Subbuteo - 必应 Sign in Subbuteo Subbuteo is a group of table top games simulating team sports such as association football, cricket, both codes of rugby and hockey. The name is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as "the replica of Association Football" or Table Soccer . The "Subbuteo" name is derived from the neo-Latin scientific name Falco subbuteo (a bird of prey commonly known as the Eurasian hobby), after a trademark was not granted to its creator Peter Adolph (1916–1994) to call the game "Hobby". Subbuteo is a group of table top games simulating team sports such as association football, cricket, both codes of rugby and hockey. The name is most closely ... Subbuteo is a classic finger-flicking football-simulation action game. It is played on a large cloth playing field called a "pitch", with teams of miniature ... Subbuteo, le grand classique du football de table, est de retour. Grâce aux améliorations du nouveau terrain, les déplacements de vos joueurs n’auront jamais ...

Welcome to Subbuteoworld the worlds largest Subbuteo Table Soccer, Zeugo Table Football and Pegasus Table Soccer online shop. We are the official stockist of Subbuteo ... Subbuteo, Retro Games, Teams, Table Soccer, Rugby, Cricket, Games, Subutteo, Subbuteo World - (Powered by CubeCart) Retro, Vintage Subbuteo Football Teams to Contemporary Kits Available We have a wide selection of kits from across the eras, bringing to life the subbuteo game, and introducing it to a new generation of enthusiasts. Currently produced by Paul Lamond, who would have thought that flicking miniature characters around a felt pitch, after a plastic ball, would lead to a worldwide craze spanning generations? Despite producing a new version this year, subbuteo has such nostalgic pulling power that it easily falls into the retro games category, and also achieves the accolade of being one of the few real cult status games available on the market today. We Are Interested In All of Subbuteo’s Sport Games, Including Football, Rugby and Cricket.

We Buy, We Sell Less well known amongst enthusiasts is that Subbuteo also released both subbuteo rugby and subbuteo cricket sets, alongside its flagship soccer variant. The great news is that we look to sell every version of the game, which means some real collectors gems are regularly available! We are so keen to offer you different alternatives, that we are always on the look out for stock, so if you are looking to make some money on your own subbuteo teams, however old, we guarantee that we will pay you a great price for your teams and other subbuteo accessories. Why have them gathering dust when they can be sold to a loving home, where the subbuteo game can be introduced to a new generation!? Please email me with details... or ring me on 07796 305726 or 01964 537514 Two Easy Ways To Order Follow the easy guide through the site to order online Ring the sales hotline number shown below Call 01964 537514 To place your order or arrange payment by paypal.

Cheque, postal order or transfer If no one is available please try my mobile 07796 305726 or leave me a message on the old answering machine and I will get straight back to you. Subbuteo : definition of Subbuteo and synonyms of Subbuteo (English) 7 External links History Players in national team colors from the late 1980s. The main figure is in the colours of the reference 457 Argentina team, while the figure in the foreground is in the colours of the reference 410 Brazil team. The availability of Subbuteo was first announced in the August 1946 edition of The Boy's Own Paper . The advert offered to send details of the new game but no sets were available until March 1947. Also in August 1946 Peter Adolph lodged an outline patent application for the game which was not finalised until May 1947. After the early adverts it is rumoured orders started to pour in as Adolph set about converting his patent idea into a deliverable product.

The first Subbuteo sets, known as the Assembly Outfits, consisted of goals made of wire with paper nets, a cellulose acetate ball, cardboard playing figures in two basic kits (red shirts with white shorts, and blue shirts with white shorts) and bases made from buttons weighed down with lead washers. The story is that Peter Adolph found one of his mother's coat buttons and used Woolworth buttons for the early set bases. No pitch was provided: instead, the purchaser was given instructions on how to mark out (with chalk, provided) a playing area on to a blanket (an old army blanket was recommended). The first sets were eventually available in March 1947, several months after the original advertisement appeared. The first figures were made of flat cardboard cut out of a long strip. Later these card players came in press-out strips before being replaced with the two-dimensional celluloid figures, known to collectors as "flats". Early production of Subbuteo was centered in Langton Green near Tunbridge Wells , in Kent . In its early years, Subbuteo had a fierce rivalry with Newfooty , a similar game that had been invented in 1929 by William Keeling of Liverpool .

In the run up to Christmas 1961 Adolph introduced a three-dimensional handpainted plastic figure into the range. After several design modifications, this figure evolved by 1967 into the classic "heavyweight" figure pictured below. Newfooty ceased trading in 1961 after a failed television advertising campaign but its demise is thought to be linked to the launch of the moulded Subbuteo players. There were several further evolutions of figure design. In 1978 the "zombie" figure was introduced to facilitate the machine painting of figures. After much negative feedback, the zombie figure was replaced in 1980 by the "lightweight" figure, pictured above, that continued until the 1990s. The company was very popular until it suddenly stopped production. The idea was bought by Hasbro and is now making teams again, in the form of flat 'photorealistic' cards on bases, rather than the old-style figures. Subbuteo also made other things for the collector, such as stands to create a stadium, cups, crowds, police figures and much more. The game Heavy weight players from the late 1970s.

The one on the left is a customized figurine representing an AS Monaco FC player. The other two are as originally painted. Playing Subbuteo is a physical simulation of Association Football , involving dexterity and skill in flicking the playing figures, which stand on weighted bases, across the tabletop pitch towards the ball. What makes the game different from most other tabletop sports games are the hundreds of team kits and accessories. While most games feature only two teams (usually "red vs blue" or "white vs black"), Subbuteo has several hundred team designs, almost all represent real teams with the notable exception of comic book legends Melchester Rovers . While there were many famous teams such as Manchester United and Barcelona , these were complemented by many unique sides, such as Boston Minutemen, Landskrona, Antwerp, Hartford Bicentennials, Admira Wacker, and even unpainted models. There are also many additional accessories, such as new balls and goals, special figures for free kicks and throw-ins, stands and crowd, linesmen , ball-boys , streakers and policemen, floodlights, TV cameras and even a mini-Her Majesty the Queen to present the FA Cup .

