Subbuteo: the legendary table-soccer game that had 10 million excited players during the 70s and 80s, all around the world.
But, at the beginning of the Third Millenium, the American multinational company Hasbro, owner of the Subbuteo brand (and second in the world with more than 4 billion dollars of sales), decides to stop the production of the game.
For Subbuteo players it could be the end of their passion.
But two italian brothers, Arturo and Giovanni Battista Parodi, doesn’t accept what seems to be an inescapable decision. They have a small company with seven employees in the North of Italy and, togheter with their father Edilio, were one of the main distributors of Subbuteo in Europe since 1971.
The Parodi Brothers took the decision to challenge the American company on its same field, toy stores and to go on with the production and distribution of the legendary game.
It is David against Goliath, once again.
“Subbuteopia” is the place where all these stories meet.
Thanks to the two italian brothers (and not only) Subbuteo doesn’t die: in 2010, there are again millions of amateur players and also competitive tournaments in more of 30 different countries all around the world (Europe, USA, Singapore, Argentina, Canada, South Africa…).
There’s the Maidenhead Subbuteo Fair, an event near London dedicated to the exchanges between the passionates.
There is a group of political militants that play Subbuteo on the location of the Italian Liberation Story to get memory alive.
And there are collectors ready to pay a lot of money for a rare piece from one of the over 300 different teams, on sale in 1978.
And there are many stories to tell.