Foosball is getting an upgrade. You no longer need to coax your buddies (who needs friends anyways) into playing because now its you versus the machine.

The Star Kick, the first competitive single-player model uses small motors and an infrared camera to whoop your ass. Star Kick’s shot is only 7 mph (humans average 12 to 19 mph) but it makes up for it in reaction time. 50 times a second the Star Kick completes a cycle in which it evaluates information coming from the sensors and then decides how to act versus the human eye which adjusts 10 to 15 frames per second.

So what are your chances of beating Star Kick?On the hardest settings, the table won 8 out of 10 games. Ouch!

The machines tactics consist of the following actions:
DefaultAction: take a standard position
KickBall: kick the ball forward
BlockBall: position a figure so that the ball can’t pass
BlockAtPos: position a figure so that the ball can’t pass at a specific position
ClearBall: let the ball pass and position a figure where the ball is expected to pass
ClearAtPos: let the ball pass and position a figure at a certain position

According to the designer, Bernhard Nebel of the University of Freiburg, Germany, the next revision will stop the ball, pass, and adjust to opponents’ patterns. Bring it on.

Price:$27000 or head on over to sports bar near you. At $27000, it’s a bargain in comparison to the Opus Table.

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