Classic Mode

Play Meter

Issue: 1976 October - Vol 2 Num 10

Page 13 Text:

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)
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nice, it's treated with respect - when it gets old and ~
broken down, then it's not treated as weU. "
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15

Page 14 Text:

(continued from page 15)
table's fault.
PLA Y METER: It appears from this discussion that
promotion and tournaments are very vital to the
continued success of foosball. Is that true?
HOINES: That's always been true. But what I'd
like to do is to get in an area where there are no
tables, no foosball tables at all, and then move in
and start out from one spot, get it started there, get
a monopoly. It'd grow like wildfire.
PLAY METER: You're suggesting then that the
operator do something he's never really done
before, promote and hold tournaments. How much
trouble is there in running a tournament?
HOINES: Really, it's not hard to do. Over half the
tournaments I run are not run by me-they're run
by the bar owners. All you have to do is teach them
how to do it; they love to do it themselves. Running
a tournament isn't that complicated. One way to
learn is to go to a big tournament or just get the
information from a guy that's had anything to do
with a basketball tournament or something like
that. I was familiar with basketball tournaments
and wrestling tournaments. Then I looked up
information and there wasn't any, so I called
Hanson Distributors here in Minneapolis. They'd
been running tournaments. Their man said a double
elimination tournament. He said he'd researched
the library in Minneapolis and couldn't find any
information, so what they'd done was sit down and
figure out their own bracket skeleton for a
tournament. You can buy them from most
distributors now, and you can't go wrong because
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everything is lettered.
Generally the best tournament to run in a small
location is a "draw your partner." I've had flops but
I've never had a flop when I ran a "draw your
partner': tournament.
PLA Y METER: You pick your partner out of a hat?
HOINES: Yes. That eliminates any team from
running off with it every week.
PLA Y METER: How many teams do you usually
have in something like that?
HOINES: I'd say eight to ten teams. If they each
throw in a buck that's $20.00. And generally the bar
owner and the vendor will kick in $10.00 or so-it's
up to them. You want to give first place a fairly
good amount, but you still want to get it down to as
many places as you can, so you can have more
winners. I've been going forty, thirty, twenty, ten,
40 per cent for first and so on.
PLAY METER: How much of that money had to
come out of your pocket?
HOINES: Percentagewise, I'd say probably 10 or 15
per cent. But then that's money they'd put back in
the tables.
PLA Y METER: What if you had to put up the
whole purse yourself, then would it be worth it?
HOINES: Yes it would because you make money on
these tournaments. Not the night of the tour-
nament, but you make money in practice for the
tournaments. The week before a tournament, the
tables will make probably twice as much money as
over an average week because of the tournament.
The week after the tournament too is always good .
PLAY METER: That "draw your partner" is a good
idea-I like that.
HOINES: Another thing. I always put on my
posters "Pro Players Will Be Seeded" and I know all
the pro players well. This will be kind of hard for
some operators but I know all the pro players.
When I say they're going to be seeded, I mean that
no two pros will end up drawing each other. And a
lot of times if I get a pro and I get two or three girls
that want to enter the tournament, I always make
the pros play with the girls . It gives everybody else
a better chance.
PLAY METER: How often should you hold a
tournament like this, these small tournaments?
HOINES: As often as the players want them.
PLAY METER: Once a week? Once a month?
HOINES: Some places go once a week. It depends
upon the caliber of the players. If they play in a lot
of t hese big pro tournaments they might want a
tournament once a week. You have a lot of guys
really take it seriously and want to play in pro
tournaments. But if you've got mostly novice
players, one or two tournaments a year may be
enough. It really is determined by the caliber of the
player in the area. As the years go by the caliber of
your player is going to be a little better, however ,
and so probably, as the years go by, you might have
to run more tournaments .
PLA Y METER: Do you find that there are more
players now than there were last year and the year
before? Is the player population growing?
HOINES: Oh yes. There are getting to be a lot of
younger players. High school interest is really
(continued on page 34 )

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