Subbuteo

Subbuteo brings the famous tabletop football game to the computer, attempting to capture the peculiar magic of flicking tiny players around a pitch without requiring an actual dining table. The basic idea is wonderfully simple: move your miniature players, control the ball, defend your goal, and try to score while your opponent does everything possible to make your carefully planned attack look ridiculous. The computer version adds rules, opponents, and match management while retaining the essential character of the original game. Matches can become surprisingly tactical, particularly when you start thinking several moves ahead instead of simply attacking whenever possible. The presentation is unmistakably from the era, but that is part of the charm. There is something amusingly old-fashioned about managing a football match where the most important skill is effectively controlled flicking. Subbuteo is a nice reminder that football does not always require enormous stadiums, realistic graphics, or a transfer budget of several hundred million pounds.