British Comedy Guide

Toys and Games you used to have. Page 16

1968........... Anyone still got the whole set?

Image
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 27th November 2022, 11:33 PM

I don't remember them being card, more like a celluloid type figure in a plastic base.

Probably that's what they were. To my eight year old self they were a type of card.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 27th November 2022, 11:33 PM

didn't there used to be a Rugby Subbuteo?
And how the hell did you play the Cricket one. The football one was bad enough with its felt (?) pitch full of folds.

Yes there was a rugby. I believe there was also a hockey one. And definitely an angling one as I discovered three years ago:

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 10th October 2019, 3:58 PM

Came across a Subbuteo Angling in an antiques centre in the Cotswolds today. Who knew? I was aware of cricket & rugby but angling??!!

Don't know if it involved magnets on the end of little rods...

None of them caught on like the football although cricket had its fans.

Incidentally, if anyone wonders why it was called Subbuteo, it's because the inventor wanted to call it "hobby" but wasn't allowed to patent the word "hobby". So he called it Subbuteo, being the Latin name for the bird of prey, hobby.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 28th November 2022, 5:34 PM

Incidentally, if anyone wonders why it was called Subbuteo, it's because the inventor wanted to call it "hobby" but wasn't allowed to patent the word "hobby". So he called it Subbuteo, being the Latin name for the bird of prey, hobby.

Yes, I did know that.

1973...........

Image
Quote: Billy Bunter @ 27th November 2022, 10:06 PM

Subbuteo. Football of course...

Image

...and cricket:

Image

The first subbuteo football that I played had 2D card players that slotted into a plastic base rather than the moulded plastic players that we came to know and love:

Image

Me too. I've managed to get some on eBay.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 27th November 2022, 11:33 PM

I don't remember them being card, more like a celluloid type figure in a plastic base - the one thing I don't have now in my collection, and didn't there used to be a Rugby Subbuteo?
And how the hell did you play the Cricket one. The football one was bad enough with its felt (?) pitch full of folds.

I've got the Rugby one too in storage.

I also remember playing Cricket and though not a fan of the real game I quite enjoyed that.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 28th November 2022, 5:34 PM

Probably that's what they were. To my eight year old self they were a type of card.

.

Originally they were card and then they brought out flat plastic ones.

Quote: Chappers @ 29th November 2022, 6:51 PM

Originally they were card and then they brought out flat plastic ones.

Well, in the mid 50s, the ones I had from new were definitely celluloid, so if Billy had some card ones, they must have been handed down OR he's a LOT older than he's letting on! ?

1969.........

Image
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 29th November 2022, 11:26 PM

Well, in the mid 50s, the ones I had from new were definitely celluloid, so if Billy had some card ones, they must have been handed down OR he's a LOT older than he's letting on! ?

I first came across Subbuteo in the late 50s/early 60s at my cousin's, who was some nine years older than me (and indeed still is) so he'd probably had his set for some time.

Anyway from the official Subbuteo website https://www.subbuteo.com/history-of-subbuteo/

History of Subbuteo

SUBBUTEO was created by Peter Adolph in 1946 and the first SUBBUTEO set contained goals made of wire with paper nets, a ball and cardboard playing figures on bases made from buttons weighed down with lead washers. These initial figures were made from flat cardboard, known later to collectors as "flats". Both Chalk and instructions were included in the set to mark out the pitch.

In 1961 Peter Adolph introduced a three-dimensional hand painted plastic figure and after several design modifications, this figure evolved into the classic "heavyweight" player. In 1980 the new lightweight figure was introduced.

On eBay.

IUAAOSw9SNjOG0o&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoOYBK7ufzx%2FtgCAvC58lOhUZagL5I9VTLm2MdRw94MTecDa3Xv8l4YHI6fKorrtvs%2BMr4K61PhpTQ36xktbzBBtH3NM9QJAHrGcXgGGzbU%2Fr2TLX%2BuQLzGSjwYVem3GU2PnwMC%2FWeOQWrv8UNaBzGinDyVvdWm0rRGWgnCYTdRj5zK4OeKaxex79SwASVZzJtI%2BAP0oBOGernqgFaNJpg5E%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4rJn6SZYQ" target="_blank">https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255754512891?hash=item3b8c2829fb:g:SIUAAOSw9SNjOG0o&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoOYBK7ufzx%2FtgCAvC58lOhUZagL5I9VTLm2MdRw94MTecDa3Xv8l4YHI6fKorrtvs%2BMr4K61PhpTQ36xktbzBBtH3NM9QJAHrGcXgGGzbU%2Fr2TLX%2BuQLzGSjwYVem3GU2PnwMC%2FWeOQWrv8UNaBzGinDyVvdWm0rRGWgnCYTdRj5zK4OeKaxex79SwASVZzJtI%2BAP0oBOGernqgFaNJpg5E%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4rJn6SZYQ

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255712132735?hash=item3b89a17e7f:g:hzIAAOSwKO9jCjYZ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoLLSG3xfTwrV3V%2BDsfLzJ1k0eMoiJp86ZRCZzfQpzYGIyCpcFLSIvysRxoZu6KwbAFdGqpJnIZU53ej6vS8l69pvZHSe25lnKVZx9QfWbRD1DeqNeOCvAWXDgxF0DqCyq5vHmSt8i5QDMy3i7bqbmDni8XNJYcw33mcj5Bbh8aB0Y3jkvbYmEsBmuJLd5bcW9zfvzlWM0RV8XFh2UiTWJo8%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4rJn6SZYQ

I see one of those items looks very rare, but £132? Mind you, there cannot be many of those original sets about now, and it depends how desperate you are to own one.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 1st December 2022, 9:18 AM

I see one of those items looks very rare, but £132? Mind you, there cannot be many of those original sets about now, and it depends how desperate you are to own one.

It looks near perfect. Semi-tempted.

Of course Subbuteo was not the only football game beloved in my childhood. Here are three more:

A bagatelle

A card game;

And a magnetic game (operated by metal-based players and magnetic rods under the table-top football pitch). Probably my favourite - I used to take it away on holiday with me. Which must have been a logistic nightmare for my parents as we didn't have a car;

Image
Image
Image
Quote: Chappers @ 1st December 2022, 9:22 PM

It looks near perfect. Semi-tempted.

Go on - go for it! You're unlikely to see another one.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 1st December 2022, 10:05 PM

Of course Subbuteo was not the only football game beloved in my childhood. Here are three more:

A bagatelle

A card game;

And a magnetic game (operated by metal-based players and magnetic rods under the table-top football pitch). Probably my favourite - I used to take it away on holiday with me. Which must have been a logistic nightmare for my parents as we didn't have a car;

Image
Image
Image

Yes, Pepys made those little card games on a multitude of subjects, I finally acquired two I had from my childhood - "Test Pilot" and "Contraband".

Image

And I like the look of that Soccerette - looks a better game than Subbuteo

[quote name="Hercules Grytpype Thynne" post="1260180" date="1st December 2022, 11:43 PM"

Yes, Pepys made those little card games on a multitude of subjects, I finally acquired two I had from my childhood - "Test Pilot" and "Contraband".

Image

[/quote]

Yes I used to have Contraband. Probably still have. Somewhere. Good for caravan holidays.

Formula One, the board game that was a perennial favourite at school on the last day of term prior to the full-blooded rendition of God be with you 'til we meet again in the assembly hall. How the fun and laughter echoed excitedly through the passageways of Greyfriars.

Image

Share this page