Traditional Hungarian and Brazilian soccer game, which is also considered a sport. There are five major different sets of rules, three in Brazil (Bahia, Rio, Sao Paulo), and two in Hungary: a simple one used by casual players and a very detailed official one. In common, all are played on a large smooth table, the players are round (in the past large buttons were used) and are moved by pressing a pick, finger, or comb on its edge. Depending on the set of rules each player (coach) will have one or more turns at a time.
There are a lot of different versions of this game.
Gombfoci is a traditional Hungarian game, now mostly considered as a children game. It is known to be existed in 1911. Cheap plastic sets of players are sold in huge variety, and it is usually played on the largest table in the household. There are no fixed rules, it is played differently everywhere.
Sectorball is a sport, with long and detailed rules. It evolved from Gombfoci in Hungary. The first official set of rules was published in 1964. The main difference between this and other versions comes from the Sector rule: if you can pass the ball close enough to another player you control, you get another turn.
Futebol de Botão is the name of this game in Brazil. Geraldo Decourt is widely accepted as the patron of it. He published a rule and guide book in 1930. Now there are three main versions in Brazil.
Futebol de Mesa is a sport. There are three official rules systems in Brazil. The 1-touch rules system uses a disc as "ball". Its playing surface is larger than any other version of Button Soccer. Duration: 2 halves of 25 minutes each. Number of touches: 1 per team and 2 during kick off. Buttons: Acrylic or palaton. Goals: 15 cm by 6 cm. Field: 2m by 1.40m. Where it is played: South, Southeast (except for Minas Gerais) and Northeast regions of Brazil. Features: It is the game with the toughest shots. The scores are almost always low. This ruleset is similar to chess but besides strategy, the player needs dexterity to execute the plays. According to the Conferacao Brasileira De Futebol De Mesa (CBFM), this is the most played ruleset in Brazil.
The 12-touch and 3-touch rules systems use an actual ball.
Since the previous upload 6 months ago, I have significantly updated this file while keeping it only 3 pages long.
While it is still a summary and the full document in Portuguese is 41 pages long, it includes every necessary and important rule. It has also incorporated the updates that the official rules received in 2007.
I am very happy with the result and I consider this version vastly improved from its predecessor.
Gombfoci is the traditional version of Button Soccer in Hungary, with rules different in every family. These rules are based on the variants I have met.
I would like to thank to [username=Ronaldo] for helping create this file.
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