Review: LEGO 21337 Table Football

October 19, 2022 | 7

21337 Table Football is the final LEGO Ideas set of 2022, and it’s an interesting end to what has been the most diverse years yet for the LEGO Ideas theme.

The set aims to unite football and LEGO fans with a scaled down LEGO Foosball Table (learn why the Foosball Table was shrunken down) that doesn’t compromise on fun.

As an added bonus, the set also comes with the ability to build 2 11-a-side squads along with unprecedented minifigure diversity, with 43 different wigs, and 44 different heads to customise your Table Football teams.

That said, the set does come with a hefty pricetag, at US$249.99 / AU$379.99 which is a high barrier of entry for most LEGO fans.

• 21337 Table Football [US] – US$249.99
• 21337 Table Football [AUS]  – AU$379.99
• 21337 Table Football [UK] – £214.99
• 21337 Table Football [EU] – €249.99
• 21337 Table Football [CA] – CAD$309.99

Is this set right for you and did LEGO make the right decision with scaling the size of the LEGO Foosball Table down? Let’s find out in this review.

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set for this review!

21337 Table Football Set Details

Name: Table Football
Set Number: 21337
Pieces: 2,339
Price: AU$379.99 | US$249.99 | £214.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK]
Exclusive to: LEGO.com / LEGO Stores
Theme: Ideas
LEGO Designers: Antica Bracanov / Kjeld Walther Sørensen (graphics)
Release Date: 1 November 2022

The Build

This is quite a substantial set, at 2,339-pieces so it’ll take about a solid day’s worth of building. All up, I took about 6 hours to build and I was surprised by how straight forward and simple the build was.

Oh, and the best part, no stickers!

Here’s a look at the instruction manual, which has plenty of the usual profiles of the fan designer, and LEGO set designer Antica Bracanov, and graphic designer Kjeld Walther Sørensen.

Here’s a look at the new printed tiles for the pitch which are really nice.

There aren’t a lot of crazy techniques here, and it’s a very accessible build. Most of the build techniques are focused on strengthening the Football Table, as well as some satisfying tiling on the exteriors for decorative purposes.

Check out a Speed Build of the LEGO Foosball Table coming together below

Here’s some work in progress shots.

Oh and a fun Easter Egg hidden within the set – there’s an I Love Heartlake City postcard tile embedded into the frame of the Foosball Table, as well as a printed tile of a suspension bridge.

I’m not too sure what the Suspension Bridge signifies, but designer Antica Bracanov was previously a prolific LEGO Friends designer (this is her second Ideas set, after Home Alone), and I love the HLC tile that she managed to incorporate here as a nod to her previous body of work.

21337 Table Football Minifigures

21337 Table Football comes with a whopping 22 minifigures that you can build, allowing you to build 2 full 11-people squads, matching the original fan designer’s 11-minifigure squad Foosball Table design.

Diversity is at the core of the set, and there are 43 different wigs, and 44 different heads available, and for the first time, in a whole spectrum of skin tones. This is notable for being the first non-licensed LEGO set without yellow-skin minifigures, which has been the default since day one.

I’ll have more to say about the minifigures, which I’ll share in a separate post, where I’ll go into a lot more detail!

Here’s a closer look at the Blue and Red squad that I assembled.

Here’s a closer look at the Blue and Red team minifigures, which have decent levels of printing on the front and back of their torso, as well as leg printing. There’s some leg printing, to signify shorts, socks and football boots but sadly, it doesn’t extend to the side of their legs.

Both the Red and Blue Team also have “club logos” on their chests, with blue being a classic football, and red having a 2 x 2 brick.

Here’s a look at both goalkeepers, in orange and purple.

One of the highlights of the set, and this really did improve how much I loved the set, is the sheer customisation options provided in the box.

With 43 different wigs, and 44 different heads, with such a massive variety of faces, facial features, and features, this is a really great starter set to allow nearly everyone to create themselves as LEGO minifigures.

Above, are some of the more interesting and unique minifigure heads included in the set.

The most notable minifigure included is a woman with vitiligo, a skin condition that causes the skin to lose its colours, that usually appears in patches across the skin.

