Guardian & Dragon

Kicker redefined

Advanced figure design for table football: In 2016 Johannes Kirsch asked me, if I could create a new figure that plays and looks much better than what was available on the market.
As a multiple times German master and event organiser, he wasn't 100% satisfied with the existing figures and tables.

So in a first step I created "The Guardian". Modelled as Subdivision Surfaces in Softimage XSI with smooth organic lines and clear edges, then converted to NURBS and all the fine technical detail added and prepared for injection moulding in Rhino 5.

It's all about the foot geometry: You need grip to hold and control the ball, you want to move it between your figures in the same line and of course, you want to shoot with precission.
But balance is also important - a hole in the foot and a counterweight in the head keep the rods stable in any position.

In a second step, in 2021 I designed "The Dragon". This time it was all done in Rhino 7, which supports SDS modelling natively. The challenge was, to create a dragon in the same visual language as the guardian, that plays identical but differentiates itself clearly to the eye.

We also designed Tables together: 2016 I contributed defining elements and the logo to the "The Guardian" table and in 2021 we developed and designed a whole series of tables for the German sports equipment vendor "Sportime" - the first of which is available since end 2022.
We also developed a special quick-exchange bearing for the rods.

For more background information about the project follow these links to the Rhino Forum and Behance, there are also two links to Videos on YouTube:

Guardian & Dragon at the Rhino Forum with lots of details about the process

Guardian & Dragon in my Behance Portfolio

A video from Johannes Kirsch about the Guardian table and figures from 2016 on YouTube (German)

And another about the new figures from 2022 on YouTube (German)