Attacking Play - You often see new (and not so new!) players who think that all they have to do is hit the ball hard past the defenders and the keeper towards the goal. This relies on the opposing players leaving a clear path into the goal... something most defenders learn to stop very quickly!

There are two key basic elements to skilled attacking play - All players should learn how to get the ball under control with your 3-bar and 5-bar men.  Mastering these skills and learning how to set up the ball in exactly the right position before shooting will give you the best possible opportunity of scoring consistently.

setting up your shot - usually from the 5-bar but also using the 3-bar

attacking shots - We describe 3 of the many - The Drag - Tap-Bang - The Dink

advanced - Developing your skills

Setting up your shot...  Winners are not always the players with the best or the hardest shot - You will see that the players who consistently win are often those with the best 3-5 and 5-3 bar passing skills as well as those with inter bar (along the 3-bar and 5-bar) passing skills all of which usually create more shooting chances...

Quick and Sneaky - A successful shot often means a quick shot but it can also mean being sneaky. Quick in this sense is usually how fast you can move the ball along the line of your 5-bar or your 3-bar and not always how hard you hit it towards the goal. Sneaky means keeping your opponent unbalanced by making unexpected moves and shots. Really good players all have shots that seem to be set up in the same way but are shot to different areas of the goal.

They do this by having a mixture of fast hard shots, mixing in slower shots every now and then and shooting from unexpected angles, all of which help to confuse and keep their opponents off balance. The really good players often have the ability to get their opponent looking in the wrong place by their choice of shot and shooting position.

Controlling the ball - You will often see that the good players will control the ball with the 5-bar and 3-bar before firing a shot. This usually means passing the ball, under control, between the men on the 5-bar or the 3-bar and from the 3-bar to the 5-bar as well as, occasionally, from the 5-bar to the 3-bar. This is usually achieved in one flowing motion and is a skill that rarely comes naturally - it can take long hours of practice.

It can also often mean not stopping the ball dead but keeping it moving, waiting for the opposing player to move their players out of position slightly by having to continually adjust to the balls movement. Being able to control the ball when it comes within the range of your men on the 3 and 5 bars is an essential skill for the really good player.

Moving the ball sideways - The second of the key skills of Bar Football. Once the player learns how to get the ball under control, they will usually move the ball one way or the other along the line of the 5-bar or the 3-bar in order to create a clear path into the goal. This can involve hitting the ball from one player to another. The examples of this that are often seen are the Drag and the Tap-Bang type of shots.

Passing between players in the midfield - You will often see the good players moving the ball on to the 5-bar instead of shooting directly from the 3-bar.  Shots from the 3-bar give the really good opposing player (who is concentrating) too much time to cover the impending shot and can fail for this reason. It can however be very effective to pass the ball back to the 3-bar and quickly shoot - not often seen and for this reason, it can be very useful shot.

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Different types of moves - Having controlled the ball on the 3-bar there are a number of different shots possible. Here is a very basic guide to getting started with them.

The Drag Shot   ... also called the “pull” or “push” shot.

The idea is to get the ball in a position directly in front of one side of the edge of your opponent’s goal, then move it across the goal and shoot very fast, angling the ball to the opposite side of the goal. The key to this shot is dragging the ball very quickly to beat the defender to the other side of the goal.

How to do it... Position the stationary ball to either the left or the right of the middle man - Pull the bar towards you (or push it away if the ball is on the far side of the table) keeping the man in contact with the ball - twist your hand so the man’s legs tip back slightly - the ball should push slightly forward and you slip your man round the back - when the man is behind the ball, give him a good flick of the wrist to hit the ball.

Hint - Try this - almost the same as the pure drag shot but you only pull the ball about half way across the goal. While the defender is expecting a full drag and is trying to cover the corner, you hit it into the corner of the goal.  Also - Think about hitting a straight shot if the defender is edging too far over in an attempt to cover your expected angle.

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The Tap-Bang Shot   ... also called the “Pull Kick” or the “Push Kick” shot.

Very simply, you pull the bar as fast as possible towards - or away - from you and flicking the wrist at the right time to knock the ball goalwards. Seen at it’s fastest, the shot is all about coordination and timing. This means practice - practice and yet more practice!

The idea here is to start with the ball wide of the goal looking to misdirect your opponent into looking for and covering a wide shot. Then tap it to the middle man who shoots it.

Position the ball just inside either of the wide attackers on the 3 or 5 bar. The ball can be either touching the wide man or you can start off with the man slightly away from the ball.

Pass ball quickly towards the central man on the bar who strikes the ball. This produces the noise of a tap followed by the bang of the ball hitting the back of your opponents goal - and there we have what is called a Tap-Bang shot!  The more skilled player will use all the middle men in variations of this type of shot.

Hint - Don’t use just one type of shot - try mixing slower near-post tap-bang with quick far-post tap-bangs to keep your opponent uncertain and off guard.

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The Dink Shot - This starts off looking like a ‘Tap-Bang’, but instead of passing the ball to the middle man, the ball is dragged to the inside man - or to the wide outside one - and shot by the wide man. The shot is all about deception as it requires the defender to move out of the way before the shot can be made. This is often most effective after scaring someone with a quick Tap-Bang.

Hint - Mix in a fast wide-man shot occasionally, where the ball is dragged at pull (or push) shot speed around the man covering you and the ball is shot to the near post. This does need your opponent to be leaving a gap at the post nearest your ball.

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Advanced - The basic way in which you will become a more advanced player is to practice  and yet more practice. Go to tournaments, find a local club, even join your local pub team. By the way - If your local does not have a team - tell them to call us at Amazon Leisure on 01745 591777 and we will be glad to advise on the best tables and will put them in touch with organisations that can help them with the organisation of a local league.

If you can master the three types of shot described above, and then work on your own variations, you will be on the way to being a much more skilled player and your opponents will start to be worried when they see your name on a team sheet.

Remember that this is a basic primer - there are lots more powerful shots that you will come across such as the Front-Pin and The Snake but in general, pull shots - tap-bang types - tend to be the type most used by the better players. This is partly because you are able to pull faster than you can push and partly because it is harder for your opponent to see and therefore react in time.

Lastly, be aware that your shot may vary from table to table due to slight changes in the shape of the man’s foot, table surface, type of ball and even the way the table is made.

If you mix craft with skill, you will become a good player at the game of Bar Football.

If you would like to suggest other types of shot and are willing to describe them and allow us to publish them, please send us an e-mail here at Amazon Leisure - thanks.

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