Things aren’t like they used to be
You see it in so many places such as chocolate bars that have been repackaged and magically shrunk and film and TV shows reinvented but with none of what made the original so good.
In just another example of this phenomenon I give you Subbuteo.
Having spent hours collecting and painting the classic “flick to kick” players I was gutted to find that they have replaced the players on the bases with cardboard figures. Sure you get the likenesses of actual players but its a bit, nay a lot, shit.
To make it worse you can only buy boxed sets of the whole game and the only extras you can get are some cheap plastic “skill sets” with not an additional team in sight.
Maybe in this video age there is no demand for the game but I’ll leave you with this snippet.
At the peak of Subbuteo’s popularity in the 1970s, you could get over 300 teams – as well as a huge range of new accessories, including throw-in figures, corner kickers and stadiums. In a recent survey (2002) it was estimated that over 90% of fathers in the UK over 30 owned Subbuteo sets.
Now excuse me as I remove my rose tinted glasses to wipe away a tear.
