O/T:- Subbuteo, Striker and table top games

[ncfcog]

Having followed up on Durham’s Subbuteo comment on another thread it was great to see the posts from others and sharing different games.

I’ve been a Subbuteo nut for as long as I can remember, I built up quite a collection in my younger years 70’s and was devastated when I stupidly left the whole collection at a friends only for them to move out of the area a few weeks later taking my collection with them, never to be seen again.

I’m slowly building that collection back up again and the wife has now been well trained in identify real bargains online. Only this week for my birthday she had found a Leeds team from 70/71 and the joy of seeing what the original owner had done with the box was something I really connected with.

He was obviously a big Leeds fan, at a time when they were the best team in the country with players like Bremner and Charlton etc. He had artistically written the players names inside the box and scribed all sorts of great stuff on the outside.

For me these are real treasures and when I come across items like this I feel a connection with the game and football in general from a time that to me was truly magical.

Myself and Colin Sisson have been thinking about setting up a club if you like that would meet up every one or two months where people can come along and share items from their collections, have a play if they want to but also share other retro games and football collectibles with others.

I realise it’s not everyone’s cup of tea and there are some that just live too far away but if there is anyone who would have an interest in this please let me know and if there’s a big enough uptake I’ll look at what we can organise.

It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to be a subbuteo nerd to get involved, sometimes just getting to meet new people and becoming part of something like this can be a real help especially in a like minded supportive environment.

Anyway, let me know and let’s see if it has any legs.

[OP67]

Just sold my 1978 World Cup Edition subbuteo set with loads of extras, stadium, teams etc. Kept my 70's Notts County and England teams though. I have Super Striker as well with diving goalkeepers ;)

[thefulltenyards]

No subbuteo renaissance for me but very fond memories.

I didn't have a huge collection (give or six teams including Notts and Real Sociedad being my favourite two) some open terracing, a few bags if supporters that made Meadow Lane in the mid 2000s look bustling.

I had no time for the pitch and the effort to put on the dining room table, so most of my subbuteo fun came playing on the lounge carpet against myself in some epic battles as a kid.

My best friend back then had more disposable income clearly as he had the pitch perfectly ironed and on plywood in his loft with stadium, floodlights the whole deal. Great times.

I know it was used in a jokey derogatory term earlier but won't hear a bad word against it. They must have sold millions which says it all.

In this same vein was a fan of Test Match (at another friend's house) although the anticipation of playing was usually better than the actual game.

[OP67]

No subbuteo renaissance for me but very fond memories.

I didn't have a huge collection (give or six teams including Notts and Real Sociedad being my favourite two) some open terracing, a few bags if supporters that made Meadow Lane in the mid 2000s look bustling.

I had no time for the pitch and the effort to put on the dining room table, so most of my subbuteo fun came playing on the lounge carpet against myself in some epic battles as a kid.

My best friend back then had more disposable income clearly as he had the pitch perfectly ironed and on plywood in his loft with stadium, floodlights the whole deal. Great times.

I know it was used in a jokey derogatory term earlier but won't hear a bad word against it. They must have sold millions which says it all.

In this same vein was a fan of Test Match (at another friend's house) although the anticipation of playing was usually better than the actual game.

Also had Test Match Cricket, with a piece of guttering for the bowler and a hoover for the batmans XD

[caj85]

Similar to you, i left my collection of teams, lights and score board in a loft when i moved house.

Devastated.

When i was younger my dad wall paper pasted the pitch onto a plywood board. Was amazing.

Definitely up for meet ups and an odd game or 2.

[Ex_Southwell_Magpie]

Only got bits and bobs of my original collection left now as all the rest became broken or made into a harvest mice nest one year when they got into my garage!! Remember that the teams with it were Man Utd and Derby and they came with the non diving keepers.
Also had Super Striker, that was played to death (literally) on the carpet at home. A fair few of those pieces ended up broken from me kneeling on them as a kid. One side had red shirts and white shorts and the other had B&W striped shirts and black shorts, so obviously they won every time.
I thought Test match cricket was pretty rubbish when I played that.

