Every other week it seems that the bar for foosball tables gets set higher and higher. The new mark to beat comes to us from a group of engineering students from The University of Adelaide. As part of a final engineering project, the students utilised a 96-pinhole camera and LED sensor grid, custom-written software and a precision actuation system to create a table capable of beating the pants off of a human player. Seriously, if we put as much effort into other things as we do making cool foosball tables, we would probably have cured a few diseases by now. UPDATE: This is not the first autonomous foosball table ever built, but is definitely more streamlined than the Georgia Tech version. [Rockwell Automation via Born Rich]

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We have seen long foosball tables, hi-fi foosball tables and even beautiful foosball tables before, but none can compare to the luxury and elegance that the Teckell Collection can provide. The tables come in a number of different versions, but they all feature a crystal frame with shiny aluminium players—potentially making them the most expensive foosball tables the world has ever seen.

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The Wii-volution is in full effect at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program—a perfect example is this physical virtual foosball game called Ukikit. You Velcro a pink strap to your foot, and an iSight camera tracks its movement while a sonar sensor tracks your proximity. The data translates into swivel kicks and side-to-side slides in (almost) realtime. I loved playing it with inventor Thomas Chan almost as much as I enjoyed the "Moving Parts" virtual pinball game, but as you can see in the video, both the system and I both need a little more practice before we're perfect. [Ukikit; ITP 2008]

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Think you are a foosball champion? How about stepping your game up to the Table Football XXL? There is no information about how long this table actually is, but sufficed to say— you are going to need to bring some friends. In fact, two full soccer teams (22 players) could go head to head on this thing in what would undoubtedly be an epic foosballing showdown. Unfortunately, you may never get a chance to try your skill—the Table Football XXL is a one-of-a-kind item built as an advertising stunt for Amstel beer. [Airworks via DVICE]

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This unique foosball table dubbed "Toto Treme Terra" is a project recently unearthed by designer Chelpa Ferro. Not much is known about the hardware fitted into this thing, but it certainly does look intimidating. What we do know is that it results in a game of foosball with some unique sound effects. An audio clip is available on the project page link—but it would be a pity if that was all those speakers were used for. [Project Page via VVORK via Likecool]

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I've gone off foosball since I had my arse royally kicked when playing with a bunch of friends at a music festival, but Eleven may turn my opinion around. Hand crafted by GRO design and TIM modelling, because they thought foosball was "lacking serious design attention in recent years", it's just gorgeous. The players are machined in brass and chrome, the table itself is meant to be a bit architectural, like real stadiums, and minimal to not distract from the game. It's on show at the upcoming Milan Design Week, 16th to 21st April, and tragically it's just a working model. [Eleventhegame via Uberreview]

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Four engineering students from Georgia Tech have built an Autonomous Foosball Table, quite possibly the key to my never-ending quest to replace the humans in my life with robots. The funny thing is, this thing isn't just a gimmick; it may soon become a decent foosball opponent. The table system cost about $500 to build, and combines a webcam, an 800MHz Pentium PC and servo-controlled paddles to move, twist, and kick. Here's how it works:

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Both a coffee table and a foosball table, this Offside Foosball table is just the thing for millionaire former dot com employees to re-live their happy days in the office. The $7600 table has a glass top, a mirrored foosball field and is hand-crafted by Howard Bushell in Worcestershire, England. Classy and tacky all at the same time. [Drinkstuff via Uncrate]