In my humble opinion the Stefan Corda figs are by far the best Subbuteo figures money can buy.Ever! Check out their website www.stefancorda.co.uk the vintage figs are superb, I like the "Escape to Victory" teams, a bit of nonsense but great fun. They also supply the G2 Raptor bases at a reasonable price. Subbuteoworld is another great site and their prices are excellent . www.subbuteoworld.co.uk
Good quality, even high end products can be readily sourced if you know where to look. Subbutteoworld even have AstroTurf pitches(reputed to be the finest Subbutteo gaming surface produced) new from the original supplier.These were long discontinued, by Waddingtons/Hasbro, due to the production cost and fetch high money on Ebay even in poor condition! The new Hasbro stuff just does not compare....flat figures...bleh!
Hope this info helps those having difficulty sourcing Subbuteo,it's a great game and for my money the best dexterity game ever made.


UPDATE.
Placed an order in the "wee small hours" of Saturday morning with Subutteoworld and received it well packaged Tuesday morning. I had numerous friendly emails keeping me informed as to it's postion ie. order received, order being processed, order processed and order dispatched. Superb service. This was my first order with them and certainly won't be my last! Highly recommended!

Thanks (I think) for the links - I have a feeling my credit card will be getting some exercise soon.

It's a while since I pulled my old subbuteo stuff out - partly because of the thought of getting the pitch ironed and finding a suitable surface. The old style cloth on a wooden board didn't feel right - especially for swerving - but my ageing knees are not up to prolonged playing on the carpet anymore. How do the astro-turf pitches rate in this regard (particularly the new ones on the link provided)?

The G2 raptor bases also don't look too good for swerves but I have only played with the old classic bases so what do I know.

Agree with you though - great dexterity game.

I loved my Astroturf. It is a vastly improved game, more accuracy, faster and feels (and looks superb). I have just ordered a new pitch so I will let you know how it compares to the Waddington/Hasbro one I owned. As for the G2 bases they are coming in my new order and again I will let you know about the pros and cons. I have heard that they work better for longer shots but dont swerve as well as the orignals. You can also weight them with washers allowing you to customise the figure to it's playing position.Stefans figs look superb and are stronger at the ankles than the originals. I have always liked to customise my figs and these are excellent, check out my efforts at www.boardgamegeek.com/image/125314.

Is there any video on the web that shows this game being played? I find diagrams and such, but no movies...

Well I just learned something. Before this moment, I had never heard the word "Subbuteo" in my life. I just looked it up on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subbuteo

Interesting. Not my kind of game, but it looks neat.

For video footage check out uk.sports.yahoo.com/world-cup-2006/lee-sharpe/gallery/289/

hope this helps

Hi all,

I managed to purchase 3 SUbbuteo sets recently and only got a total of 2 goals from the 3 sets! even so, I brought it all in to work last week and managed to get a few peopl to try it at lunch. Despite initial misgivings IT WAS A HIT. Once played the fever begins and now discussions are underway for lunch leagues and people want their own national team to play with.

I purchased Raptor G2 bases and played with them exclsuively on both teams during our lunch matches. I also applied "slick flick" to the bottom of the bases to give them extra glide. Generally they are FAR more stable than the original Subbuteo bases. The bottom of the base is equal to the top meaning far more stability...but far less ability to curve your lads about the pitch. For us yanks just discovering the genius of Subbuteo it was far easier to teach and play our first matches with these, but by the end of the match discussions were underway as to using other bases for forwards and so on.

In fact I ordered the new Dream Stadium and while disgusted at the thought of paper men, the goals pitch and score board will add to the spectacle.

For those in the US interested in purchasing products I personally HIGHLY recommend ordering from Mr. Paul Eyes at his site tagged below. I have ordered blank Cords figs, bases, slick flick and will order pitches and metal goals soon! Great QUICK service!

http://www.subbuteousa.com/TableSoccerSuppliesForSale.html

Another source for Subbuteo products is http://astrobase.it/

They sell their own bases, metal goals, new large keepers, AstroTurf...

About the G2 bases: i assembled 4 teams lately using these bases. You can't curve with them but they offer excellent control in straights. They are made from nylon so they don't break and when you hit the ball with moderate strength it doesn't fly out of the pitch.

The bases have a lower profile and they allow chip-shots. Another plus is that you don't have to glue the disk into the base. If the figure breaks you don't have to throw the base away.

I also recommend Flickmaster products, especially for old school players looking for something better and newer. They are stable enough for a long glide but also not as low profile as the G2s so they allow for curling.

I was the first in our league as a teenager - 20+ years ago - to get an Astropitch, and these surfaces are way better for the game than the thin modern cloth on a board. You can either get a rubber backed Astropitch (original manufacturer, new label: Soccer 3D) or a sticky-backed (contact paper) pitch from Woodentop (direct from tablesoccer.net, or from Paul Eyes in the States). The latter sticks down nicely on a piece of MDF.

There's plenty of video footage of the game available online. Google Video has a lot of footage from the Worcester Severn club in England and some from the St Louis club in the US; the AmericanSubbuteo.com site has some, and YouTube has a bit.

To add some links to Mike's good info:

Paul Eyes online "store":
http://www.subbuteousa.com/TableSoccerSuppliesForSale.html
He's got good stuff and he's located in the US (Maryland)

The really cool videos that got me interested in Subbuteo:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3489124817479734110

Great video! What a match!

While the Worcester River Plate Severn League shown in the above video is fun to watch, they do not use the rules of the world's table football governing body, FISTF.

Therefore, if a player wanted to compete internationally, this is not the best example of how the game should be played.

However, this video DOES show a wonderful and exciting example of how fun this game can be, especially when the players are enthusiastic. Great fun to watch!