[2] Subbuteo has more than one competitive circuit, one of which is known by the term sports table football governed by FISTF . In 1992 there was even an attempt to have Subbuteo made an Olympic sport. [3] Rules of Subbuteo Subbuteo inside packs. Subbuteo players. The rules of Subbuteo table football are an attempt to correspond closely with Association Football . However the simplifications involved in some ways complicate things further. Players maintain possession as long as the figure they flick makes contact with the ball and the ball does not subsequently hit an opposing figure, although the same figure cannot be used for more than three consecutive flicks. Shots at goal can be taken once the ball is over the 'shooting line', a line parallel to and equidistant between the goal line and half-way line. Goalkeeper figures are attached to a rod that fits underneath the back of the goal. The offside law is in effect, but only pertaining to figures that are forward of the opposing team's shooting line (as opposed to the half-way line, as in actual football).

Popular Culture In the episode "The Big Lock-Out" from British sitcom Black Books , Manny fails to hear the disarming code for the new security system after being distracted by a Subbuteo player in the installer's hair. A 1988 mini-series, Playing For Real, told the story of a fictional Subbuteo team called Real Falkirk and starred Patricia Kerrigan as its player-manager. [4] British band Half Man Half Biscuit wrote a nostalgic tribute to Subbuteo on their (ACD) album titled "All I Want For Christmas Is a Dukla Prague away kit." It is common for fans of the band to wear old-fashioned Dukla Prague away kits at the group's gigs.

[5] So he sent his doting mother up the stairs with the stepladder, To get the subbuteo out of the loft, He had all the accessories required for that big-match atmosphere, The crowd and the dugout and the floodlights, too, And you'd always get palmed off with a headless centre-forward, And a goal-keeper with no arms and a face like his, And he'd managed to get hold of a Dukla-Prague Away Kit, 'Cos his uncle owned a sport shop and he'd kept it to one side. Northern Irish band The Undertones referenced subbuteo in "My perfect cousin" (1980): He's gotta degree in economics Maths - physics and bionics He thinks that I'm a cabbage Cos I hate university challenge Even at the age of ten Smart boy Kevin was a smart boy then He always beat me at Subbuteo Cos he flicked to kick And I didn't know Oh my perfect cousin ..

Massive Attack referenced subbuteo in their 1991 song " Five Man Army ": When I was a child I played subbuteo on My table then I graduate to studio one See also Tatarsky, Daniel, "Flick to Kick, An Illustrated History of Subbuteo", Orion, 2004. ISBN 0-7528-6083-6 Translated in to Italian: "Subbuteo. Storia illustrata della nostalgia", Isbn Edizioni, 2007. ISBN 88-7638-065-5 Payne, Richard, "Fifty Years Of Flicking Football", Yore Publications, 1996. ISBN 1-874427-02-X Adolph, Mark, "Growing up with Subbuteo", SportsBooks Limited 2006. ISBN 1-899807-40-3 Willetts, Paul, "Teenage Flicks Memories Of The Sub-Beautiful Game", Dexter Haven Publishing, 2008.

ISBN 978-1-903660-02-7 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Subbuteo English Subbuteo Table Football Association ESTFA is one of the governing bodies of the game in England. The Independent Subbuteo Forum The Independent Subbuteo Forum is the main Subbuteo reference website and message board in the UK. Hot Club D'Ecosse Hot Club D'Ecosse is Scotland's oldest club Southern California Subbuteo Club SCSC is one of the oldest Subbuteo clubs in the USA. Subbuteo : Map (The Full Wiki) The Full Wiki Wikipedia article: Map showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article: Subbuteo is a set of table top games simulating team sports such as football , cricket , both codes of rugby and hockey . The name is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as "the replica of Association Football".

The "Subbuteo" name is derived from the neo-Latin scientific name Falco subbuteo (a bird of prey commonly known as the Eurasian hobby ), after a trademark was not granted to its creator Peter Adolph (1916–1994) to call the game "Hobby". History Players in national team colors from the late 1980s. The main figure is in the colors of the reference 457 Argentina team, while the figure in the foreground is in the colors of the reference 410 Brazil team. The availability of Subbuteo was first announced in the August 1946 edition of The Boy's Own Paper . The advert offered to send details of the new game but no sets were available until March 1947. Also in August 1946 Peter Adolph lodged an outline patent application for the game which was not finalised until May 1947. After the early adverts it is rumoured orders started to pour in as Adolph set about converting his patent idea into a deliverable product.

The first Subbuteo sets, known as the Assembly Outfits, consisted of goals made of wire with paper nets, a cellulose acetate ball, cardboard playing figures in two basic kits (red shirts with white shorts, and blue shirts with white shorts) and bases made from buttons weighed down with lead washers. The story is that Peter Adolph found one of his mother's coat buttons and used Woolworth buttons for the early set bases. No pitch was provided: instead, the purchaser was given instructions on how to mark out (with chalk, provided) a playing area on to a blanket (an old army blanket was recommended). The first sets were eventually available in March 1947, several months after the original advertisement appeared. The first figures were made of flat cardboard cut out of a long strip. Later these card players came in press-out strips before being replaced with the two-dimensional celluloid figures, known to collectors as "flats". Early production of Subbuteo was centered in Langton Green , in Kent . In its early years, Subbuteo had a fierce rivalry with Newfooty , a similar game that had been invented in 1929 by William Keeling of Liverpool .

In the run up to Christmas 1961 Adolph introduced a three-dimensional handpainted plastic figure into the range. After several design modifications, this figure evolved by 1967 into the classic "heavyweight" figure pictured below. Newfooty ceased trading in 1961 after a failed television advertising campaign but its demise is not thought to be linked to the launch of the moulded Subbuteo players. There were several further evolutions of figure design. In 1978 the "zombie" figure was introduced to facilitate the machine painting of figures. After much negative feedback, the zombie figure was replaced in 1980 by the "lightweight" figure, pictured above, that continued until the 1990s. After England's World Cup victory in 1966, Subbuteo designed a special pack containing all the teams that got further than the group stage, namely quarter-finals and above. This particular set is now difficult to come by and is very expensive. The company was very popular until it suddenly stopped production.

