Solo Subbuteo 101

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 any...

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...