The foosball playing field is on its way to being leveled.
Spanish company RS Barcelona has released the first ever mass-produced female table football player, and, according to the company's website, "Ella" is just as powerful as the guys.
"She has been carved like the image and likeness of her male partner. The exact proportions but with more curves. Her game is as precise and her shot as powerful as the men's. On this pitch there are no more obvious physical differences. She and he play under the same conditions. Complete equality."
Now It's Her Turn from RS Barcelona on Vimeo.
(Yeah foosball man, if we were up against powerhouse Abby Wambach -- who made a historic winning goal for the U.S. against Brazil in the Women's World Cup Quarter Finals -- we'd be shaking and sweating in our plastic cleats too.)
The RS#2 table was released right before the sixth Women's World Cup, and it's about time.
Girls make up an estimated 40 percent of the American Youth Soccer Organization, and Sunday's heart-wrenching U.S.-Japan final attracted 13.5 million U.S. viewers. Female soccer players have more than earned the right to representation on the foosball field.
To be fair, Mattel and the Bonzini group did come up with an all-Barbie limited edition foosball table in 2010, but that costs $25,000, and it's fairly creepy. (Also, Charlie Sheen bought one after being fired from Two and a Half Men, and I can't fully endorse anything that appears in the Goddess Mansion.)
At $4,365, the RS #2 model isn't cheap either, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
According to Elle Décor, RS tables can be customized to feature all-women, mixed-gender teams or women versus men. Of course the all-male option is still available, but where's the fun in that?
What do you think? Will foosball tables with female players make their way to bars and living rooms near you?
Follow Laura Stampler on Twitter: www.twitter.com/laurastampler
I doubt that any manufacturer could build a two-legged figurine that I could not break off the legs just by swinging hard with my thirty years of practice. You don't want to put your hand in the table when I play.