The idea was bought by Hasbro and is now making teams again, in the form of flat 'photorealistic' cards on bases, rather than the old-style figures. Subbuteo also made other things for the collector, such as stands to create a stadium, cups, crowds, police figures and much more. The game Playing Subbuteo is a physical simulation of the sport, involving dexterity and skill in flicking the playing pieces, which stand on weighted bases, across the tabletop mat towards the ball, which is oversized and stands nearly as high as the players. What makes the game different from most other tabletop sports games are the hundreds of team kits and accessories. While most games feature only two teams (usually "red vs blue" or "white vs black"), Subbuteo has several team designs, all for real teams. While some team colours could naturally be used to represent different teams, such as reference 001, which could be used as many teams, including Arsenal , Manchester United and Nottingham Forest , there are many unique kits, such as Sampdoria or Soviet Union , and even unpainted models.

There are also many additional accessories, such as new balls and goals, special figures for free kicks and throw-ins, stands and crowd, streakers and policemen, floodlights, and TV cameras. Subbuteo also has a long-established competitive circuit, where it is known by the term sports table football . There is a world governing body, FISTF , and a World Championship every year. Rules of Subbuteo Subbuteo inside packs. Subbuteo players. The rules of Subbuteo table football are an attempt to correspond closely with the game itself. However the simplifications involved in some ways complicate things further. Players maintain possession as long as the figure they flick makes contact with the ball and the ball does not subsequently hit an opposing figure, although the same figure cannot be used for more than three consecutive flicks. Shots at goal can be taken once the ball is over the 'shooting line', a line parallel to and equidistant between the goal line and half-way line. Goalkeeper figures are attached to a rod that fits underneath the back of the goal.

The offside law is in effect, but only pertaining to figures that are forward of the opposing team's shooting line (as opposed to the half-way line, as in actual football). Pop culture Subbuteo's prominence as a significant part of the game-playing youth of Britain - particularly in the 1970s and '80s - is demonstrated by various references to it in the pop culture of the last couple of decades. Two pop songs, in particular, have featured significant reference to it - the most famed being The Undertones ' 1980 hit single 'My Perfect Cousin', which mentioned being beaten at Subbuteo by the titular cousin (referencing the game's popular slogan, 'Flick to Kick!'). The cover of the single also featured a Subbuteo figure in the colours of the band's hometown team, Derry City FC . In addition, the game was the main subject of Half Man Half Biscuit 's B-side 'All I Want for Christmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit', the lyrics recalling a petulant game of Subbuteo.

Although hundreds of teams were replicated in the Subbuteo range in the 70s and 80s, a Dukla Prague away kit was never produced. Subbuteo - definition of Subbuteo in English | Oxford Dictionaries Definition of Subbuteo in English: Subbuteo noun trademark [mass noun] A tabletop version of soccer in which players use their fingers to flick miniature figures of footballers at the ball in order to strike it towards the goal.

Example sentences ‘Wes got the chance to play the table-top version of the beautiful game in the event staged to mark the launch of a new version of Subbuteo.’ ‘Friday Generations of footie fans are devastated to learn that Subbuteo is to be kicked into touch after keeping fingers flicking for more than 50 years.’ ‘Armitage, for his part, is nostalgic about Subbuteo, the kicking, flicking football game which features heavily in the novel.’ ‘In the 1950s children wanted Subbuteo, Sooty, Muffin the Mule and model cars.’ ‘But he was not as overawed as you may expect - for they were all under 16-years-old and were standing at either end of a Subbuteo table.’ Origin 1940s: punningly from Latin Falco subbuteo hobby falcon, represented on Subbuteo products. Pronunciation What does the Australian term cobber mean? an ear of corn a dessert consisting of fruit baked in a deep dish mate What does the Australian term wagga blanket mean?

an Australian shrub an improvised covering for a bed a net enclosing a swimming area to keep out dangerous jellyfish What does the Australian term milko mean? a milkman What does the Australian term mushie mean? a mushroom a person who regularly swims outdoors in winter peas cooked until soft and served in their own juice What does the Australian term pinnie mean? a pinpall machine What does the Australian term wombat crossing mean? a pedestrian crossing in the form of a wide, flat speed bump a bridge built to allow wombats to safely cross an area of road an all-weather road used for transporting beef cattle to market What does the Australian term brumby mean? a person who lives off the efforts of others a North Australian prickly scrambling shrub a wild horse What does the Australian term billy mean? a tin or enamel cooking pot a wild or unbroken horse a pinafore What does the Australian term native bear mean? the small hairy larva of a beetle a koala What does the Australian term yaffler mean? a saltwater crocodile a person who is very talkative a lively celebration or party You scored /10 practise again? Retry Most popular in the world Australia Other tabletop footie games.

Subbuteo Football boxed editions , and Five-a-side and Junior Editions . Having produced pages on both Striker and Newfooty, it seemed reasonable to provide a quick round up of other similar football games that appeared on the market in the Subbuteo era. This is an ongoing section of the website. I have very little detail on some of these games, sometimes little more than a picture or two. So if your second favourite football game is missing, or lacking in details then please write in and tell me about it. Alternatively, if you owned one of these games and it was a complete dog then again, let me know and I'll warn football game collectors :-) I've deliberately avoided card games, board games, computer games, and anything with rotating rods. The games here will generally have some degree of action, and individual players. Magnetic Football Games 1950s-60s. This seemed to have been a bit of a craze in the 1950s. There were several manufacturers of this type of game, but the principle was the same. Each playing piece had a magnet on the bottom of the base, which was manipulated by a rod which went under the table.

