Page 26 - Tavern Players - Summer Issue 2022

Regional Foosball Tournament Regional Foosball Tournament
Foosball: The Great Format Debate
Nothing in the world gets my adrenaline pumping more than a good-old-fashioned regional foosball tournament!
By Tom Robinson
Here, in the Capital Region of New York State, we refer to it as the 518 Foosball Club Smashdown.
Maybe you have attended or know someone who has. Several times a year, we hold this all-day competition at Trick Shots Billiard Hall and Wicked Eatery in Clifton Park, New York. Players travel from all over the Northeast and it’s always intense. Following tradition, players show up and register for four main events: Amateur Doubles, DYP, Open Singles and Open Doubles. Each event is double elimination, in other words you play till you lose two matches.
26 / SUMMER 2022
With the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to suspend play for almost two years.
March 5, we held our first Smashdown of 2022. As per usual, we had a blast! This event featured the standard double elimination format, which everyone knows. Our tournament organizers, Chuck Dooley and Nino DiJohn, did their usual top-notch job in making it fun for everyone...
Sea change in foosball tournament play
Recently, a sea change in the normal way in which tournaments are formatted occurred. On February 18-20 this year, the South Florida Foosball Club stepped out
on a ledge to host the Thunderdome Limited Foosball Championship-all based on the Swiss system. This revolutionary event featured a pre-determined list of 64 players, all rated expert or below. In other words, this was a no-pro event. Technically, this was considered a regional tournament, even though players from all over the country entered.
Here’s how it went:
Players were instructed to find a partner and register in advance as a team. Since the tournament was limited to 32 teams, available slots filled up quickly.
Players were then instructed to arrive for the opening round on Friday, February 18.
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