[dobbsad]

I was a real devotee of all things Subbuteo. As well as football, initially cardboard followed by plastic, I had table cricket (crap) and table rugby (double crap) .
I used to play on my own using my left hand on goalie, right hand to flick, I created my own leagues.
I had over a dozen different sets to represent the teams, including a black and white one of course!
However my claim to fame was that all my players were numbered. I lived in a “beer off” and we had a combined till and adding machine, which printed receipts. In pre-decimal days, I could print identical sized numbers from 2 to 11, cut them out and with a dab of glue, my teams were all numbered. I was stuffed after 15 Feb 1971 though!
After years of playing on the floor, I graduated to table-play at Uni, winning a league there.
Happy days

[magpie_mania]

I had Subbuteo football, with Notts of course. Not sure we ever played it properly and in most games the players ended up in the goal more than the ball did. Many players suffered crush injuries.

Also had Subbuteo cricket.

Had a football game called 'Big League' which we played with a lot more, and another football game which I can't remember what it was called. The pitch was made so that the ball always ended at a player's feet then you flicked a lever with his number on it to kick it.

Then there was the traditional table football - still play that occasionally.

One of the most played though was the cricket game 'Howzat' with two hexagonal dice. Bought it from ex Notts player Bobby Tait at Arnold Sports.

[TedBovisPie]

So he sent his doting mother
up the stairs with the stepladder
to get the Subbuteo
out of the loft
it had all the accessories
required for that big-match atmosphere
the crowd and the dugout
the floodlights too
and you'd always get palmed off
with a headless center-forward
and a goal-keeper with no arms
and a face like his

and he'd managed to get hold of
a Dukla-Prague Away Kit
'cause his uncle owned a sport shop
and he'd kept it to one side
and after only five minutes
you'd be down to ten men
as hed sent off your right back
for taking the base from under his left-winger
come to half-time, you were losing, four-nil
each and every goal, a hotly disputed penalty
so you smash up the floodlights
and the game was abandoned
and the dog would bark
and you'd be banned from his house
and your travelling army
of synthetic supporters
would be taken away from you
and thrown in the bin.

Pretty much summed up my experience of Subbuteo as a kid!

[60YearsAPie]

I had Subbuteo football, with Notts of course. Not sure we ever played it properly and in most games the players ended up in the goal more than the ball did. Many players suffered crush injuries.

Also had Subbuteo cricket.

One of the most played though was the cricket game 'Howzat' with two hexagonal dice. Bought it from ex Notts player Bobby Tait at Arnold Sports.

25127

When I was a kid and a mate came round we'd play Subbuteo in football season and Subbuteo Cricket in the summer. But I also spent hours playing Owzthat, the game in the little blue tin, on my own. I always opened the batting for England and would usually be top scorer (what me cheat? ;D ). Both Subbuteos are long gone but I came across the little blue tin when clearing out some drawers a couple of years ago.

[Proactive not Reactive]

Owzthat was great - I used to play competitons like a World Cup with International teams or the Gillette Cup with County teams and do a scorecard for the matches - how to entertain yourself for a few hours

[magpie_mania]

Owzthat was great - I used to play competitons like a World Cup with International teams or the Gillette Cup with County teams and do a scorecard for the matches - how to entertain yourself for a few hours

We also used a pencil to play it at school.

[Magpies1959]

Me and my mate played it at school in the desk top and modified the scoring so an Iver would average at about 3 an Iver, then we bought score books and filled them in, with two teams playing. Sad eh!

[BJPIE]

Me and my mate played it at school in the desk top and modified the scoring so an Iver would average at about 3 an Iver, then we bought score books and filled them in, with two teams playing. Sad eh!

For some strange reason our dad bought us Subbuteo Table Rugby? For the scrum you dropped the ball through a rugby ball shaped device.
Owzhat was and is simply brilliant. The only real consideration needs to be the rolling surface..

