Table hockey is a table top
game that first appeared in the
1950s. It is usually made of
plastic, but older models have
metal parts too.
The game looks like a scaled-down
hockey rink, usually about 3-4 feet long. A series of rods that run under the "
ice surface" are used to control little
hockey players. Pushing or pulling the rods make the player "skate" forward or backwards, and twisting the rod makes the player "shoot" the
puck.
Up until the 1980's, the little hockey guys were flat metal cutouts with the pictures of players printed on them (actually, in the late 70's, they switched to plastic cutouts with decals--cheaper, but not as durable). One side of the flat cutout would show the front of a player, and the other side would show the back of the player. And during that time, actuall
NHL team uniforms were used. In the mid-80's, companies started to make 3-dimensional figurines, but they were always in either generic uniforms or in International jerseys (i.e. Team
Sweden. Yaay.)
The 1990s saw a
revolutionization in table hockey when the
Wayne Gretzky's NHL All-Star Hockey was released. This is the greatest table-top hockey game ever made, as it features 3-D player figurines in NHL Uniforms, a clock, plexiglass, and player benches.