The magnets of each team were polarised in reverse, so you could not affect your opponents players with your rod. The players were then used to push the ball around the pitch. Goalkeepers could either be on magnets like the outfielders, or on a rod like Subbuteo. The game boards were pretty similar with a smooth wooden or plastic surface, some form of fence surround, and legs to enable you to get under the pitch. Well known versions of this game included: "Super Soccer" by Balyna (Toogood and Jones of Whitstable in Kent). Came in a large card box. Pitch had lovely wooden sides and a tough fabric pitch. The legs were plastic, with suction cupped feet. This smart set up was ruined slightly by some very cheap looking players. The goalkeeper was on a plastic rod, but was the same horrible kicking player casting of the outfield players. This was a five-a-side set, bases were red and blue, wider at the bottom, and generally a nice design. The rods were plastic and matched the base colours. The goals sat within the pitch and were small, narrow and flimsy. Balyna also produced tabletop versions of other games in the same format, including cricket.

I've also seen a (smooth finish) pitch with rugby markings on the reverse, but sadly there were no rules or figures with it. So if anyone has the rules for this, I'd like to know. "Socrates" (Soccer at Ease!) by Bill Keeling's New Footy Company. This game is shown in detail on the Keeling Games page. It used the flat celluloid figures of the standard Newfooty game, and came in a variety of sizes from a basic two-a-side version, with the pitch built into the box, to a five-a-side version played on a large board. The five-a-side had four magnetic rods, so each team could be controlled by two players, and also featured a rugby variant on the reverse. "Soccerette", by (surprisingly) Soccerette Limited, Newmarket, Suffolk. I have seen two different versions of this game. Early versions had the players shown below, whilst the pitch and rods had a rugged wood and bolts look. The goals in this set were gaps in the wooden surround, like they would be in bar football. Note that the goalkeepers were on a magnet, and not on a rod. The other version looks later in date, and is more common.

It is shown at the top of this article, and was similar in look to Balna's version, with small nets within the pitch, and a more professional gloss to the components. I played a version of this game at the Woking Subbuteo fair, which did not seem to match any of the sets I've seen since. So I am sure there are more to uncover. Magnetic football is fun and frenetic, and takes a little bit of skill. If you try to move things along too fast, or go for too much power when shooting, then you are liable to leave player or ball, or both behind. Although you couldn't control your opponent's players, your reversed magnet could be used to flip them over if you were sneaky. Time has faded these Arsenal players to a fetching pink. Maybe this is apt for the player doing the "teapot" impression. They come from an early Soccerette set. According to Richard Payne's Subbuteo book, Peter Adolph did not actually regard Bayna's magnetic football as a rival, as he thought the two games complimented each other. This might have been because they both had a rival in Newfooty, or because both games came from Kent.

I've been told that like Subbuteo and New Footy, Magnetic football had a Players Association, with leagues and tournaments. This is backed up by the illustrated Soccerette Club badge sent in by Ashley Hemmings. February 2015 - Ashley has now sent in a brochure that helps fill in the details of what was available for Soccerette. There were three different sizes available - listed here quoting the (not over-the-top at all) sales blurb. The Family Model Constructed in the finest materials with four special, moulded adjustable and detachable legs for easy levelling up and engraved playing field of non-flammable, warp-proof material exclusive to Soccerette design. Fourteen sculptured players in two different team colours with distinctive goalkeepers all on specially polarised and moulded bases. Four Wonder Soccerette Wands. Two balls. Two goals. Size approx 3ft 4ins by 2ft 6ins. The 5-a-side Model A slightly smaller Soccerette table model.... Ten Sculptured players (etc, etc). Four Wonder Wands. Only one ball, but luckily two goals. Size approx 2ft 7ins by 1ft 9ins.

The 2-a-side Model Not a toy, but another precision-made article. Just four players with this one, and no distinctive goalkeepers. Just two wands, and a single ball. Size approx 1ft 10 3/4ins, by 1ft 4ins. In addition, the following accessories were obtainable "at your local stockist" Wonder wands in red or blue. Sculptures players (state whether attracted to a red or blue wand). Plastic white panelled balls. Balyna Football (the other one!) Just to add to the confusion, as well as their magnetic set, Toogood and Jones produced this alternate indoor football game. Unlike the big box required for the "fixed pitch" of their magnetic game, Balyna Football was sold in a long thin box. It has a cloth pitch with a metal surround and goals. The players were on hollow bases and were directed towards the ball with a spoon-like "director". The ball was a flat disc. Hopefully the image from the rules will give you some idea of how this works. There was also a Balyna Cricket game produced in a similar long box format. A big thank you to Filip Van Hulle who made me aware of this game.

Tipp-Kick (1920s - 2000s) Tipp-Kick is essentially the German version of Super Striker. Well actually, the principle is the same as the Peter Pan Cup Final game shown on the next page of this round-up, but comparing the game to the Peter Pan effort is doing it a disservice. Even calling it the German Super Striker is a little insulting, as Tipp Kick has a history longer than any other game on this website. As Tipp-Kick is German, and does not seem to have spread to British shores in any numbers, I have really struggled to find information about its history. Luckily, website visitor Ameen Muhairez is bilingual, and has kindly passed on his knowledge of this important football game. The history of Tipp-Kick begins with a patent for a "football board game" lodged by Karl Mayer, in Stuttgart in 1921. In 1924 he granted a production licence to an export salesman named Edwin Mieg. Mieg then quit his job so he could spend time developing the game, and he presented it to the public for the first time at the Leipzig Toy Fair in 1926.

However, Mieg couldn't afford an official stand at the fair, so he set up a stall at one of the entrances and invited the arriving visitors to have a go at this new game. Of course, this activity (along with the resultant crowds), bought Mr Mieg to the attention of the security guards, and he was moved on. Heroically, he then just moved to another entrance and carried on. This dogged determination meant that he managed to sell 200 sets during the day, and confirmed that the game was a marketable product. The game was firmly established in Germany by the mid 1930s, and Mieg opened his own factory to produce the sets in 1938. Production continues to this day by the Mieg company, with very few changes. The key component in a Tipp-Kick set is obviously the kicker himself. He is of a metal construction, with a moveable leg, that is used to propel the ball. A metal pin passes through the figure and operates the kicking leg from a button on top of the head.

