Jupiter table soccer - my critique:

To my foosball friends,

I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to Orlando today and checking
out the Jupiter line of foosball tables, scheduled to arrive in the
United States for sale this Spring. Johnny and Michael Giles traveled
from Belgium and met Alan Cribbs (Cribbs Inc. is the US distributor
for Jupiter tables) at the IAAPA amusement games convention. A Bonzini
B60 coin op was on display along with 2 Jupiter Euro Soccer tables.

The playing characteristics from this novice's perspective: The play
field was solid and sturdy with a one man goalie and very slightly
ramped corners. The men are a true "best of all worlds" design and
allow for any shot imaginable. The ball is synthetic, I believe 17
grams was the weight, and the foot design of the men is wedge shaped
(plastic) with waffle shaped grooves, similar to Tornado. The rods are
truly amazing. They are very lightweight, ride on ball bearings, and
can be flexed about 20 degrees and still return to straight when
released. The handles are of a dense sponge-like material - very
comfortable.

Add it all up, and you have a great mix of tic-tac friendliness, toe
shot control, ease of shooting pull/push shots with no "stubbing" and
an incredible lightness about the feel of the ball, both passing and
slamming home a power shot. Banks are easy, both from a fron and back
pin position. The only thing I didn't care for was the men are
"almost" counter balanced - they do come to rest with the foot down
but spin very freely when hit by a ball. I would like to either see a
true counterbalanced man so you can tilt them up to shoot, or increase
the foot weight a little so they can be relied on more for defense.

It was a great day and I enjoyed several pick up games with some
players. The Giles brothers were very hospitable and I wish them a
safe trip back home. Watching Michael nail goalie war shots was
extremely cool, although Alan didn't think so.........he he he!

Thanks for your time.......................Tyler