You are looking to buy Subbuteo for Christmas. That is a fantastic choice. Well done.
The world’s greatest table top sports game is a must-have stocking filler for Christmas, whether you are buying for somebody who remembers the game from their youth or you are looking for a set for a youngster who spends far too much time on EAFC 25 and needs to be introduced to the wonders of the true replica of association football.
Before you do take the plunge there are a couple of things you need to know. While Subbuteo is still being made the new sets are not the best. The days of beautifully modelled players and hand-painted teams in stunning green boxes are long gone. Much of the new Hasbro Subbuteo is, to be frank, not very good.
If you are intent on buying a brand new Subbuteo set for somebody the best option will be the England range. You can get an England Subbuteo box set for around £30 on Amazon. Even better is the Lionesses set – the first time Subbuteo has ever produced a set featuring female players. You can get that for £29 here, down from the usual hefty price of £47.
These sets come with a surprisingly good pitch, a ball, two pretty standard teams and goals. The goals are the worst part of this set and will drive you mad on Christmas morning trying to fit them together. My advice is to get a couple of clasic goals from eBay separately for around £10 and use those instead. Standard goals are cheap and do the job, while Mundial goals are the best around. Italia 90 and European Goals are also good options if they look in decent condition.
There are other ‘new’ Subbuteo options that are good stocking fillers. Liverpool fans can get a dedicated LFC set with a red and a blue team, plus the pitch, goals and ball. Avoid anything with Champions League branding as it is a few years old now.
New Subbuteo also has a fun VAR set, training set and a nice electronic scoreboard you can add to the general box sets. You can see these on Amazon. Ignore the Deluxe pitch, while it looks good it actually doesn’t play very well and the standard pitch in new sets is actually very good.
If you are buying for somebody who played Subbuteo as a child I would avoid the new stuff. The box sets listed above are great for children and people new to Subbuteo but they are not as good as Subbuteo from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
If you are looking to give somebody a dose of nostalgia I would get to eBay and search for ‘Subbuteo 1990s box set’. These are perfect for anybody who is around 40 years of age as they will have played with these sets in their childhood. The Italia 90 set is one of the best Subbuteo box sets of all time but is in high demand and you will pay a premium. Instead keep an eye out for box sets that look like these:
This is one of the most common box sets. It features a red and blue team (sometimes other teams appear in them), balls, pitch, goals and corner flags. It’s a great set and is widely available on eBay. Just check it has all the parts – or buy them separately if you need to complete it.
Top tip – you can buy Adidas Tango balls separately on eBay in white, orange or yellow. These are beautifully designed and are a must-have for Subbuteo nostalgia fans.
There are plenty of older box sets on eBay too. Those with hand-drawn images instead of photographs on the front are usually pre-1980s and while they are a bit pricier due to their age, they will be ideal for people over the age of 50 who will remember the older ‘heavyweight’ sets of that era.
Finally, if you are buying vintage Subbuteo you can simply search for ‘team name’ Subbuteo on eBay and find your favourite team, although be warned some of them are in high demand and can fetch hundreds of pounds. Teams from the 1990s like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal can usually be found for less than £10 and make a great gift for a fan.
If you are a bit stumped but want to get the Subbuteo fan in your life the perfect team gift please ask at subbuteoonline@gmail.com and I’ll try to point you in the right direction.