Of course, Tipp-Kick shares this feature with British games Striker, Targetman, Big League, and Cup Final, but the retention of the traditional metal players, even in the 21st century sets, gives it a lovely distinctive look and feel. It is quite remarkable really, in the era of plastic domination, to find figures that would not look out of place in a pre-war lead Britains figure display. The other components have become plastic over the years, as the pictures from my modern "Junior Cup" set show. Even the goalkeepers in these later sets are plastic. This is a fixed position diving goalkeeper, and is operated using a box behind the goal. Pressing the buttons on the box make the goalkeeper dive. The diving goalkeeper was introduced in 1954, to coincide with the World Cup of that year. More recently, a more sophisticated "star-keeper" has been made available, with the same control box, but a more complicated rod. I assume this is a keeper with animated arms in a similar way to Super Striker. The Star-Keeper appears to be wearing track-suit bottoms, which in my real life experience certainly does not signify a star goalkeeper.

The reason I mentioned Cup Final in my introduction, rather than Striker, is that the Tipp-Kick ball is not round, but instead it is a multi-sided object in two colours. Each team has a colour, and the player whose colour is on top can play the ball. The modern Tipp-Kick rule book (and it seems to cover all forms of the game) states that "A team may consist of up to three kickers and a goalie, however each player may only field one kicker and the goalie at one time", and that "different kickers may be used depending on the game situation". It does not explain more than that though. As mentioned, the set featured here is a modern "Junior Cup" set. This set features a smaller pitch than normal, and a single player per side. However, it is obvious that with a ninety year history, there are going to be many different sets produced. The most common set is undoubtedly a simple two player set in a long thin box, featuring a horrible roll-up pitch of a papery fibre. The pitch here is even smaller than the Junior Cup version shown above.

I've seen quite a few of these sets at toy fairs, but they all have different lids, and there is trouble with dating them, as the contents barely change. I've seen sets with illustrated box lids that look 1950s (or earlier), but I can't be sure. Another set I've recently acquired looks very 1970s judging from the cover photograph of a kid playing who would happily fit onto any Striker box of the period. This set, called Kick Foot (No 80), is clearly aimed at a continental market, with flags and wording on the lid for German, English, French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish players. Despite the multilingual nature of these sets, is is felt that the game was never really marketed outside of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This was partly because other football games such as Subbuteo were already well established. In Germany, of course, it was far more successful. I've mentioned that the diving goalkeepers were introduced for the 1954 World Cup. Well, As the 1966 World Cup boasted Subbuteo's sales, so the German win of 1954 pushed Tipp-Kick to great heights.

Sales in 1954 were over 180,000 sets. Teams and Accessories. Again, I have to return to the modern rulebook, which also has adverts for a team and accessory range (in German). These include - Reference No The teams are split into club and international kickers. However, with only one outfield player per side, perhaps calling them a team is a little inaccurate. The club teams, called "Top-Kicker", were introduced in 1963, to coincide with the formation of the Bundesliga. This range has since expanded to include a good number of the top sides from around Europe. International teams, called "Star-Kicker" arrived for the 1974 World Cup (in Germany of course), and now feature (at least) 46 World Cup teams, ranging from Brazil to Saudi Arabia. In 2011 female Tipp-Kick figures were introduced for the first time to celebrate the Women's World Cup finals being held in Germany. I guess they finally needed to make a new mould..... Chad Valley Big League. (Early 1970s). The BIG Football Game with real kicking players.

This was more of a rival to Striker than it was to Subbuteo, with large spring-loaded kicking players. It took a more simplified route to kicking than Striker though, with a tab on the kicking leg to allow the leg to be pulled back. The set had large simple plastic goals, and a pitch which was almost identical to a Subbuteo pitch, but even bigger. The "Big" in the title also emphasized that Big League was played with eleven players a side, rather than Striker (and indeed Subbuteo's Targetman) which were only five-a-side. Actually, the Big League box includes 25 players, so you had a few extras (or maybe you could paint a kicking referee!) The unique selling point for Big League was that the figures were supplied unpainted, and a set of paints and a brush were also included. Another item in the set was a colour wall chart featuring the playing kits of all the English league sides of the time, plus shirts/shorts from Scottish, Irish, and some International sides, to give you a few painting ideas. This is an attractive poster, and it is interesting to see which teams got the Subbuteo treatment and which ones didn't.

Of course the downside to this do-it-yourself set is that second-hand you can get some very ropey sets with terrible painting. I'm not sure how long the sets were produced, but there are at least a couple of slightly different box layouts and I own an alternate version to the set above. Where there is a big black space on the box lid shown here, my set has a drawing of Martin Chivers, with a "Play Big League like I do" speech bubble. The wall chart in my Martin Chivers set is dated to 1973. A bigger change between the two sets is the layout of the box interior. On the set shown above, the two teams face each other in the box, whereas the Martin Chivers version has all the players facing the same way. The DIY nature of the painting is a downside for the modern collector, but the game also had disadvantages for a 1970s child. For starters the kicking mechanism relied on rather fragile plastic and a tiny spring, but by far the biggest problem with Big League was that there were no specialized goalkeepers. You just had to paint up a standard figure as a goalkeeper.

However, that was hardly ideal, and I'm not sure how he was supposed to defend the large goals. This might be because I don't have a rule book with my set. There was also a smaller version produced called Junior League. This set came in a small box, with no pitch, and five-a-side teams. The players in this set were actually pre-painted in blue and red kit, so second-hand teams from this set are much nicer than the paint-yourself ones. Pleasingly, Chad Valley also improved the goalkeeper situation. Although you still had to use an outfield player, there was now a goalkeeper handle featuring a grip which clipped around the waist of one of the players. A small rectangular hole in the back of the goal allowed for some movement of the 'keeper from behind the goal. Five-a-Side Soccer was yet another variation on Big League. As with Subbuteo's Football Express, this game was advertised "as played in the Daily Express National Five-a-side Championship seen on BBC Television". This set had the printed red and blue players from Junior League, but probably pre-dated that game, as the old "non-goalkeepers" problem is in evidence.

