»Football is not a matter of life and death. It's much more important than that.«
Tip-kick. Table football.

Carl Meyer from Stuttgart was a furniture manufacturer, a tinkerer and a football enthusiast: In 1924, he developed a parlour game which was intended to bring the fascination of the football pitch to the domestic kitchen table. The result were two manoeuvrable metal figures with a moving, suspended leg, which were able to kick properly at the push of a button via a lever mechanism.
Nowadays, tip-kick is popular throughout the entire world, without ever having been pushed in wide-spread advertising campaigns. There are several bar or table football associations in the UK, and countless more informal table football clubs, enjoying and promoting the game. Despite the unbroken demand, tip-kick is still produced at Mieg in Swabia and not in the Far East.
The players were originally manufactured from tin. In 1935, better quality kickers were introduced, made of lead, and nowadays the players are cast zinc. Only the goalkeepers are made of plastic, and even these have developed: initially they could only be made to throw themselves to both sides at the push of a button.
The last improvement occurred in 1985: The goalkeepers now also stretch forwards towards the ball at the pull of a lever.
The tip-kick game available here differs from inexpensive versions due to the fact that the goals are equipped with nets (to avoid »Wembley goal« situations) and the large underlay, i.e. the pitch, is manufactured from velours rather than plastic.
So, if for some reason you are not a season ticket holder and also do not feel like getting into your football shirt and play outdoors, here is an alternative. And we hope you agree with the quote from the great Bill Shankly.