Solo Subbuteo 101

How many of you had your first Subbuteo at Christmas, I would imagine especially in the UK and readers of a certain age (Wrinklies, comes to mind as my eldest Grandson so lovingly calls me) Christmas was the time when it was possible to have one. I remember I had put it on my wish-list for Christmas 1969, I wanted the International Edition. Which at the time was approx £10 and would have perhaps been equivalent to a third of my Parents weekly income. They probably thought that paying the bills and, putting food on the table was a little more important than feeding the fantasies of a 9 year old. But fair play to my Parents they did get me a Subbuteo that Christmas, not the one I wanted but a Subbuteo set non the less. Was I disappointed at only receiving a Club Edition? You can bet you’re life I wasn’t. The feeling I remember was one of pure joy, I had my first Subbuteo . The start of an era The first tournament I played in was December 25 th 1969, it consisted o

I’ve just purchased a few La Leggenda lightweight teams without bases, to compliment my collection of Santiago heavyweights. They were just teams of 10 outfield players at a very reasonable price with no box. As I’m not really a collector of Subbuteo, the lack of bases, box and goalkeeper was not a consideration for the purchase. What it would allow me to do however was assemble a few lightweight teams to try out, and could they be integrated into my solo league and compete with the heavyweights without any bias for either.   First we need bases   I really like the players on pegs as basing them is very simple there are many bases new and used around to choose from. I wanted something comparable to the heavyweight base, I wasn’t really interested in the modern flat varieties, I at least wanted bases that could possibly allow some curl as that's the way I like to play. So after looking into what was on offer I opted for the spitfire bases fro

To play a decent game, one needs a few things, teams, goals, balls, and some kind of playing surface, and to be honest from my point of view the better the playing surface and ball, the better the game. Modern pitch offerings are all reasonably good, apart from the nylon versions, I own one of these and to be honest they are a far cry from the original Subbuteo baize pitches of old. At least the originals could be ironed, washed with care, and lay pretty flat. Astro or Baize   Many years ago my grandfather made me a table on which he stuck the pitch down, now bear in mind at that time in the early 70’s he had built himself a ¾ size snooker table, and used a similar principle with my Subbuteo table (minus the cushions and the pockets, or things would have become interesting). I consider myself very lucky to have had such luxury, I was able to play off the floor on a surface that was flat, and to be honest it played very well. My advice to anyone

Penalties in the solo game are something that happen from time to time, especially if you use some kind of blocking rule and count all misdemeanours by the blocking team as fouls, instead of backs. However you play though if a penalty is awarded how do you ensure that the kick gives the goalkeeper a chance of stopping a shot from 12.5cm without discriminating the obvious advantage to the penalty taker. What about if a cup tie goes to penalties how does one deal with that. I played a solo game recently that needed to be decided on penalties, so I used the shots method from points along the shooting line. Worked out OK, Buxted Park beat Staplecross Athletic 3 – 2 by this method, so could this be the answer during a game when a penalty is awarded. If you think it can then good for you problem solved. I on the other hand didn’t like the idea. I wanted to see if I could take a penalty from the spot and give the goalkeeper a chance of saving it. Now all this depends on how you p

  I've been in conversation with a fellow solo player David Forsyth, who to be fair has been playing solo a lot longer than myself. He has informed me his own solo league is now coming into it's 13th season, and during that time he has played with all manner of player types, but has had and still has a great affinity to the original flats. David a retired Teacher has been one of the factors which encouraged me to start this blog. I was delighted when he offered to write an article with an insight to playing solo with flats. So I'll now hand you over to David.   Solo Games with Flats   When I was given my first Subbuteo set in 1964, the new "Continental" style players and sets were all the rage. I don’t think it was possible to go into any local toy or games shop and find any sets with the original flat celluloid figures for sale, or even in view. Not that I, or anyone else, would probably have spent our pocket money on them. In those early days, every

You have your teams, goals, balls, hopefully enough room to lay a pitch, a set of rules that make sense to you, all systems go then. One plays a few games and for some that's all they want, others may want to take it a little further, how one game has a bearing on the next. Welcome to the world of the "Fantasy League". A league where anyone can take on anyone, where fantasy and reality are divided by very thin line s that are easily crossed. Solo Leagues One could simply pit one’s favourite teams against each other, m aybe j oin a solo league where you play against other solo players in a league, the ISSL is probably the biggest here. I know of one or two smaller leagues in operation but they seem to be small affairs run for friends and family. If that's your kind of thing search for ISSL on facebook, and for more details drop the owner a line. Or do what I and countless others have done, form your own "Fantasy League", use your favourite te

The Offside rule can be controversial on a football pitch, you’ve only got to see the amount of matches where VAR has ruled heels, toes, etc. offside, but that is another story. in fact the offside rule is quite straightforward, look at the Fifa rules, and offside covers all 4 sections (position, offence, no offence, and sanctions), on 3 pages clearly defined so officials may make a judgement. So why does the Fistf offside rule (to me at least), seem so complicated, I fail to see the logic behind some of the rules in section 13, (of the Fistf rules), and trying to integrate them into a solo game for me just adds confusion. Take a look back to the 60’s or 70’s, even the 80’s Subbuteo rules and life was much simpler. An attacker further forward than the last defender was in an offside position. You couldn’t be offside outside of the opponents area, and the last defender had to be inside their area to claim offside against an attacker. If there was no defender inside their ow