What the box advertised as a "stadium" was (perhaps inevitably) a tacky all-in-one plastic playing surface and surround. Super Glocagoal by Atlantic (1970s) Atlantic were an Italian firm, best known in the UK for producing OO scale plastic soldiers. I can remember shelves full of their figures at Beatties in Brighton, and they had a much wider range of subject matter than their English rivals with Egyptians, Greeks, Wild West etc. I never saw this footie game though, and know little about it. Looking at the way the kids on the box are flicking the players, and then looking at this blow-up of the action pictures on the box lid suggests that this game was pretty close to Subbuteo (although the ball is smaller). In Italy it was regarded as a cheaper alternative to Subbuteo. Extra teams were sold in Italy, but these were unpainted, and simply supplied in an appropriate colour plastic. For example, the Torino set shown was dark red. The figures themselves were an OO scale version of the famous Airfix footballers set, which Airfix themselves only produced in 1:32 scale.

It was common for other figure manufacturers to "borrow" figure designs from their competitors. The advantage to using the Airfix figures, is that it produces some lovely detailed figures (even if the team includes a referee, linesman and trainer!). These figures would look great alongside Subbuteo's accessories. Another amusing thing is that the goalkeeper is in a diving pose, but he's really only going to be useful diving in one direction. Interestingly, Airfix did produce a football game in the 1970s, which was in their toy range, rather than the more famous model one. Sadly, the game seemed to be more of a two-player pinball, with the players controlling paddles on the goal line. So it doesn't really warrant a place on this page. April 2008: New information about the Atlantic set has kindly been sent to the site by Bruno Biasini, who owns the Roma set shown above. Unlike the big set shown at the top of the section, the game at this time came as half a pitch, with one team. Bruno thinks this was smart marketing because in order to have a full game you needed to buy two sets, and he owned Roma and Lazio.

The team colours around the pitch-half are a nice touch. Here are a few bits of the box illustration in more detail. You should be able to see that the (very small) goal, and the flags are different from the "Super" set shown at the top of this section. The little score boards had a sliding marker, and went up to ten. Bruno explains that the winner was simply the first one to ten goals. The set came with two different types of ball. The "Super set shows the small round version, whereas this box shows the larger ball, which was flat on side. With the flat bases, this would have given the game even more of a shove-ha'penny feel. Of course, the best thing shown in this set is the lovely little covered bench. That's all for this page, but look at Page Two for Cup Final, and loads of Pro-Action Football !! Misc.

Football Games: 1950s-70s (this page); 1980s-2000s The Joy of Six: Table-top sports games | Scott Murray, Rob Smyth and Tom Lutz | Sport | The Guardian The Joy of Six: Table-top sports games From Subbuteo to Test match, via Coin Rugby, here are some of our favourite table-top sports games Ah, memories. Hours of fun from the comfort of your living room. Friday 14 January 2011 05.35 EST First published on Friday 14 January 2011 05.35 EST 1) Subbuteo The most famous sporting table-top game of all, Subbuteo is ostensibly successful because of its simple but fiendishly addictive gameplay. A genuinely dynamic game, it taught generations of kids the merits of pass and move. Kick and rush – or, more accurately, flick and rush – wasn't an option for any budding Charles Reeps, and aerial ability meant little.

Flicking the little men on to the disproportionate ball would only get you so far on a wide open playing surface that made the old Wembley look like Ibrox on European nights when Graeme Souness was in charge. Players were forced to embark on expansive sorties upfield instead. It was as sophisticated a tactical education as football-mad British kids ever got. But despite Subbuteo matches being taken very seriously by some – one televised final back in the day degenerated into farce when the father of one competitor spat (!) on his son's opponent (!!!) in a bid to put him off, only for the victim to defy the Estudiantes-style antifutbol intimidation to hammer home a last-gasp winner – it wasn't really about the gameplay at all. Not really. No, what Subbuteo tapped into was the anally retentive side of football fandom. Painting kits on to figures and building miniature stadiums – from stands to floodlights, TV cameras to spectators – or varnishing bases for improved performance was a labour of love, an expression of obsession, straight out of the model railway handbook.

(Yes, we're aware how fogeyish that makes us sound, but we're talking about the merits of Subbuteo, for goodness sake, what on earth do you expect us to say?) SM 2) Hit the Referee Other table-top football games are available, of course. Here's a random selection: (a) Wembley . A dice-based quest to win the FA Cup – earn money for wins, spend money on star-player tokens, increase your chance of rolling the right combination to cause an upset – which couldn't give off more of a reek of the innocent 1950s and 1960s if the box and board were marinated in pomade. (b) The Kenny Dalglish Soccer Game . A late 1970s plastic moulded affair. Players operated a team of rotating players using two knobs in an attempt to guide a small ball bearing across undulating terrain and into the goal. It was highly difficult to get slick passing moves going, as the players had the average turning speed of Dirk Kuyt. Still, points for effort and imagination. (c) Terry Venables Invites You To Be The Manager.

A board game sold as a cross between Game of Life, Risk and Trivial Pursuit, which was basically an admission that you will only play it twice, having completed a full game on neither occasion. Not exactly sure what you had to do in this one, but George Graham was the only other boss pictured on the box. Can you get from the nightclub to your home without your opponent serving you with a writ? However, our favourite is an Italian game called Akkiappa l'arbitro, variously translated as Hunt the Referee or Hit the Referee (and you know full well which one we're going with). The game essentially consists of a piece of fabric with electric string running through it, and eight plastic referees sitting on top of it. When the referees light up, the player has to batter them with a padded glove. It's essentially whack-a-mole, but with the added chance to live out those hot Howard Webb fantasies. What is particularly good about Hit the Referee was that it was released by Italian toy squillionaire Enrico Preziosi, now owner of Genoa, but at the time of release (2003) owner of Como.

