Soccer Flipper – A Mechanical Tabletop Football Game

The Soccer Flipper is built from three functional layers:

• 🟢 Bottom: Green coated MDF with white engraving
• ⚙️ Middle: Plywood containing the complete mechanism
• 🔵 Top: Blue coated MDF and clear acrylic

The acrylic protects the playing field while keeping the game visible.

Materials

🟢 3 mm green coated MDF
🧱 5 mm plywood
🔵 3 mm blue coated MDF
🟤 3mm wooden sticks
🔍 3 mm clear acrylic
🌀 Small springs
⚪ 3mm steel ball
🧴 Glue

Here is the Insta Post: 
https://www.instagram.com/p/DbI_xoYAtYS/

I used sketchup for the design of this 3-layer-soccer-flipper. 

For the mechanic part i took the time to check every movement in the software before generating the output files.

If you wanna design something like this yourself you probably want a dxf or svg as an output file. Sketchup can generate dxf-files.

Separate the files according to material and thickness:

• ✏️ Playing field engraving
• 🟢 Green MDF base
• 🧱 5 mm plywood frame and mechanism parts
• 🔵 Blue MDF top frame
• 🔍 Clear acrylic cover

Check all dimensions and moving clearances before laser cutting!

Use the 3 files to engrave on:

🔵🟢 3mm blue and green coated MDF (setting 1: cutting, setting 2:engraving)

🧱 5mm plywood (setting 3: cutting, setting 4:engraving)

🔍 3mm Acrylic (setting 5: cutting)

Assemble the game in four stages:

🧱Mount the 5 mm plywood frame, external pushers and first mechanical parts onto the green base.

⚽ Install the flippers.

🌀 Add the springs and remaining movable parts.

🔵 Finish with the blue MDF frame and clear acrylic covers.

Test the mechanism after stage 2-4 and make sure all parts move freely.

Don't forget to add the steel ball (3mm) before gluing the acrylic part in!

Insert the ball through the entry ramp.

Use the external push buttons to activate the flippers, keep the ball moving and score in the opponent’s goal. The small score sliders can be used to record each goal.

The finished Soccer Flipper combines:

• 🔥 Laser cutting and engraving
• 🧱 Multiple materials and thicknesses
• ⚙️ A fully mechanical mechanism
• 🌀 Springs and movable parts
• 🔍 A transparent protective cover
• ⚽ A playable tabletop football game

No electricity or batteries are required.

Play this game instead of using your mobile phone all the time! Finde someone to play this 2-player-game with and enjoy the fun soccer flipper!

🎬 Media: Final gameplay GIF showing the Soccer Flipper in action.