Subbuteo

Subbuteo was invented by Peter Adolph (1916–1994), who was demobbed from the Royal Air Force after the end of World War II. Searching for a new business opportunity he turned his attention to creating a new table-top football game. He adapted his game from Newfooty, a table football game that had been invented in 1929 by William Lane Keeling of Liverpool. He made numerous improvements, including changing the heavy lead bases under the model players to lighter materials, using for his prototype a button from his mother's coat and a washer. In August 1946 Peter Adolph filed an outline patent application for the game, which was not finalised until May 1947. The August 1946 edition of ''The Boy's Own Paper'' first announced Subbuteo's availability and offered to send details, but sets were not available until March 1947. According to rumours, after the early adverts, orders started to pour in as Adolph set about converting his patent idea into a deliverable product. After Hasbro bought Waddington Games in 1994, Subbuteo sales declined from about 150,000 sets per year to 3,000 in 2002 and just 500 sets in 2003, when production was stopped. In May 2020, Subbuteo World, a long-term UK seller of Subbuteo, announced it was advising Longshore, and that there would be new teams, a Subbuteo VAR set, and new fences. Subbuteo is a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc. == Gameplay ==

Playing Subbuteo is a physical simulation of association football, involving dexterity and skill in flicking the playing figures, which stand on weighted bases, across the tabletop pitch towards the ball. Hundreds of team kits and accessories are available, almost all representing real teams, with the exception of comic book team Melchester Rovers. Along with major teams such as Chelsea, Manchester City, and Real Madrid, unpainted models are also available. There are also many additional accessories, such as new balls and goals, special figures for free kicks and throw-ins, stands and crowd, linesmen, ball-boys, streakers and policemen, floodlights and TV cameras. The rules are designed to correspond closely with those of association football, albeit with some simplifications and alterations. Players maintain possession as long as the figure they flick makes contact with the ball and the ball does not subsequently hit an opposing figure, although the same figure cannot be used for more than three consecutive flicks. Shots at goal can be taken only once the ball is over the 'shooting line', a line parallel to and equidistant between the goal line and half-way line. The goalkeeper figures are attached to, and manoeuvered with, a rod that fits underneath the back of the goal. The offside law is in effect, but only pertaining to figures that are forward of the opposing team's shooting line (as opposed to the half-way line, as in actual football). ==Subbuteo World Cup==

There is a Subbuteo World Cup competition. In 2024, it was hosted by Royal Tunbridge Wells to commemorate the town being the birthplace of the game. Here are the previous winners of the Subbuteo World Cup. ==FISTF==

International Sports Table Football (FISTF) was founded on 16 June 1992 in Hamburg (Germany). Merging: • European Tablesoccer (Football) Federation (ETF 1963-1993) • Federation of International Subbuteo Associations (FISA 1979-1996). • European Tablesoccer Federation (ETF) • Federation of International Subbuteo Associations (FISA) FISTF lays down the playing rules of Table Football. == Other sports ==

The cricket version used the traditional Subbuteo base. The little plastic bat broke easily. ==Video game==

A digital version was released by Goliath Games in 1990 for the Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. CU Amiga gave the game a rating of 95% and said "Goliath have managed to distill the essential elements of the original game and transfer them across to the Amiga." == See also ==