Subbuteo

[Sussex Nomad]

Got my Subbuteo in 68/69 for Christmas. Dad had the pitch but on some kind of wooden board so never had the problems with the baize creasing up or being uneven. Had about 15 teams but apart from Brazil and Chelsea I cannot for the life of me remember who else. Only had floodlights none of the other accessories. Like a fool I sold it to a family across the road who's kids were footy mad and around 5/6 years old about 15 years later... wish I still had it!

It used to be made in Tunbridge Wells in those days by an independent games manufacturers... was it Waddingtons? Or were they sold to Waddingtons?

 

[Gwylan]

Oh boy. I had flood lights, grandstand, terraces, tv tower thing, score board, corner kickers which were about 3 times the size of regular players and replica cups which were about 10 times the size of players. I never figured out what the latter was about. Fun times.

I didn't have any corner kickers but I did have a green plastic slope that could loft the balls in the air

I must still have my floodlights up in the loft. My old man is keen to have a sort through. I can't imagine they would have been thrown away. I'll have a browse and on the off chance they have survived, they are yours. Probably best not to tell the kids just yet!

That would be great BoF, thanks.

 

[brunswick]

i used to play 6 a side subbuteo on a 5ft snooker table -off the walls and go behind the goal.

the pylon floodlights are the nuts.

i also wanna remember the one were you pushed head down to kick - that was amazing.

 

[Austrian Gull]

I loved subbuteo as a kid so much so that my parents bought me subbuteo rugby.

It was rubbish.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

i used to play 6 a side subbuteo on a 5ft snooker table -off the walls and go behind the goal.

the pylon floodlights are the nuts.

i also wanna remember the one were you pushed head down to kick - that was amazing.

It was called Striker.

 

[Stoichkov]

The floodlights were a ball ache - kept getting in the way.

I had the 'astro turf' pitch which was rubbish because it wouldn't stay flat. I ended up getting the normal one glued to a board.

Cutting up all the teams for the scoreboard was a tedious job.

Does anyone remember the pointlessness of the '86 'World Cup Squads?' - 16 men I've got the England one

 

[Sompting_Seagull]

Anyone remember Test Match ? Now that was a board game i'd never get bored with.

 

[Gazwag]

Does anyone remember the pointlessness of the '86 'World Cup Squads?' - 16 men I've got the England one

Nothing pointless about a 16 man squad when you play matches on the floor


Just like the Amex

 

[Rusthall Seagull]

Anyone remember Test Match ? Now that was a board game i'd never get bored with.

I had Test Match, it was the best game EVER

 

[Simster]

Anyone remember Test Match ? Now that was a board game i'd never get bored with.

Always liked Subbuteo but this was a tremendous game. The KING of board games, IMO.

I had Test Match, it was the best game EVER

Correct. Absolutey correct. Spot on.

 

[Gary Leeds]

I've just been given a subbuteo set (Barca v Real Madrid) and the kids and I had great fun playing with it before bedtime - my first time for about 40 years.

Of course, my first thought was to look for a Brighton team set but was shocked to see that it was one of the four Championship teams not available. How come not all teams are available?

What's more bizarre is that you can get a streaker set - available in male and female. Who on earth would want to buy one of those?

Subbuteo's changed since I was a kid.

I suspect that you have got a Total Soccer set that looks very similar. They have the rights to the Champions League teams currently. Any other teams are generally done by a separate company.

If the site you looked at was Subbuteo World then they did do every team in the league but only got a small quantity of each. Brighton sold out pretty quick. I also find they really expensive and wont use them unless I had to. I prefer to use SUBBUTEO, ZEUGO, ASTROBASE: professional table football equipment and they do have a couple of Brighton teams in stock, a blue and white striped kit at 15 euros and the chewit wrapper play off kit at 77 euros, but the quality of that kit is amazing as they custom paint it for you

Subbuteo as a brand has not been on general sale for about 9 years (apart from the odd special edition) since Hasbro decided it was not commercially viable.

BUT, Total Soccer have licenced the name from Hasbro and starting next year it will be back in the shops and speaking to the UK marketing director I have been assured that Brighton WILL be getting an official Subbuteo branded team next year (subject to us staying in the championship, if we dont them we will get lumped back in with a generic blue and white striped kit). Also the new players are a hard rubber and not plastic meaning you can stand on them and they dont snap off.

The main issues regarding kits is that there are so many licences to be got. To do a Man U kit you need to get the Premier League, Manchester United, sponsors and the kit manufacturer to all agree. Was never like that back in the 80s lol

If you want a Brighton team look on eBay for reference numbers 51 or 487. They are blue and white stripes. If you want some historical kits then ref 17 is blue shirt white sleeves, 42 and 222 all blue, 530 and 628 are unique kits to Brighton and are from the 1st Div days. 168 is the all yellow away kit from the early 80s but good luck getting one of them with Brighton 2nd on the box, cost me £100 for one 530 and 628 are also expensive because not many people bought them. But just for reference there was 2 subbuteo teams sold on eBay recently for over £600 EACH. There was nothing special about them, you could have bought them at your local toy shop in the early 70s for 59p but again not many of the team sold and they were in good condition.

 

[Mendoza]

I've got a load of subbuteo stuff lying in the attic from the 80s (possibly earlier) - Think it all came from the Bracknell Towers

Teams, stands, pitched, dugouts all sorts

 

[Gwylan]

Gary, fantastic reply,

Yes, the box does say Total Soccer - I thought that this was because it was Spanish and that was the local name.

Glad to hear about the Brighton team next year. And, yes, the players are much tougher now and can withstand some rough treatment (funnily enough, the exact opposite of football itself).

What amazes me most is how much my kids loved the game. I thought that having played Wii and DS, they'd be bored with old-fashioned games like that but my son is now downstairs practising his shooting.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Zeff on here sold me his set, two pitches, balls goals, three teams, goalies etc.

I was going to get a board and stick the pitch to that , add the fence surround up and invite people round as I was awesome at subbutteo.

 

[Gazwag]

Dad had the pitch but on some kind of wooden board so never had the problems with the baize creasing up or being uneven. ?

My Dad did this for me as well, only problem was there it was stored was a little damp and the wood warped a bit, I know the Goldstone ground had a slope but that was nothing to my ground.

 

[fire&skill]

May I recommend this - a very enjoyable read:

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Good read and this guy comes from Shoreham.

Peter Upton's Subbuteo Tribute Website

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Anyone remember Test Match ? Now that was a board game i'd never get bored with.

Used to have this and loved it although my only criticism was it was to easy to score mega runs!

 

[Storer 68]

Can't believe we 've got this far in a thread about the great game without this........................

 

[Braders]

It was called Striker.

Later to be known as Pro-Action Football.