Solo Subbuteo 101

By my reckoning Subbuteo as a brand will be 75 years young in 2022, I’m led to believe that the game was launched in 1947 by Peter Adolph as a rival to the already produced Newfooty, and Subbuteo being the new kid on the block due to good marketing and innovation by Peter Adolph, became not only a rival but the dominant game. If you want to know more about it’s history there are some great sites out there who have done the research,  Subbuteo Tribute Website is one, so I’m going to stop there for fear of repeating the hard work that others have put in. What I would like to do is discuss a few of the many accessories that have come and gone throughout the 75 years that I have had the pleasure of using and some that didn’t quite live up to the hype.   May I Introduce Warren Brookes, or Wazza for short. Wazza was a mate of mine, whose parents were lets say affluent “Middle Class” types, Wazza’s Dad had a Jag, their house had a...

It’s been a while since my last post, I’ve had a few problems and issues over the last couple of months that needed my attention, But in that time I have managed to get season 2 of the Bonfire Alliance solo league underway. Back in May I discussed my ideas and changes I was going to make for the forthcoming season which were mainly centred around the way that defensive flicks are implemented. The ideas and changes were made because I wanted to decrease (if I could) the goal tally without decreasing the amount of goal scoring chances, because like everyone else on planet Subbuteo the more I played, the better I became, the more goals I was scoring. I wanted to reduce the goal tally slightly to make the scorelines  a little more realistic. (A 3-3 draw now again looks exciting but not every match). So I began the Season with a string of friendlies to get used to the changes but felt that they were not working as well as I envisaged. So it was ba...

When I started playing Subbuteo in the late 60’s / early 70’s the only teams you could get your grubby little hands on were either the flats or the 00 scale heavyweights, I played with both at Club level, but my favourite was, and still is the Heavyweight figure of the 70’s with it’s iconic pose, complete with a bar to fit in it’s base. To me at that time they just looked the part, they lived and breathed in a miniature world. So on my return to the game these were the player types I wanted to play with. I looked around the second hand market and found some great examples, and some really mind boggling prices. A team C100 back in the day was about £0.50p which would equate to around £7.00 today. I’m now looking at prices of £25 upwards for anything half decent. Now I’m not a collector, but I wanted heavyweights and didn’t want to pay the often exuberant second hand prices. After looking around I found new products in the style I wanted, from various manufacturers like Sa...

The next season of the Bonfire Alliance will again be underway sometime around the middle of July. Why such a long break? Well other things need my attention. Man cannot live by Subbuteo alone, and I’m sure my long suffering Wife would agree with that statement. Also the Euros will be in full flow, but shush don’t let my Wife know I want it to be a surprise. Next seasons Bonfire Alliance fixtures have been generated, the first round cup draw has been made, with the addition of 4 non league teams, and all rule changes have been tested and written up. So everything is in place to hit the ground running, but that is not why you called. The rules changes I’ve made are not radical or ground breaking, they are basically tweaks related to last seasons games. I didn’t want to change the way I like to play, or have to remember a plethora of new rules, I just want maximum enjoyment from my efforts. As is my way I’ve not changed any core rules that have been present for almost 75 ...

The B&B Semis got underway this week. After the enjoyable and entertaining quarter finals both David and I were looking forward to the semi finals. As fate would have it we both had 2 teams apiece in the last four so the Trophy was still up for grabs for either a Brookfield or Bonfire Alliance team. The semi final draw had brought a coming together of Champions in the form of Flimside the Brookfield Champions against Alliance winners Southover United. Two sides who showed in their respective quarter final ties their pedigree of being winners. But first onto the table were Cliffe Town the Alliances form team of late against Eastroke United. Both teams finished second in their respective leagues both had chances to be crowned champions unfortunately it was not to be. Cliffe Town v Eastroke United 1st Leg   Eastroke started the better and were quick out of the blocks. Inside a minute they had their first chance Fellaini and Royle exchanged pass...