Are You Ready for Some Foosball?

It is, after all, about friendly competition. Sure, there's a jackpot -- the evening's total tournament fees -- but players say it's not about the money, which is incidental when you tally the bar tab and the entry fee and the six or more quarters each player dispenses into the foosball tables throughout the night.

Players' backgrounds are as varied as their skill levels. There's Kitty Shadman, a 51-year-old Catholic-school teacher, and her husband, Ahmad. The Rockville couple played tournament foosball in the 1970s, when they were first married, but stopped after they had children, only to pick it up again when they became empty-nesters.

There's Jim Allegretto, 45, a CPA from Arlington who plays foosball because it's fun and because, as a bachelor, he has "nothing else to do on a Tuesday night," he says. "It's not like it's a date night."

There's Sammy Amarti, 30, who grew up playing foosball in Morocco. Now he runs a hair salon in Alexandria and says he's lucky to have a wife who tolerates his Tuesday night foosball addiction.

There's Kristin Grogan, 36, a Baltimore resident who began playing tournament-level foosball in middle school and is now considered one of the top female players in the region, and Nancy Peck, 33, of Greenbelt, Melchior's girlfriend (they met through foosball), who has learned a few tricks since the days when she played recreationally in college.

"I thought I was good, because I was playing with all drunk people," Peck says. "But then I came here, and I got my butt kicked."

On a recent Tuesday, only seven players turn up, so I drop my reporter's notepad to step in as the eighth player needed for a tournament. By luck -- or perhaps clever arrangement by Melchior -- I am partnered with Adil Hizoune, 39, of Ellicott City, the Pele of local foosball. He is, thankfully, as gracious as he is skilled, so he does not appear angry when I let the ball plunk into the goal behind us, twice. No matter, really, because he retaliates goal for goal.

But there are moments when I hold my own, when I block shots and score from goal, or when the ball slides back and forth between the plastic men on our forward line in a display of perfect lateral passing. It is fleeting greatness, but enough to explain the blurry line between hobby and sport. It's just enough to sense the addiction that is foosball, to understand that the more we tighten our grip on the colorfully wrapped handlebars, the more the game tightens its grip on us.

Where to Play

Gunning for some foosball action of your own? Join a weekly tournament or hone your skills on your own at one of these bars. Just be sure to come armed with quarters because most tables require $1 or $2 to play.

The Argonaut.1433 H St. NE, 202-397-1416, http://www.argonautdc.com/. This cozy H Street tavern mimics traditional English pubs, with exposed brick walls and nautical decorations. Friends gather here for a pint of beer or a specialty rum drink and, perhaps, to get a few kicks at the lone foosball table.

Babylon Futbol Cafe.3501 S. Jefferson St., Falls Church, 703-820-3900, http://www.babylonfc.com/. At this joint, billed as "a sports bar for the rest of the world," the 32 flat-screen televisions are typically tuned to soccer games -- a fitting backdrop to the action at the two foosball tables.