 Although rules often vary by country and region when the game is played casually, at the competitive level table soccer is played according to a unified code.Patents for similar table games date back as early as the 1890s in Europe.However, foosball's origins go back to 1921, when Harold Searles Thornton from the United Kingdom patented the game (UK patent no 205,991 application dated 14 October 1921 and accepted 1 November 1923).