Preziosi had spent the best part of that season banging on about how referees were out to get his team. One match that season was abandoned after Como conceded three first-half penalties at home, causing fans to act out a live-action version of Preziosi's table-top smash. He was eventually ordered to withdraw the game. SM 3) International Cricket Many lonely young males have found lasting happiness in the classified ads. Not so many have found it in the classified ads of Wisden Cricket Monthly. There, back in the November 1989 edition, lurked an advert for Lambourne Games' International Cricket, one of the more rewarding discoveries of adolescence and a game that, though largely untouched for the past decade, can still supply a serious Proustian rush. International Cricket belongs to a sub-genre of board games, the sports replay game , for which only nerds' nerds need apply. By comparison, Warhammer and Championship Manager seemed positively chic. It may not have been cool, but frankly, who cares? As well as being extremely playable, International Cricket had the two things a replay gamer looks for the most in a life partner: detail and credibility.

Each cricketer had a complicated card that replicated his average and style, a level of precision that was unimaginable 20 years ago. And in the pre-internet age, there was the humble excitement of waiting for updates to arrive by post. You have not known joy until you have lovingly unwrapped a revised player card for Zahid Fazal. The experience wasn't quite as all-consuming as it was for J Henry Waugh in Robert Coover's delightful 1968 novel The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. , but it was pretty close. Commentating on the wickets in a cod Bill Lawry voice was probably a bit much. Perhaps the best thing about the game was its scope for Test championships – no logistical issues when you're staging it all in your bedroom – and especially for the meshing of different eras. Dennis Lillee bowling to Jack Hobbs on a Perth flyer? Australia's Invincibles taking on the 1984 West Indies? We think we know who was winning. RS 4) Test Match Cricket's version of Subbuteo. Sort of.

A late 1970s product by Peter Pan games, Test Match's gameplay was genuinely appalling. The batting mechanism involved nothing more sophisticated than pulling and letting go of a piece of plastic. The fielders "caught" the ball between their feet. The bowler – and let us remember this was an era when Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall roamed the earth – dispatched his deliveries by trundling the ball down a chute attached to his hand at speeds usually associated with the conveyor belt on Larry Grayson's Generation Game. Totally lame, and yet Test Match is remembered with a genuine fondness by nearly everyone over the age of 30, if a totally unscientific vox pop of the wastrels in Guardian Towers is anything to go by, the bowler being the most warmly remembered piece. Everyone's in denial about what that West Indies attack did to them as children, it would seem. The scars run deep. SM 5) Blood Bowl The 80s marked the apotheosis of two types of geeks.

The British NFL fan spoke in a strange mid-Atlantic accent, wishing he had been born in Chicago, while the role-playing games fan spoke in a Middle Earth accent, wishing he'd been born a goblin prince with a really fit elvish girlfriend . It was inevitable these two worlds would collide eventually, lowering productivity in after-school computer clubs across the country. That collision was Blood Bowl, a version of American football played by fantasy races from Warhammer world on a board made from crushed skulls (which looked suspiciously like polystyrene when you ripped open your present on Christmas morning). The attractions to the social misfit were obvious: a nice line in humour (team names included Darkside Cowboys and the Orcland Raiders), the promise of violence (killing opposing players was encouraged) and the fact that girls didn't play it. Unfortunately, like many role-playing games, the reality was a little more mundane. Killing players involved rolling loads of dice rather than ripping their still-beating hearts from their chests, it took three months to learn the rules and one of the assistants in the local Games Workshop was a woman, radically increasing the chances of talking to a female should you need to pop in to get more paint to dab up your miniatures .

TL 6) Coin Rugby Much as MB Games, Tomy and JW Spear & Sons want you to think otherwise, the cheap and simple ideas have always been the best. And there's nothing cheaper or simpler than shoving a halfpenny back and forth across the top of a table. The rules were simple: you score four points (as a try was then worth) for leaving the coin hanging over the opposite side of the table, flicking it up and catching it. Two more points are then up for grabs for the conversion – which involved spinning the coin on the desk, stopping it between your thumbs, and flicking it between a set of uprights erected by your opponent's arms. Local rules often applied, the metaphor of the sport itself changed depending on mood, but the principles remained the same. The game had the added bonus that, upon taking a conversion, there was a better-than-evens chance of vindictively firing the coin straight into your opponent's confused face.

And it wasn't just your hapless pal who would take it in the fizzog: by playing a game that required no plastic-moulded pieces, dice or felt playing surfaces, every single shove, flick and spin of the coin was one in the eye of capitalism's The Man. SM Thanks to Paul Doyle, Paolo Bandini, Rob Bagchi, Gregg Roughley and Tom Bryant About: Subbuteo About: Subbuteo An Entity of Type : activity , from Named Graph : , within Data Space : dbpedia.org Subbuteo is a group of table top games simulating team sports such as association football, cricket, both codes of rugby and hockey. The name is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as "the replica of Association Football" or Table Soccer.The "Subbuteo" name is derived from the neo-Latin scientific name Falco subbuteo (a bird of prey commonly known as the Eurasian hobby), after a trademark was not granted to its creator Peter Adolph (1916–1994) to call the game "Hobby".

Property Le Subbuteo est un ensemble de jeux de plateau simulant des parties de football, rugby, hockey sur gazon, baseball et cricket. Véritable sport aujourd'hui, le Subbuteo possède sa Coupe du monde depuis trois décennies. (fr) Subbuteo ist ein aus England stammendes Tisch-Fußballspiel für zwei Spieler. Gespielt wird Subbuteo auf einem grünen Tuch (meist aus Baumwolle oder einer Art Micro-Kunstrasen), das etwa 80 Zentimeter breit und 120 Zentimeter lang ist. Anders als etwa bei Tipp-Kick verfügt jeder Spieler über zehn frei bewegliche Feld-Spielfiguren. Diese sind etwa zwei Zentimeter hoch und stehen auf einem abgerundeten Sockel. Der Spielball hat einen Durchmesser von ebenfalls etwa zwei Zentimetern.

