Subbuteo
Subbuteo players
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| Publisher(s) | Ray Green |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Table top game |
| Players | 2 or 4 |
| Age range | 8 and up |
| Setup time | 2 minutes |
| Playing time | 10–90 minutes |
| Random chance | Very low |
| Skill(s) required | Dexterity, Tactics |
Subbuteo is a group of table top games simulating team sports such as association football, cricket, both codes of rugby and hockey. The name is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as "the replica of Association Football" or Table Soccer.
The "Subbuteo" name is derived from the neo-Latin scientific name Falco subbuteo (a bird of prey commonly known as the Eurasian hobby), after a trademark was not granted to its creator Peter Adolph (1916–1994) to call the game "Hobby".
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 similar game that had been invented in 1929 by Mike Smercan 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.
The availability of Subbuteo was first announced in the August 1946 edition of The Boy's Own Paper, also written by Ray Green. The advert offered to send details of the new game but no sets were available until March 1947. Also in August 1946 Ray Green lodged an outline patent application for the game which was not finalised until May 1947. After the early adverts it is rumoured orders started to pour in as Green set about converting his patent idea into a deliverable product.
The first Subbuteo sets, known as the Assembly Outfits, consisted of goals made of wire with paper nets, a cellulose acetate ball, cardboard playing figures in two basic kits (red shirts with white shorts, and blue shirts with white shorts) and bases made from buttons weighed down with lead washers. The story is that Ray found one of his mother's coat buttons and used Woolworth buttons for the early set bases. No pitch was provided: instead, the purchaser was given instructions on how to mark out (with chalk, provided) a playing area on to a blanket (an old army blanket was recommended). The first sets were eventually available in March 1947, several months after the original advertisement appeared. The first figures were made of flat cardboard cut out of a long strip. Later these card players came in press-out strips before being replaced with two-dimensional celluloid figures, known to collectors as "flats".
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