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Author Topic: Subbuteo Villa Park  (Read 5682 times)

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #45 on: August 26, 2020, 02:32:44 PM »
Songs about Subbuteo.......

All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit - Half Man Half Biscuit
Subbuteo Lads - Luke Haines

Any others ?

Offline Hopadop

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #46 on: August 26, 2020, 02:44:02 PM »
Perfect cousin Kevin always won at it.

Offline Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #47 on: August 26, 2020, 03:05:35 PM »
Memories of Subbuteo.
Some kids at school pronounced it Subb you tay oh. They were wrong.
The art of Subbuteo was a deftly timed SBD carpet slipper released just as you advanced on goal. Short trousers enabled the unfiltered gas out into the opposition penalty area.
Anyone who played the Offside rule was weird.
I'm convinced I have some part of George Best circulating around my body after I kneeled on him in 1969. We never did find the head and shoulders.
Some players had been mended so many times that 50% of their body weight was glue. See also balls.
A mate of mine converted his blue team into a Blues team by adding a white stripe. He should've used a smaller brush.
I found flicking and nudging annoying.
You could add a washer under the player base for better traction.
I really hated untangling the nets and would often forgo the nestling in the onion sack for a missing ball hurtling under the cooker.

Offline john2710

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #48 on: August 26, 2020, 03:12:45 PM »
I loved Subbuteo, spent half my childhood playing it. I had floodlights, stands, scoreboards, dozens of teams  etc..... But the 5 aside Express Edition was brilliant. I also had the cricket & rugby versions.

I'm seriously impressed with this guy's attention to detail for his Villa Park replica, it's some project to take on.

Offline WarszaVillan

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #49 on: August 26, 2020, 03:30:35 PM »
Memories of Subbuteo.
Some kids at school pronounced it Subb you tay oh. They were wrong.
The art of Subbuteo was a deftly timed SBD carpet slipper released just as you advanced on goal. Short trousers enabled the unfiltered gas out into the opposition penalty area.
Anyone who played the Offside rule was weird.
I'm convinced I have some part of George Best circulating around my body after I kneeled on him in 1969. We never did find the head and shoulders.
Some players had been mended so many times that 50% of their body weight was glue. See also balls.
A mate of mine converted his blue team into a Blues team by adding a white stripe. He should've used a smaller brush.
I found flicking and nudging annoying.
You could add a washer under the player base for better traction.
I really hated untangling the nets and would often forgo the nestling in the onion sack for a missing ball hurtling under the cooker.


I'd love to have a game after reading this thread. There were always rows about flicking and dragging and what was allowed. Also throw-ins, where the player had to stay on the pitch for it not to be a foul throw r. The goal nets were a nightmare as was keeping the pitch uncrumppled. I remember my Dad telling me as a kid he ordered through a comic a device that was supposed to keep the ball in the net after a shot - it was a strip of double sided tape, which I thought only existed on Blue Peter.

Online Richard E

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #50 on: August 26, 2020, 03:44:21 PM »
I had my pitch taped down on a piece of hardboard to keep it flat and uncrumpled.

Offline WarszaVillan

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #51 on: August 26, 2020, 03:53:36 PM »
I had my pitch taped down on a piece of hardboard to keep it flat and uncrumpled.

Yes we ended up getting this done as well. And I never liked all the stands and stuff (my cousins had them) as it made it harder to play.

Online dcdavecollett

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #52 on: August 27, 2020, 12:52:41 AM »
My pitch is chipboard with some hardboard on top -grips the pitch with no problems.

Offline ADVILLAFAN

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #53 on: August 27, 2020, 07:11:12 AM »
My brother got the game one Christmas and I had accidentally killed half the men by standing on them, by about Boxing Day.

We had the cricket game too.

Offline ADVILLAFAN

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #54 on: August 27, 2020, 07:15:22 AM »
We also had the scoreboard and 100s of teams on bits of paper. This may have sparked some of my interest in geography and foreign teams.

Can remember lots of Italian teams like Modena. Also loads of Scottish teams.

Offline big 1st serve

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #55 on: August 27, 2020, 07:35:34 AM »
   I tried to get my kids into the game circa 1990 but no interest,
   The games buried in the garage somewhere.
   I remember saving up for the floodlights in the early 70s.
   They looked great, but required a battery the size of a small box of chocolates.
    I believe you could spot a serious player as they would grow the fingernail
    on their forefinger!

Online algy

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #56 on: August 27, 2020, 10:06:31 AM »
    I believe you could spot a serious player as they would grow the fingernail
    on their forefinger!
Indeed.  I played for England at Under 16 level in the mid 90s - growing fingernails was fairly common in tournament Subbuteo, or for a few rogue types using false nails (which was frowned upon, but not against the rules).

Base modification was common from (at least) the early 80s onwards.  The common things were ...

- Pop the middle disc out and use plastercine to add extra weight (total weight between 2.0g and 3.2g depending on preference for ball control to power)
- Use sandpaper/glasspaper to lower the base profile & increase the size of the flat on the bottom (to ~15mm), finishing off with t-cut
- Paint the bottom of the base with a 50:50 mix of water-based varnish and ethanol, then polish the base before every game with furniture polish

The extra weight & lower profile makes shooting / chipping the ball much easier.  The wider flat and varnish mix means they're more stable, and can be (accurately) flicked down the entire length of the pitch.

In competitions, formations tend to be 6-4-0 (rare), 7-3-0 (common), or 8-2-0 (rare but gaining popularity).  It's worth bearing in mind that figures naturally drift up the pitch, and are rubbish at tracking back, so they're more like the formations you'd seen in real football when the team's defending.  In actual use, they're closer to 3-3-4, 4-3-3, and 5-3-2 respectively.  7-3-0 is traditional, and fairly balanced.  8-2-0 puts more emphasis on heavy counter attack, and is reliant on long distance flicking accuracy.  6-4-0 puts you in for an intensive, high pressing game - it needs a load of discipline (or a much weaker opponent) to pull off.

Edit: there's also hyper-rare formations that involve actual strikers, something like 7-1-2 or 6-2-2.  The problem is that out-and-out strikers only really work if you're playing long balls, which is a risky tactic.  It can work well with heavily weighted figures, but it's a bit of a leftfield tactic that's the Subbuteo equivalent of sending a keeper up for a corner.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2020, 10:18:52 AM by algy »

Offline Colhint

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Re: Subbuteo Villa Park
« Reply #57 on: August 27, 2020, 10:27:06 AM »
Hugh Curran who played for Norwich in the 70's was one of my favourite players. Only because of subbuteo. The reason, he scored a header from a corner. Went like a bullet past the keeper.

 


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