Foosball Replacement Players – What To Buy & How To Change

A full set of replacement foosball players can cost between $30 and $200, depending on the quality you purchase

What should you look for in the best replacement Foosball Players? It should be made from ABS Plastic, Counter-balanced, with a cross-hatch pattern on the foot, which should also have a slight curve. Read this article to find out more.

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Foosball Players – Foosball Accessories – Replacement Foosball Parts

The players in the foosball pitch are called different names by different people, these include

“foosball players, Foosball Man, foosball figures, foosball guys, foosball table men, foosball table players, foosball replacement man, soccer player figurines, foosball table guys, foosball table men, foosball player.”

But they all refer to the same thing, the guys in the photo below.

Best Foosball Replacement Players

There are many great foosball table replacement players on the market. The best are the robotic style players introduced by Tornado.

These are counterbalanced and have feet with a cross hatch for greater control, the foot is rectangular and slightly tilted. These features combined give much better ball control when compared to standard Foosball Men.

Replacement Foosball Players – Should I Replace All The Foosball Players?

The foosball player is one of the most critical pieces on the Foosball Table, it controls the quality and experience when you are playing. (The other main two are the quality of the Foosball Pitch, and the quality of the Foosball).

Good quality Foosball Table Men are especially important for skilled players, as the foot quality is required for competent play.

Reasons To Replace The Foosball Players

1) You are a skilled player, or trying to become an experienced player, and the men you currently have on your table are only of low or medium quality.

If this is the case, then you should think about changing all the players on your table to a high-quality player, of the types specified above, with cross-hatched pointed feet, and are counterbalanced.

2) You have some damaged players, cracked or chipped, which will cause some shots to go astray. Here, you will probably want to buy just a few men to replace the damaged Foosball Players.

When replacing just a few men, attempt to get replacements that are the same quality as the men that are already on the table. The feet and balancing should be the same as the other men. These are more important than the color of the players.

If you replace two broken men on one side with high-quality players, and your opponent has poor quality players, then you will be at an advantage for ball control.

If you are considering replacing the damaged Foosball Players with high-quality players, then replacing the other low-quality players at another time, then really to make the game fair you should the identical players on the opposing side with high-quality players as well. That way both players are playing with teams of an equal strength.

Replacement Foosball Player Styles

Foosball players also come in several different styles

Traditional Players

Traditional Foosball Players are players that have been designed with the look of the player in mind rather than how well you can play with these players. A common mistake of the rookie to Foosball id to choose players based on the look rather than how well you can play with them.

Table producers know that many people prefer tables based on how the men look, which is why there are so many of these tables still around (Especially at the lower end of the market). As mentioned earlier, you should not worry too much about what the players look like. This type of design is usually the worst and should be avoided if possible.

When Foosball Tables were first produced, this was the style of man on all the tables. The original players had a rounded foot; this should be avoided at all costs, as you cannot make accurate shots when the players have this style of foot.

Later on, a type of Traditional Foosball Player was introduced that had a more rectangular shaped foot. This significantly increased the accuracy of the traditional type of player. However, these players are still nothing like as accurate as the style of players in the other categories.

Tornado Players

Tornado Players were the first Foosball Players to be counter-balanced, be made of high-quality ABS plastic and manufactured with a lot of thought given to the design of the foot, allowing for a much higher level of play. This foot had a cross-hatch design that is slightly tilted, allowing greater control and accuracy.

These players are thought by most people to be some of the best Foosball players that you can get today. A lot of Championship and World Championship Foosball Tournaments are played using the Tornado Foosball Player.

Tornado Players usually have teams in Yellow and Black colors, and have a robotic look to them, which is still very popular up to the present day.

Robotic Players

Robotic Foosball Players get their name as they usually resemble robots rather than men.

This type of players are very similar to the Tornado foosball men in design but are made by other manufacturers. Have very little detail on the players, usually counterbalanced, ABS Plastic, and hatch curved feet.

What To Look For In A Replacement Foosball Player?

Should I Replace All The Foosball Players?

There are three things to look for when choosing new Foosball Players, Foot Design, Counter-Balanced players, and design on the men. The design of the men is not that important; do not let this become a deciding factor. To play skilfully, you must have a counter-balanced man, with a well-designed foot.

Foosball Player Foot Design

The first and most important thing to think about when looking for replacement foosball players is the design of the foot. You need to be looking for players that have cross-hatching with pointed toes. This allows for much better gripping, precise ball control, and make taking great shot far easier.

Players with rounded feet can shoot the ball in any direction when you shoot at goals, and making ball control much more difficult. Smooth feet also have less grip, again reducing the ball control.

The toe on the traditional man is not just rounded on the bottom; it also lacks a cross-hatching grip pattern that is available on the Tornado style man. This cross-hatching is extremely important for catching, passing, pinning the ball against the table, and overall ball control.

As you can easily tell from the zoomed in version of the foosball player’s toe below, this is a significant factor in being able to play the game at an advanced level.

Counterweighted Foosball Players

Counterbalanced foosball players are players where the top half weighs the same as the bottom half. This means that the player is far better balanced and when you let go of a bar, the men will remain in a horizontal position.

When the men are not counterbalanced, the heavier end will sink because of gravity and your players may impede your shots.

This style of player is usually more substantial than standard players; this means that you can take harder shots with them.

In Competitions and Tournaments, you should always have counterbalanced men

The Men Are A Suitable Size For Your Table

Most table on which you can replace the players have players of a standard size so that you can use just about any replacement. But you will need to check that your match either by measuring them or reading the manual.

Specifications of a standard Foosball Player
• Rods are 5/8”
• The hole is 5/8” or 16mm
• Player Height is 4.2” or 107mm

Foosball Replacement Players

Replacing Foosball guys on your Foosball Table should not be too much of a problem, and can be carried out by most people with even a little practical skill.

Foosball Replacement Parts

The following is a list of the replacement parts that may be needed

Foosball Table Replacement Players

The most obvious thing that you need when thinking of replacing Foosball Guys are the replacement men.

Replacement Pins (Optional)

The pins hold the men to the bar. Most good quality replacement Foosball Guys come with new pins, and often the old pins can be reused.

However, these are inexpensive, so it may be worth getting a few in case there are problems with the old ones.

Replacement Bearings (Optional)

The bearings are the part inserted into the holes in the table that hold the bars in place.

With the bars moving at high speeds through them while playing, they eventually will wear out. These again are very cheap, so if yours are showing signs of wear and tear, it may be worth changing these while you are replacing the men.

Required Tools

You do not need a lot of specialist tools to change the Foosball Guys on your table, but before you do anything check and see which you are going to need!

Foosball Pin Punch / Hammer / Screwdriver

High-end tables usually have men attached to the bar with a pin. If this is the case on your table, then you will need a Hammer and a pin punch. The Pin Punch is something for you to hammer against when pushing the pins into the rod. Inexpensive if you have to buy one.

Wooden Block To Support The Rods

You do not want to put a lot of pressure on the rods/bars and risk bending them, while you are changing the men on your table.

Some tables come with a support block that you can put under the bar. This fits precisely between the bar and bottom of the table, so when you apply pressure, the block stops bending and buckling in the bar.

If you do not have this, use a piece of wood cut to the right size to support the bar when pressure is applied.