Solo Subbuteo 101

Following on from my previous post, I did a little delving, as well as receiving some surprising information about what constitutes a foul in open play. Firstly I’ve studied the FISTF rules, as heavy going as these rules appear, broken down they will appear familiar to anyone that has or does play the Subbuteo rules of the mid 70’s, those rules in particular were very similar to the rules I played in local Tournaments at that time. OK FISTF have put a slightly different twist on things, including in my honest opinion an offside rule that is way more, shall we say complicated than it probably needs to be, and the rules that state, if a player strikes another player before the ball it is a foul, but it goes on to say, If a player strikes another player and misses the ball it’s a back. Now that addresses my concerns of players having the ability to take out an opponent with a deliberate foul with no consequence, instead the play is reset and you loose posse...

Recently I had an email exchange with a fellow solo player, mainly about different rules that we use, it was surprising just how similar our own particular methods were but we were in total disagreement about fouls on the field of play. He insisted that a foul was only committed if an attacker struck an opponent and then went on to hit the ball, and if it struck an opponent without striking the ball, all that happened was a change of possession. From my point of view that’s not my interpretation or never has been. So I asked the obvious question how he had come this assumption of foul play? “Because it’s in the rules” was his reply. Now bear in mind this particular player is in his late 40’s and bases his knowledge of the game on the 80’s rules, which as a rule-set I must admit I’ve never seen let alone read. So probably it was about time I did . The 80’s Rules Known as the “Green Sheet Rules” I managed to obtain a set in PDF format and had ...