The Book of Ashes

The study of Fooze... 10:04PM

The forces at play in Fooze are indeed strange. Within a closed group of players cyclic loops can form (of who can beat who), players abilities can rise and fall and the ladder is in constant change.

I am of course talking about foozeball (table soccer). We have a table at work and a fooze ladder. There are seven of us. We play about 3-4 times a day. I started at the bottom and am working my way up the ladder. Each player has their own techniques, strengths and weaknesses if you will. Knowing these can help you defeat them. Knowing your own can allow you to improve.

At work we have one person who is static at the top of the ladder. Everyone else cycles around. This is due to loops, cycles where player A is better than player B who is better than player C who is better than player A. This is possible due to the different styles. Some are fast and chaotic, others slow and skillful, others rely on luck or set moves.

After careful consideration there seems to be three main components that determine the win of a game.

1. A persons innate ability or skill.
   
2. A persons mindset on the day.
   
3. Luck in the roll of the ball.

First off the more you play the better you get. Your brain remembers moves, responds quicker and more automatically. You become good. But this is not nearly the full story as you might think it is. I can beat people better than me. I can also loose to those worse than me, and consistantly too. The mind plays a big part in how well it allows you to perform.

Secondly the mindset on the day. By this I mean your mood, your gut feeling, the belief that you will win - the mindset. You can psyc a player out. If you act confident, score a few goals in a row, they can loose hope, play a little less, give the game over to you. Surprisingly how you act... stand, look, talk... will continbute a lot to how the other player thinks they are doing against you. This is not the only case. If you are tired at the end of the day (mentally drained) then you play worse. If you are hungrey just before lunch you play worse. If you are in the middle of a hard problem and haven't got anywhere with it all day, you play worse. This one is especially true. I find I play a crap game when I'm stuck programming some hard problem. It is the mental edge which can make or break a great game.

Thirdly and not entirely unimportant is the luck of the draw, or in this case the luck of the roll. A random hit (as many pool players know) can find the goal without your intention. It can ricochet off many players to bounce into the goal. The fluke factor accounts for a number of points in any given game and can sometimes account for many of the points.

So in order of importance SKILL, MINDSET, FLUKE FACTOR. Now, go play fooze. I await the challenge.

Oh yeah I won 6 games today and lost one (to the guy at the top of the ladder). I'm looking good for second place this week (but its still early days). I've been second place before but I didn't earn it then. This time I will have. My goal for the next few months is to upset the top guy. I want his seat.