Did anybody else have Bobby Charltons Cadson Soccer. Much simpler than having to set Subbuteo up!!

[PedroTheFisherman66]

Owzat was awesome ! I think it was the only thing I ever made in metal work ! Test match cricket Subbuteo was again top drawer and if I remember correctly Vidal Sassoon was always good for a top score ! There was also a great ice hockey game that my mate had , loved playing it back in the day but the memories are now very vague on this game , anyone remember playing such a thing back in the 70's ?

[thefulltenyards]

Great to read the different memories of the great game and others from yesteryear.
For me it all ended when my bro and I received an Amstrad for Christmas and we had Football Manager.
Game over for anything table top after that.
Football and football manager computer games on Amstrad, Spectrum, Amiga and PC would need a whole new thread. I got regularly lost in that amazing text based statistical world from about the late 80s till about the early 2000s.

Great times.

[slack_pie]

Some great nostalgia in this thread! I had a pretty decent Subbuteo collection, but like a few of you, it got lost along the way with all my other childhood stuff (including my collection of Notts shirts and programmes dating back to the early 90s).

I never used to play by the actual rules and do all that flicking business. Instead, I just sort of grabbed the players and played one team against the other (usually Notts vs someone). I'd write out the team sheets and everything before the game, using Pro Set cards to confirm the names. This was back when we had that epic Warnock side with the likes of Craig Short, Dean Yates, Mark Draper, Tommy Johnson, and Steve Cherry.

A few years later, I got an Atari computer and got into Sensible Soccer, which is still the best football game ever as far as I'm concerned.

[nw6pie]

Anyone remember Subbuteo hockey? Or - no kidding - Subbuteo angling? Lots of fun stories about them here:

http://www.peter-upton.co.uk/sports.htm

I shall be wearing my Subbuteo T-shirt to the game tomorrow in honour of this thread - and listen to the Undertones’ “My Perfect Cousin” on the drive down to the ground.

[queenslandpie]

A while back there was a Notts County fanzine called Flickin n Kickin if anyone remembers that was about Subbuteo and Notts County. The guy who did it was often on the away bus at the time and wore glasses. I also remember him dressing up as a Deer or something for an away game. Anyway the Subbuteo and Notts County Fanzine I enjoyed and used to be sold in Selectadisc my favourite shop of all time. As far as Subbuteo collections go I am not a very careful person but I have fond memories of my Notts Subbuteo teams number 10, Phil Stant getting stamped on and leaving him on the kitchen benchtop with half a tube of YooHoo around his base. They were never the same after were they.

[Elite_Pie]

Not a football type game, but does anyone remember Battling Tops? This is an original from 1968 and even though the box is held together by sellotape, Hurricane Hank, Twirling Tim, Tricky Nicky and Smarty Smitty still regularly do battle. Despite it's age, it works perfectly and actually manages to get the grandkids off of their iPads!

https://i.postimg.cc/SsSs6KSc/Battling-Tops.jpg (https://postimg.cc/DWNnFnbz)

[the_anticlough]

Before those table top games such as Subbuteo and Striker came along this was what we had

25130

From Blow football to Football Manager 2023, anyone else think technology has advanced quite a bit in our lifetimes? :p

[magpie_mania]

Not a football type game, but does anyone remember Battling Tops? This is an original from 1968 and even though the box is held together by sellotape, Hurricane Hank, Twirling Tim, Tricky Nicky and Smarty Smitty still regularly do battle. Despite it's age, it works perfectly and actually manages to get the grandkids off of their iPads!

https://i.postimg.cc/SsSs6KSc/Battling-Tops.jpg (https://postimg.cc/DWNnFnbz)

I remember it well. Loved that game. The kind of game we were allowed to take into school on the last day of term.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

Not a football type game, but does anyone remember Battling Tops? This is an original from 1968 and even though the box is held together by sellotape, Hurricane Hank, Twirling Tim, Tricky Nicky and Smarty Smitty still regularly do battle. Despite it's age, it works perfectly and actually manages to get the grandkids off of their iPads!

https://i.postimg.cc/SsSs6KSc/Battling-Tops.jpg (https://postimg.cc/DWNnFnbz)

Battling tops was Tops !!!...awesome game !...

