Hi, my name is Oliver! I have always been a table football fan: Back in my Ruhrgebiet childhood in the German 1980s, my younger brother and I were playing Tipp-Kick every weekend. We cowered on the floor, asked ourselves why they call it a table(!) game, and listened to WDR 2’s live radio coverage of Bundesliga matches. We re-enacted the players’ moves and goals and were happy boys.
Never was it a problem for us that each Tipp-Kick team only contained one goalie and one player. We completed the rest of the team with our fantasy. We even accepted that angled black and white imitation of a football. Yes, Tipp-Kick was, and still is, an exciting action game. But there has always been a lack of strategy and tactics, to be honest.
In autumn 2015, I made up a plan to create a Tipp-Kick pitch on a wooden board for my daughters. Yes, they like football very much! So I checked some YouTube channels to find a suitable tutorial. After clicking some videos, I stumbled upon this table football match and was thrilled immediately!
Subbuteo – what a beautiful game with strategical options. Fast, precise and best: with ten field players and a goalie in each team. I couldn’t get away from my tablet computer and watched more and more matches. I realized that there are lots of rules waiting to be learned for a beginner. But that’s what is so great about the internet: You’ll find helping forums, news articles, shops and trading places for all kinds of equipment.
And then I did, what many people do: I started a blog! 😉 Subbuteo on Flicking Forever: it takes an hour to play, but a lifetime to master.
Check out my Instagram profile I.Heart.Subbuteo!
Hi Oliver, I am just rediscovering Subbuteo now after almost 40 years. I was thinking about it one evening and wondered if there was a club in my city, Canberra (the capital of Australia by the way) and as it turns out there is and so now I’m a member and back flicking again after many years.
I was quite amazed though at the change in technology with regards to bases and polishing etc. we certainly didn’t do that when we were playing on the lumpy pitch spread over the kitchen table back in the ‘70’s.
I love all the new gear and reading blogs and articles such as yours helps bring me up to speed. Thanks for taking the time to post your site, I found it an enjoyable and informative read. Best Wishes,
Bruce Millar.
Hi Bruce,
thank you so much for your kind comment! I really appreciate that you liked my website and hope you will get back to it once in a while. Please feel free to subscibe to my newsletter to stay up to date.
Isn’t it amazing that you have already been playing Subbuteo when I was just born? 🙂
Good luck and keep on flicking!
Kind regards,
Oliver