When I moved in , those guys couldn't shoot at ali,
so I'd teach them how to shoot the shots, give them
a goal to shoot at. Then a month or two after I'd
been in that location, we would run a tournament
just to see how they'd improved.
PLAY METER: But you'd spend a lot of time
teaching the kids the various shots, yourself,
personally?
HOINES: Well, it depended upon the location. If
they were just beginning you might have to go
there once a week for a month or so. It doesn't take
too long. You can get one guy trained and he'll train
the rest.
PLAY METER: You are now considering going into
a full-time route operation, right?
HOINES: Oh yes. I'd like to quit work in January
and go into a full -time operation. If I can't do that,
I'll have to stick with it until May. I am definitely
going to quit in May. You need to promote foosball
to make it work: exhibitions, tournaments and
advertisement of the big, out of state tournaments,
the big money tournaments.
PLAY METER: What do you think would happen
to foosball if none of that happened, if nobody
promoted it?
HOINES: Well, I think if a guy was a good player, if
he knew all the shots, he could still promote it on his
own at a local level. We're trying to get it promoted
more in the state right now. I'm trying to start a
state foosball association. I've got the names of
most of the players across the state that really take
it seriously. I'm going to send them a letter to see if
they want to join a South Dakota Table Soccer
Association, charge them about $5.00 to join. Then
either through the mail or at one of these
tournaments, we can elect officers and the officers
can take over and try to get it going. Eventually I'd
like to see us run a state tournament. This will keep
interest high.
PLA Y METER: Who would sponsor that tour-
nament?
HOINES: The Association. We're going to try to
get the vendors to join too, but it would be an
associate membership for them. We would charge
them about five or six times as much as the
players for a membership, but' it will be to their
advantage to join because they'll be promoting the
game that way. Also we're planning a once-a-month
newsletter and we'll allow all the vendors to
advertise in the newsletter as long as it has to do
with foosball.
PLAY METER: How far along has this association
gotten?
HOINES: Well, it's just gotten to where I'm getting
the names of all the guys, and the guys know I'm
going to do this.
PLAY METER: How about the other operators?
What do you think their reaction is going to be to
this plan of yours?
HOINES: I think it's going to be positive. The only
thing that might prevent its being positive is if they
figure Tournament Soccer might be pushing it. But
we're going to try to keep that out, to go strictly
foosball and not any trade names.
PLAY METER: What's going to happen when you
have the tournament? What brand of tables are you
going co use?
HOINES : The players would decide that. I think in
South Dakota, they'd either go Deutschmeister or
Tournament Soccer because that's what there
are across the state. But I think they'll go
Tournament Soccer myself.
PLAY METER: What about the operators that
aren't Tournament Soccer operators? What kind of
co-operation could you expect from them then?
HOINES: Well, eventually I think a guy could show
to them that Tournament Soccer is doing something
for foosball where the other distributors really
aren't. They're doing the promotion and they're
trying to improve their table so it has more player
appeal. And if a table has more player appeal, more
money goes into that table and that's more money
in the operator's pocket. For most vendors, that's
the name of the game. I've set some Tournament
Soccer tables along side Deutschmeisters, and
they've doubled what the Deutschmeister had.
PLA Y METER: Why is that?
HOINES: Because they've promoted it.
PLAY METER: That's the only difference?
HOINES: Well, with Tournament Soccer, too, you
can shoot such a wide range of shots. If a guy
doesn't like one shot you're going to show him or
can't learn it, you can show him another shot that
he might be able to learn. He can practice one shot,
and after he gets that one, he'll go on to another
one. It's the variety of shots that really does it.
PLA Y METER: So the players are particular about
the tables they play?
HOINES: Oh yes. The players that really put the
money in the tables are very particular. They take
the game seriously. They don't like to get beat and
they get upset when they do, especially if it's the
(continued on page 16)
~
'.it. table's like a new car: when it's new and looks
nice, it's treated with respect - when it gets old and ~
broken down, then it's not treated as weU. "
;
15