Der jeweilige Torwart ist an einer Stange befestigt, so dass der Spieler ihn von der Rückseite des Tores aus bedienen kann.Gespielt wird Subbuteo, indem man den Zeige- oder Mittelfinger durch Druck auf das Spieltuch (nicht auf den Daumen) spannt und eine Spielfigur „schnippt“, also schnellen lässt. Der Ball wird dann je nach Richtung und Kraft der Spielfigur bloß berührt oder vorangetrieben. Die Art dieser Bewegung ist vergleichbar mit der beim Billard oder Carrom. Dadurch, dass alle Figuren beweglich sind und grundsätzlich nur durch Schnippen bewegt (also nicht etwa von Hand an die gewünschte Stelle platziert) werden dürfen, spielen bei Subbuteo – anders als bei den meisten anderen Tischfußballspielen – auch Strategie und Taktik eine große Rolle. In dieser Hinsicht kommt Subbuteo dem echten Fußballspiel nahe.Im Laufe der Jahre hat sich Subbuteo von einem Spiel zum Wettkampfsport entwickelt.

So werden heute Deutsche Meisterschaften genauso ausgespielt wie Europapokalwettbewerbe und Weltmeisterschaften. (de) Subbuteo es un juego, también conocido como fútbol de mesa, consistente en recrear un partido de fútbol por medio de equipos compuestos por once jugadores sobre una base convexa o plana, que se deslizan sobre una pana, a los cuales se golpea con el dedo, con el objetivo de marcar goles impulsando el balón mediante dichos jugadores. (es) Subbuteo is a group of table top games simulating team sports such as association football, cricket, both codes of rugby and hockey. The name is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as "the replica of Association Football" or Table Soccer. The "Subbuteo" name is derived from the neo-Latin scientific name Falco subbuteo (a bird of prey commonly known as the Eurasian hobby), after a trademark was not granted to its creator Peter Adolph (1916–1994) to call the game "Hobby".

(en) Il Subbuteo è un gioco da tavolo nel quale viene riprodotto, in miniatura, il gioco del calcio. Esistono inoltre edizioni "storiche" del gioco (prodotte in Gran Bretagna negli anni cinquanta del XX secolo) anche per il rugby, il cricket, l'hockey su prato, il baseball e il calcetto. (it) O Subbuteo é um jogo de futebol de mesa relativamente antigo, para dois jogadores, que se joga com figuras antropomórficas a uma escala reduzida e reunidos em equipas, cada uma formada por dez jogadores de campo (uma figura de plástico representando um jogador inserido numa base tipo calote esférica) e um goleiro (uma figura de plástico representando um goleiro preso a uma barra plástica/metálica com cerca de 10 centímetros de comprimento) num campo de tecido verde com gols fixos.

(pt) Le Subbuteo est un ensemble de jeux de plateau simulant des parties de football, rugby, hockey sur gazon, baseball et cricket. Véritable sport aujourd'hui, le Subbuteo possède sa Coupe du monde depuis trois décennies. (fr) Subbuteo es un juego, también conocido como fútbol de mesa, consistente en recrear un partido de fútbol por medio de equipos compuestos por once jugadores sobre una base convexa o plana, que se deslizan sobre una pana, a los cuales se golpea con el dedo, con el objetivo de marcar goles impulsando el balón mediante dichos jugadores. (es) Il Subbuteo è un gioco da tavolo nel quale viene riprodotto, in miniatura, il gioco del calcio. Esistono inoltre edizioni "storiche" del gioco (prodotte in Gran Bretagna negli anni cinquanta del XX secolo) anche per il rugby, il cricket, l'hockey su prato, il baseball e il calcetto.

(it) O Subbuteo é um jogo de futebol de mesa relativamente antigo, para dois jogadores, que se joga com figuras antropomórficas a uma escala reduzida e reunidos em equipas, cada uma formada por dez jogadores de campo (uma figura de plástico representando um jogador inserido numa base tipo calote esférica) e um goleiro (uma figura de plástico representando um goleiro preso a uma barra plástica/metálica com cerca de 10 centímetros de comprimento) num campo de tecido verde com gols fixos. (pt) Subbuteo is a group of table top games simulating team sports such as association football, cricket, both codes of rugby and hockey.

The name is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as "the replica of Association Football" or Table Soccer.The "Subbuteo" name is derived from the neo-Latin scientific name Falco subbuteo (a bird of prey commonly known as the Eurasian hobby), after a trademark was not granted to its creator Peter Adolph (1916–1994) to call the game "Hobby". (en) Subbuteo ist ein aus England stammendes Tisch-Fußballspiel für zwei Spieler. Gespielt wird Subbuteo auf einem grünen Tuch (meist aus Baumwolle oder einer Art Micro-Kunstrasen), das etwa 80 Zentimeter breit und 120 Zentimeter lang ist. Anders als etwa bei Tipp-Kick verfügt jeder Spieler über zehn frei bewegliche Feld-Spielfiguren. Diese sind etwa zwei Zentimeter hoch und stehen auf einem abgerundeten Sockel. Der Spielball hat einen Durchmesser von ebenfalls etwa zwei Zentimetern.

Der jeweilige Torwart ist an einer Stange befestigt, so dass der Spieler ihn von der Rückseite des Tores aus bedienen kann.Gespielt wird Subbuteo, indem man den Zeige- oder Mittelfinger durch Druck auf das Spieltuch (nicht auf den Daumen) spannt und eine Spielfigur „schnippt“, also schnellen lässt. Der Ball wird da (de)

Question: The name "Subbuteo" is most associated with a table-top version of what game?
Answer: Soccer