TABLE FOOTBALL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8091, 8 January 1903, Page 1

TABLE FOOTBALL.

A very amusing, albeit difficult, game has recently been placed upon the market for the benefit of those who have tired of the;joys of ping-pong, and seek fresh amusements that can be played at home in the long winter evenings. It is called ■''table football," and is a clever adaptation of the national game. It is played by two or more persons on an ordinary dining-room table. To commence a game the long wires should first be straightened with the fingers and the nets or goals clipped on to the centre ofeaeh end of a table. The disc representing the ball is then laid at 6n the centre of the table, the players taking their positions each behind agoal and holding the wires so that the wooden foot of the striker is just touching the disc, the object of each player being to place the disc in his opponent's goal. A player is only allowed to touch the disc with" the wooden end of the striker. Should he touch the disc with the wire, his own hand, or anything other than the end of the striker, his opponent must call "hands," and he is entitled to a "free kick." If the disc rolls off the table play is started from the centre again. If a player sends the disc sliding off the table his opponent is entitled to a "free kick." A "free kick" is an. uninterrupted shot taken six inches from the edge where the disc left the table, or in the case of "hands" from the point where the disc was last touched. When a player is taking a free kick his opponent must rest the end of the striker on the edge of the table immediately in front of his goal, and is not entitled to advance until the disc has been moved or touched. Three goals are reckoned as a game, or the winner can be determined bv the number of goals scored in a definite time to be arraneed before starting.