28th March, 2009 - Ten Toys I Remember #4

Subbuteo may well rank as the top game ever of my childhood. Everything about it seems to be tailor made to appeal to mind of a young boy. It is as if the manufacturers had somehow looked directly into the brains of young boys and cunningly come up with a toy designed to stimulate simultaneously all of their pleasure centres.

It simultaneously satisfies the need for competition; the insatiable desire to collect things; the inbuilt love of young boys for football; our love of intricate rules systems; and – of course – our natural desire to impersonate Archie MacPherson followed by the simulated roar of a crowd.