Bubble Soccer – important tips for operators and players
There are many issues that you should pay attention to as an operator when buying or as a player who wants to rent bubble soccer balls. Here we list the most important ones for you. Whether you want to buy or rent Bubble Soccer balls – if you keep a few basic things in mind, you’ll always have unforgettable fun during your games!
Bubble Soccer Tip 1:
Pay attention to the material of the balls!
PVC may be great for other applications, but definitely not for bubble soccer balls. But: as everywhere else, the material TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) have large differences in quality! Many manufacturers use e.g. recycled material. This looks new, but of course is not nearly as durable as brand new ones (similar to retreaded car tires).
Always ask the vendor if the material used in production is new or recycled.
Bubble Soccer Tip 2:
Pay attention to the material of handles and straps!
Ask for pictures of the Bubble Soccer balls. The handles, e.g. in any case, should not look like this:
Handles made of hard plastic are extremely uncomfortable for the knuckles and can also cause bruising on the upper body. In addition, they break easily, and then the whole ball will no longer be useful. Straps of this type give virtually no support and also cut painfully into the skin. Bubble Soccer should be fun – comfort and safety are basic requirements.
Bubble Soccer Tip 3:
Pay attention to the processing!
You can hardly see the quality of the processing from the outside of any ball, if you have not been in the material science for a long time. Therefore, this point is not easy for the customer who either offers Bubble Soccer or just wants to play. Unfortunately, the quality of the processing usually only turns out during use. The process of high-frequency welding depends on absolute accuracy and high ability. For example, if the temperature was set too low in the high-frequency welding of the edges and the seams, no material connection is made – the connecting anchors “plop” away. On the other hand, if the temperature is set too high, the plastic will be too hot and thin at the welds. The consequence is that cracks occur at the seam edges or anchor edges.
Bubble Soccer Tip 4:
Typical weak points with cheap balls
- The belts often tear out·
- Cracks may appear in the folds.
What does this mean for bubble soccer game operation? For the player, it means that he often has to interrupt his game in order to stick the damage in place and then blow air in again. If you for example play a tournament, you will never be able to adhere to your event plant. For a commercial provider of bubble soccer in turn, continuous customer reclamation is the result, as well as increased staff costs – not to mention the short life of the purchased balls. An expensive mistake: However, in all these aspects it is not the case that e.g. a cheap product simply has a shorter lifespan, that is, you can buy two or three cheap ones for the price of a quality product to ultimately get the same service life. Rather irreparable damage often occurs after a few weeks and further use is then no longer possible.
A quite suitable quote from the “Law of the Economy” by John Ruskin:
It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better
Bubble Soccer Tip 5: The Valve
Make sure that the Bubble Soccer balls have a safety valve. This ensures that no air can escape through the valve, even if the protective cap should be lost. ZORB® Europe customers receive e.g. replacement parts of such kind at any time free of charge.
Bubble Soccer Tip 6: References
Ask for references, also with contact persons. How long does a ball last without significant repair? As a reference: Original Body Zorbs® from Zorb® Europe have a lifespan of at least 5 years. Or longer … because all the balls we’ve ever sold are still in use!
Bubble Soccer Tip 7: Insider tips for bubble soccer ball buyers:
- If a supplier of balls offers you for the repair of TPU balls adhesive or similar, you should immediately be suspicious: TPU material has no bonding ability·
- Unfortunately, some providers – consciously or unconsciously – make false statements about the material, in other words: PVC balls are sold as TPU balls.
Especially in the winter months, you can do a simple test: simply put the bubble football out for half an hour – PVC will get harder and colder at temperatures below approx. 10°C, the colder it is and at temperatures below zero it comes to cold cracks. TPU has up to -30°C absolutely consistent material properties.In the summer of course, such a test is a bit more difficult (freezer …), but you know now in any case, what is involved and can then quickly check the correctness of the provider information regarding the material. Whether it is recycled or newly manufactured material, unfortunately, can hardly be checked without years of experience in this area.
Any further questions?
If you want to know more about this, e.g. about the molecular structure of PVC and TPU and how the two materials still differ, just give us a call.