[Dspig]

Owzthat oh yes, i remember that one. My grandparents had that at their house so i played it there!

Blow football, i was going to mention that, glad to see someone bring it up already, i didn't know it pre-dated subbuteo....

[Magpies1959]

Battling Tops was an awesome game, along with Hungry Hippos. i also used to have a horse racing game ,where the plastic horses and jockey's would be propelled up the course in grooves, by a motor which shot ball bearings along the slots at them randomly.

[slack_pie]

Don't know how to post images, but did anyone have "Gazza The Game"? It was a board game that came out around the time of Italia 90. It was crap and great in equal measures.

[Elite_Pie]

i also used to have a horse racing game ,where the plastic horses and jockey's would be propelled up the course in grooves, by a motor which shot ball bearings along the slots at them randomly.

I've got that game, it's called Escalado. I had an original with the painted lead horses and a 'steeplechase' track. The fences were little white studs across the felt track! Sadly that's long gone and the modern plastic one I've got now just isn't the same.

https://i.postimg.cc/KYTgFyyC/E.jpg (https://postimg.cc/068NdFjC)

[thefulltenyards]

Emlyn Hughes Team Tactix

[Elite_Pie]

I've got that game, it's called Escalado. I had an original with the painted lead horses and a 'steeplechase' track. The fences were little white studs across the felt track! Sadly that's long gone and the modern plastic one I've got now just isn't the same.


Oops, just realised this is a different game. No ball bearings involved, the horses move along the track by winding a handle.

[Big Bob]

I remenber all these games especially subbuteo football. Was mad on it when i was a kid

[KeepTheMagpieFlyingH]

Great to read the different memories of the great game and others from yesteryear.
For me it all ended when my bro and I received an Amstrad for Christmas and we had Football Manager.
Game over for anything table top after that.
Football and football manager computer games on Amstrad, Spectrum, Amiga and PC would need a whole new thread. I got regularly lost in that amazing text based statistical world from about the late 80s till about the early 2000s.

Great times.


Still got my Amiga 600 upstairs..plug it now and then for a game of SWOS.

Another one was pure fantasy football..the M&E sports..play by mail game. In the mid 90’s every lad in my year at school had a team.

[KeepTheMagpieFlyingH]

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/play-by-mail-football.18694745/

[KeepTheMagpieFlyingH]

https://thesetpieces.com/latest-posts/football-manager-play-mail-fantasy-football/

Forgot all about this. This threads made my day..what great and simple times.

I feel sad for the young of today who experience nothing but Tik Tok.

[Iremongersrighthand]

I've got that game, it's called Escalado. I had an original with the painted lead horses and a 'steeplechase' track. The fences were little white studs across the felt track! Sadly that's long gone and the modern plastic one I've got now just isn't the same.

https://i.postimg.cc/KYTgFyyC/E.jpg (https://postimg.cc/068NdFjC)

Elite, l still have the original, with the lead horses.

[upthemaggies]

The horse racing game in our house was this one....

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PqMAAOSwZAhhgDTZ/s-l1200.webp

[maddogslater]

Totopoly, great board game,,,,,give reign.😃

[Elite_Pie]

Elite, l still have the original, with the lead horses.

Probably fetch a few quid on eBay.

[slack_pie]

https://thesetpieces.com/latest-posts/football-manager-play-mail-fantasy-football/

Forgot all about this. This threads made my day..what great and simple times.

I feel sad for the young of today who experience nothing but Tik Tok.

I remember doing this at school. Seems bizarre looking back now.

[slack_pie]

Still got my Amiga 600 upstairs..plug it now and then for a game of SWOS.

Another one was pure fantasy football..the M&E sports..play by mail game. In the mid 90’s every lad in my year at school had a team.

SWOS is my favourite computer game by far. The gameplay still stands up today.