Was Peter Adolph some kind of clear-sighted visionary who carefully planned and executed the launch of Subbuteo? Hmmm, well no. If this version of the first two years of the game seems a litle messy it is because I have tidied it up a bit; the reality was probably much worse. The story undoubtedly improved with later re-telling.
When Peter Adolph left the RAF after the war and returned to his mother's home in Langton Green he had no idea how famous that address would shortly become. After a short spell commuting to London to work in the Pensions Office he decided that the office life was not for him and he wanted to work for himself. He set up a mail order business in his primary interest, natural history, and made a living dealing in the eggs of rare birds. This trade was seasonal and Peter needed something to tide him over the darker months. We all know that something as Subbuteo, but of course it was actually launched as Table Soccer.
'An interesting game closely resembling association football' was how he described his new game in the outline patent application submitted on 9th August 1946. Summer was well advanced and the natural history business would soon go in to hibernation until the spring. In the same month he spent two pounds and ten shillings on an advertisement in Boys Own Paper to test interest in his idea. He had no game to sell and no suppliers so this was a shot in the dark.
Boys Own Paper August 1946, page 53
Not in his wildest dreams could he have imagined what he had started in motion with this advert was setting off down the path towards producing half a billion players for a game played across the world.
Where did the idea come from? There has been some debate about whether or not he got the idea from another similar game called Newfooty. It seems unlikely that Peter Adolph did not know of the other game and his early outline does closely resemble the other football game. This rival was set up in Liverpool in 1929 by Will Keeling and became well established in the decade before the war. What is less certain is whether Newfooty continued production in any meaningful form through the many years of war and rationing. Keith and Sheila Middleton tell me they have a Newfooty set containing a note that Newfooty production ceased in 1940 and did not start again until 1947, which seems pretty conclusive. This rival was sold through mail order with players mounted on shallow lead bases, not unlike the patent outline for table soccer. However, there had been all manner of counter games for centuries so one could easily argue that neither game was truly breaking new ground. Crucially Keeling had not patented his game.
Peter Adolph launched his new game through two sets of three advertisements in Boys Own Paper. Peter was undoubtedly aiming at the sons of middle class families, and their fathers too probably. Any allegation of copying could have been fatal to the fledgling game so Peter's first act was a patent application. Depending on your point of view this may clinch the argument that he knew the game was a little too close to Newfooty. Did he want the patent to mute likely claims that he was using someone else's idea? We will never know. What Peter Adolph actually needed was time to develop his ideas, distance himself from Newfooty and find suppliers.
I don't wish to break the story here, but the committed reader should really read the patent application at this point. The rest of you can carry on because I will give you the basics.
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The patent application came in two stages with an initial outline and then a final application nine months later. You can see from the outline just how poorly formed the ideas for the game were in August 1946.There is no flicking football here but instead we have;
''wooden or like spoons to operate the figures''
''cardboard figures''
''figures stand on bases of lead or any other suitable material''
''two goals made of wire, cardboard or the like covered in cellophane or other suitable material''
'' figures may be cut or pressed out of sheets of cardboard''
The shooting area is described as a curved line from one corner to the other. This is a less than clear description of the game and shows just how far he was from selling anything in 1946. Over the autumn and the winter I expect he worked very hard on putting these matters right, looking for suppliers, considering their input, adapting the game and searching out prices. There is little doubt the game changed significantly in this period. The patent also mentions the possibility of using celluloid figures. We have to wonder whether or not in 1946 he actually intended to use the card figures at all.
By late 1946 events were starting to catch up with Peter Adolph. His inital advert in August must have generated some enquiries and these people were starting to get restless, not having received the promised information. Urgent action was required as he started to receive complaints and he still had nothing to sell. Peter was forced to issue the classic apology advert in Boys Own Paper in January 1947. He blamed the delay on manufacturing problems and was later to add overwhelming demand as an additional excuse. There are stories that Petty of Leeds, who printed the card team strips, were having problems (paper was strictly rationed in 1946). It is easy to speculate that the demand issue was a marketing ploy Peter came up with. Once again we have an unanswered question no-one thought to ask - were the cut out card strips of players forced upon him as a short term measure because the press-out ones were difficult to produce and the celluloids were not quite ready?
The first magazine of the players' association dated autumn 1947 records the launch date of the game as March 1947. Between placing the January apology and March Peter Adolph took the decision to launch the game with cut-out players. He must have sent out the initial information (probably now a lost piece of the history of the game) and finalised the patent application to match the game as launched. It would appear that he was clearing away the football matters in preparaton for the summer business in birds' eggs. He could finally put a price of seven shillings and six pence on the game. The first magazine goes on to record that by the end of May 1947 the association had around 400 members.
This third advert in the initial trilogy gives further insight in to Peter's view of the game at that time. Quite clearly in April 1947 he thought the natural history business was where he was going to earn his living, at least for a while. Note the use of the phrase 'now all available'.
The completed patent application was submitted on 12th May 1947 including drawings of the key components. It is interesting to note the changes to the game in the intervening nine months since the initial outline. Flicking football now appeared with the Newfooty-style lead base replaced with a much larger rounded plastic one. Also of note was that the bases could vary significantly from those shown, the possibility of celluloid figures and blocks of plastic or similar for keeper bases.
Table Soccer was finally launched but it had not gone smoothly and there had been compromises along the way. The first Assembly Outfit was more Heath Robinson than Peter Adolph would have liked with hand cut figures, buttons for bases and cardboard netting. And somewhere along the way during the winter of 1946 a much larger rounded base had become part of the design. Thanks to Mark Adolph for this picture.
The story goes that one day Peter came across a button that had detached itself from his mother's coat. He picked it up and quickly realised that it had many of the qualities he required for his player base. It also significantly distanced the new game from Newfooty. We do not know if his mother got her button back or the others went missing as well! The patent drawing is clearly based on the Woolworth button. However, it was not all good news. The buttons were in short supply and each one had to be cut by hand to provide the main slot for the legs of the player and two notches in the base to locate the feet. Note the use of a washer in the base (16) to balance the figure. The card player was weak at the ankles both when cutting the players out of the card strips and in play. This was bad enough for the outfield player but fatal for a goal keeper. The stem of the button or spigot did a decent job of protecting the lower leg area but all the button base really did was buy Peter Adolph some time to launch the real game - Subbuteo.
Flick Me! subbuteo archive a history of the game of subbuteo