Solo Subbuteo 101

Just over 12 Months ago, I posted about some new rules I was implementing with regards to my solo play. These were mainly centered around the way I would administer blocking flicks. Well 12 months on nothing has really changed in that respect, but I did try one or two things which like all things worked on paper but quickly became dismissed as I felt that there was no actual benefit in game play. Nevertheless things have changed over that 12 month period in other ways This month I thought I’d briefly go through my rule-book explaining my thoughts on why I choose the methods I do, in an attempt to show why I do what I do, and why I feel it works for me. It’s all well and good people like myself sharing or suggesting ideas, but sometimes they are easily dismissed because the recipient just doesn’t understand why it’s been suggested in the first place. So the following is a brief insight into my rules, an attempt by me to show my working out rather than the results, t...

I remember being told many moons ago, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, which to a certain extent is true, but recently after talking to a few “Old Dogs”, that saying has been turned on it’s head. I’ve always maintained that no matter what ideas we have about playing Subbuteo in a solo format, you won’t be the first to think of them nor will you be the last. That statement was proved a few weeks ago, after a chance meeting with an older guy by the name of Ron who lives not far from me. I found out that he and a few of his mates meet up on a Sunday afternoon for a flick about, Nothing serious he hastened to add, a bit of fun, a lot of banter and nostalgia. He also invited me round for a game or two, he said “I’ll drop our rules around sometime during the week”. I was about to tell him where I lived, when he interrupted and said I know, I’ve known your wife since she was at school. Apparently she was good friends with his younger sister, and he had intended to call arou...

In the last blog post we read David Forsyth’s account of the organising rule and how he incorporates it into his solo play. Well this started me thinking, a bad habit I know, because most of the time I end up trying to out think myself which mainly ends up being counter intuitive and usually ends up with me going full circle and losing the plot in the process. Mind you my darling wife thinks I lost the plot years ago, and was convinced that her suspicions were proven when I got back into Subbuteo. Comments like “How old are you?”, and “Are you going upstairs to play with yourself again!!”. Both valid comments, to which the answers are surprisingly “Old enough”, and “Yes”. But as normal I digress, I must be playing with myself too much. I’m going to share how I do things, no hard and fast suggestions, just my take on the rules whilst trying to keep things within the spirit of the game we all enjoy, so lets get started.   Corners an...

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...