It’s such an awesome step forward for LEGO, who has been championing representation through a large variety of sets, such as this year’s minifigure with a prosthetic leg.

The print of the Vitiligo minifigure is sensational, and I also love that it’s a dual-sided head with 2 different expressions.

Other highlights include 2 more minifigures with hearing aids, one on a girl, and one on a guy, and I also like that the hearing aids are on separate sides of their head as well.

There’s also this guy with majestic facial hair, as well as this darker-skinned minifigure with freckles on her face.

And lastly, this guy with the contemporary fade (and beard) design is super cool as well.

Together with my daughter, we had a ton of fun customising our own teams, and the sheer number of different heads, and wigs are honestly so much fun, especially when we came up with wacky and bold combinations to give our Foosball players come personality.

To house the 6 other players as they’re not playing, there’s this stand for the extra players to sit and cheer their teams on. There’s even a small trophy stand in the middle to give each team something to play for!

Here’s a look at the back.

Here’s a look at the seats filled up.

The stands also double up as storage for all the extra heads and wigs!

And here’s the completed Foosball Table. As you can see, the final model is quite small having been scaled down to a 5-a-side game instead of the full 11.

The table measures 15cm (6″) tall, 41cm (17″) wide and 29cm deep (12″), so it’s not too large, and it has a really compact feel to it. It weighs about 1.8kg, so is really quite a hefty model as well.

One of the most contentious things about this set has been the size, or lack thereof, especially when compared to the original fan design, but the designers unfortunately had to scale down the size as the axles ended up breaking and bending during testing (learn more in my interview with them) hence the current model.

Now that I’ve had some time with the finished model, and have played with it extensively, I think the size actually works well for what it is.

It’s still quite fun to play with, and you can get pretty into it, and I think the footprint of the set is fine – small enough that it’s easily moved and doesn’t take up a huge amount of space.

Looking at the original design, and some of the older prototypes when I was in Billund, it was just too big and unwieldly, and would’ve probably costed 3 times the price.

This smaller form-factor makes a lot more sense as a model that you can bust out, when you have friends over, or small enough to look fairly inconspicuous if you’re aiming to pop this on your office desk to challenge anyone that pops by to say hi.

Here’s a look at the Football Table from the side – the blue and red trim is simple, yet provide a nice pop of colour.

For stability, each of the table’s legs have these little rubber wheels to minimise any movement, and ensure that the legs grip the table relatively well.

And here’s a look at the underside of the table.

And here’s a look at the handles. Depending on your hands, you could also make these slightly larger for better grip.

Here are the score tabs, which are quite rigid and takes quite a bit of strength to move as they are affixed quite firmly to the rods. It’s not a super smooth and satisfying motion when you slide the nubs across when you score.

And here’s the ball return.

Speaking of balls, 21337 Table Football utilises a Spike Prime joint, which is a completely smooth, and is much larger than typical LEGO balls.

It’s also got quite a bit of weight to it, so it sticks to the ground pretty well, and avoids feeling too floaty.

Here’s a comparison between the ball and an actual minifigure.

Here’s a look at the back brackets and support for the minifigures. It’s relatively easily to affix the minifigures to the rods, and once on, they stay on pretty well.

Despite some pretty robust games, no minifigures or accessories have gone flying which is a great sign, and testament to the stability of the overall design. I was totally expecting hairpieces and wigs to go flying!

Here’s a look at how the minifigures look affixed to the rods.

So ultimately, the question comes down to – how does this thing play? Here’s a short snippet of a playthrough with my wife!

If you’ve played a lot of foosball in your life, you’ll immediately pick up the fact that this sounds like a Foosball Table. I was most impressed by the sound the ball makes when you drop it on the pitch, and it’s also super satisfying when you score an awesome goal and hear it slam against the back of the goal.

It isn’t quite the metallic thud of a proper Foosball Table, but it’s close.

There also very little that goes wrong, but the ball (just like a real Foosball game) does get stuck in dead zones (especially in the middle of the pitch) but it’s not too common and doesn’t happen in every game. In fact, I was expecting far more dead-zones, and was thus quite impressed with how easily the ball stays in place.

