h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am devastated. Part of my childhood has just been demolished. Subbuteo table football is no longer going to be produced, its manufacturers having decided that they simply can't compete with computer games.
Now, I like a game of "Virtua Striker 2" as much as the next big kid, but I can't help feeling that the loss of Subbuteo is a great pity. For the uninitiated, it is/was a game played on a baize "pitch" using little plastic player figures on round bases, weighted so that they tend to stay upright, which are flicked at a lightweight ball. And when I was growing up I played it for hours and hours and hours. It helped to nurture my football obsession. So, some might say, it had a lot to answer for...

Quite. I was practically in tears when I heard the news. I too am a computer games lover. However, nothing could recreate the glory of my schools Subbuteo competition when I managed to defeat Everton, played by a guy who I had a number of fights with, one lunch time to reach the quarter finals, I support Liverpool by the way. I lost to Leicester in the next round but such is life. My weekends were spent playing the game against friends and I collected such stupid items as a complete team in tracksuits!

In fact it had made such an impact on me and my family during my early years that my mum phoned me up when she read the news to tell me!

FYI As an employee of a famous auction house who have just launched a terrific website (see my homepage) I have to say start saving all the players, packaging etc. as toys are highly collectable and ones that get lost or broken and were once popular are likely to be the most valuable. Just a little financial tip for the new year (by the way don't expect any return on your investment until you're about 70-if you were born in 1960).

As late as the late Eighties we had a Subbuteo tournament at lunchtime in the Civil Service where I worked. We planned it well in advance and actually ordered replicas of our home-town teams by mail order from Subbuteo. And so it was that my Bradford City team beat Stirling Albion in the first round, only to go out to Millwall in the next. Happy days - or happy lunchtimes, anyway...

This just in . . .

HASBRO have announced they are to continue making Subbuteo due to customer demand.

Time to get out the green cloth again methinks!

Maybe we could have a virtual Subbuteo game table in the Forum and Firkin?

Great news, dacha! I just read that Hasbro, the manufacturers of Subbuteo, have changed their minds about scrapping the game after being overwhelmed with phone calls from distraught fans. Their spokesman now says that he "looks forward to introducing Subbuteo to a new generation of fans"! Result!!!

Great minds think alike and what good news! Yeah, I'm up for a virtual game any time!