foosball. For example, Italian producers typically use glass for their play areas, which is a hard and relatively slippery material compared with linoleum.

A linoleum playing field increases friction or resistance to the ball compared to other harder surfaces. In practice, this means that the ball will be somewhat easier to control on a French foosball table than on where the playing surface has a tougher coating. On some models of foosball tables, the field is painted with, so the playing field resembles a ‘real’ soccer field.

Tables made by French producers Rene Pierre and Bonzini are typically also manufactured with telescopic bars, as the player figures made of aluminum are mounted on. Telescopic bars have the advantage that they are not pierced through a hole in the side of the table, as seen on other types of tables.

If you play on a French table without these so-called through bars, it’s completely avoided that you will be striking the opponent in your stomach but a pole! This will also prevent you from doing the same to you when you least expect it! Because there are fewer risks of injury when playing with telescopic bars, the French should be able to make favorites among parents and educators in the youth club.

Foosballs for French Tables


The French table football tables are typically supplied with cork balls, and this type of balls have also traditionally been used on the French tables. The cork balls, unlike plastic balls, have the characteristic that they absorb more of the shock, in addition to being more compressible than the balls of plastic.

Furthermore, cork balls are also slightly heavier than plastic balls, which makes the balls slower on the pitch than if plastic balls were used. This, combined with the linoleum playing surface, influences the style of the French tables, which can be termed calmer and more controlled than on other types of foosball tables.


The Style of Play on French Foosball Tables

The special features of the French tables mentioned above mean that buying a French table is a really good place to start if you have not tried the game before and you want to be very good at it. This is all because the linoleum coatings of the tables and the use of cork balls create a play style that is fun and allows greater control than, for example, Italian tables that have glass surfaces. Having said that, it does result in you get tired of playing on the tables of Rene Pierre or Bonzini, rather on the contrary.

On French foosball tables, you can perform all the tricks and technical features you need and make the game really fun to win. With the bigger ball control on the French foosball tables compared with other types of tables, you can be sharp at your clever and technical shot, you can make ‘pull & push shots’ where you drag and push the ball to the side of your players and confuse the opponent’s goalie before hitting the ball in the box and taking winning the match.


Bonzini and Rene Pierre are the Biggest Producers of French Foosball Tables


The 2 biggest and most popular French brands of foosball tables are Bonzini and Rene Pierre. Bonzini is probably the best-known company of the two and has also produced high-quality football tables for almost 100 years.

Bonzini tables hit the difficult balance between quality and price. If you are looking for a slightly more upscale French foosball table, then the other great French producer, Rene Pierre, can be considered.


Bonzini produces tables for both commercial and private use. Many foosball tables on bars in the city with coin throws are with a probability made by Bonzini. You can recognize Bonzini tables for commercial use because the name of the table begins with ‘B60’ as opposed to private use tables, where the design number begins with the B90.


Bonzini’s headquarters and production unit is located in Bagnolet, located on the outskirts of Paris. About 40 employees work around 5000 tables each year. With almost 100 years of history at Bonzini, they know what works.

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Like Bonzini, Rene Pierre produces foosball tables with telescopic bars and linoleum-coated play surfaces. However, Rene Pierre has won a reputation for producing some of the most refined and elegant tables in the world. This is largely due to the fact that the materials and woods used for Rene Pierre dishes are even better than the other producers’ tables in the market.


Rene Pierre’s tables are of superb quality, but the price level for these football tables is also higher than that of other manufacturers. On the other hand, you will also get a table that you can use with your friends and families over the next decades and you will be able to sell again. However, Rene Pierre also produces a variety of models at a more “normal” price range and also for children, in addition to having coins and tournament tables, so that all market needs of Rene Pierre should be covered.


Rene Pierres headquarters and factory are located in the eastern part of France in the Chalon sur Saône area. The tables in Rene Pierre stores across France and in addition, Rene Pierre has a number of international distributors covering the rest of the world. That way, we can all enjoy playing on a world-class table from Rene Pierre.

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