What I liked:

• Compact toy-like size works well for transport and space-constrained AFOLs
• Works like a charm and is very fun to play
• Diverse minifigure lineup is the highlight of the set

What I didn’t like: 

• At full price, doesn’t feel like great value
• I wish the diverse minifigures were available on their own
• Will not appeal to everyone

FINAL THOUGHTS:

21337 Table Football absolutely nails the brief of delivering a brick-built LEGO Foosball Table that works remarkably well.

Despite the downsized scale, the final model does not compromise on the fun factor, especially when you start playing with it, and discover that the functions, physics and mechanics all work as expected from a miniature toy-foosball table.

I do understand some of the negative sentiment around the final model not being the 11-a-side Foosball Table that fan designer Donat submitted, but it’s also really important to know that his design was produced digitally, and so because of limitations with element strength, just wasn’t possible to be translated into a reliable, and working Foosball Table.

I think the scale and size works well in this case because it doesn’t take up much space, and it’s small enough to be moved from display/storage to open areas, much like a board game you’d bust out when you have people over.

It’s also a good size that you can display it on your office/work desk and have short bouts of Table Football at work. If this were the size of Donat’s original design, it would just be too large and unwieldly, so I’m going to be slightly contrarian here and take a stand that scaling down the set was absolutely the right call from the team.

The minifigures for me are the highlight of the set, and really give it a sense of personality and fun. LEGO could’ve gone the easy route and just given us red or white monochrome figures, or stuck to standard yellow, but to offer up so many different head and wig options is unprecedented, and I especially love how diverse the selection is.

Where I think the set unfortunately falls over is the price. At US$250, this is quite a pricey set, at a pricepoint that’s quite far away from an impulse buy. For what you get, I don’t know if the total package is worth US$250, which can get you some pretty awesome alternatives like the Sanctum Sanctorum, Boutique Hotel, Space Shuttle Discovery, Medieval Blacksmith, The Starry Night or Optimus Prime.

Functionality-wise, you’d be much better off buying an actual Foosball Table, unless you’re in the market for a brick-built Table Football set, and would appreciate little bonuses like the excellent minifigure lineup.

This isn’t a bad set per se, but it has quite a niche audience, but if you want an adult set that is highly playable, interactive and fun, it fills this niche immensely well and you’ll be very pleased with what you get.

Out of all of LEGO’s previous buildable interactive set, I do rate this as much more fun, and replayable than say The Maze, which got old really fast. 21337 Table Football excels because it’s competitive, and fun, and best enjoyed with other people.

If your LEGO budget can stretch, this is a pretty fun set, especially if you often host people at your house, or if you plan on having this at your office desk to entertain any visitors. For LUGs, it’s also probably a good investment as a group activity and you can even have tournaments.

Plus, as a bonus, you’ll also score a huge cache of awesome, diverse minifigures.

Rating and score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Build [3] – Deceptively simple build that’s very beginner friendly
Real Value [2] – This set feels expensive, because the end model is quite small, and doesn’t have a ton of display presence
Innovation [4] – Kudos to LEGO for working out the mechanics of this, and getting close to what it feels playing Foosball, albeit at a smaller scale
Coolness [3] – Wins points for an awesome minifigure lineup, but the Table itself is just a functional table.
Keepability [3] – Will likely be kept in storage and be pulled out when you need to play with it. Not a particularly good display model.

Thanks for reading my review of 21337 Table Football! I hope this sheds some light on the set, and who it’s for and if you’ve been eyeing this set, reassures you that it’s worthy of a pickup.

In an upcoming post, I’ll be going in-depth into the minifigures selection and showcasing all the different options.

21337 Table Football will be released on 1 November 2022 and will be available from LEGO.com

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set over for an early review!

What do you think of the LEGO Foosball Table set? Are you planning on picking it up?

To get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox, subscribe via email, or you can also follow on Google News, or socials on Facebook, Instagram (@jayong28), Twitter or subscribe to the Jay’s Brick Blog Youtube channel.