Starting this section feels a little like opening Pandora's Box. There are so many little problems here and people to offend. Problems such as the fact that the accessories numbers were re-used much like the team numbers and the whole game of table soccer is pretty much accessories. When I started the book I decided not to do accessories separately but instead chose the key items and write chapters about them. People to hurt, well there are so many out there who love some item or other and have fond memories about them. But let's face it some of the accessories were pretty naff (had to search for a word there for a minute).

The accessories are however a significant part of the Subbuteo story because they helped support the company in the early years. There is no doubt they were very profitable and this resulted in the rapid growth in accessory offerings in 1947 and 1948. They also were good mail order items, stack the boxes and sell them like a mail order sweetie shop. A bit of card and some Sellotape: a piece of cloth with white markings for the price of a good night out. Unfortunately I do not have any financial information on the company but there is no doubt the mark-up on these items was huge. Come on, admit it, how many of you did not open that long-awaited box and think 'Is that it?'.

I am sure you will all have favourites and pet hates. Corner flags were a nice touch but boy did they hurt and get in the way. Who wanted to pay all that money for a pitch and then make holes in it for them as described, nay ordered, by the instructions? Back in the box for you.

Small feet, small balls, small goals oh yes please can we have some?
The ball raising chute/player launcher - more players please and another ball underfoot.

Favourites, hmm, well I like the brown boxes they were posted in. The team boxes are wonderful but some child has written on them all. Some of the descriptions in the catologues are priceless and raise a smile. The ball stays in the net after even the hardest shot. No more arguments about those added goals. Bitter, me?

So for you dear reader I will lead you through the pleasures of subbuteo accessories and it might take a while. The usual warnings apply. Where I have catalogues I will note the assumed date of first availability but they were probably sold well before the cat was printed. They disappeared when someone bought the last one. Many of the accessories went though different versions such as the log books, the score recorders and so on.

I would like to thank the peolpe who have sent me their own photographs for this section, particularly Ashley Hemming.

The accessories were given letters from A to Z and the some letters doubled up HH, NN and so on as the company ran out of letters or needed to slip similar items in to the range.

Ref A - Actually started out as 'Complete Game in Box' in 1947 - no fancy description here then for the first catalogue in 1948. This quite quickly became The Popular Introductory Assembly Outfit.



From 7s6d it was 10s1d (about 50p) by 1948. I have looked in more detail on the Assembly Outfits page at the early sets. Around 1953 the sets had expanded to three sets at different price points so the A reference changed to the Basic Accessory Outfit which included two smaller balls, the referee and two linesmen, goal holding device, material for keeping the ball in the net, 6 corner flags, referee whistle, surround apparatus and score recorder at 15s6d. I believe this is the way ref A stayed until the end of the flat era.

Ref B - Subscription to the Table Soccer Players Association (1947). One of Peter Adolph's best ideas, the association got many thousands of people across the world playing the game. Many of the organisations that started back in the 1940s are in some form or other still operating today and in all of them the spirit of the games founder echoes. You got a badge and a membership card plus a regular newsletter for your 2s, 10p in today's money. It stayed that price right through the flat era. In the sixties it became set BB with just a player badge on offer. Interestingly the badge was then still to proclaim yourself as a Subbuteo Table Soccer owner.





Ref C - Advanced Table Soccer - not just an early book of cheats to win the game but advanced rules as well. This appeared in the first catalogue and was therefore certainly available from 1948, possibly earlier. Obviously over the years it went through several versions and printings. The two versions below are from 1958 and 1965.



Ref D - In the early fiftes this became the 'Complete Team' reference but to start with it had no name. In effect it was the same thing in 1947 but few helpful clues for the collector. Comprising a special team sheet, 10 super flattened bases, one number sheet (no colour given) and a special goal keeper base with wire handle. So flat bases all round in 1948. This remained the reference to buy a card team and bases in to the sixties.