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1947-50 The Early Editions.

Subbuteo's original box set was called the "Assembly Outfit". It was obviously very primitive, being put together by Peter Adolph, with help from his mum. It sold via mail-order, and the first sets were sent out early in 1947. The set came in a red box, about the size of a 1960s team box, with details written on a brown panel on the lid. It featured a dark brown celluloid ball, two team sheets of cut-out card players, twenty patented plastic bases, two "T" bases with wires for the goalkeepers, two flat packed metal wire goal frames (with paper nets), a number sheet, and a piece of chalk to mark a pitch onto any available cloth, preferably an old green army blanket.

The small scale nature of the business allowed changes to be made quickly, and Mr. Adolph continued to tinker with the set after launch. This was understandable, as he had originally advertised the game for sale whilst he was still inventing it! This means that there were slight differences in the early sets, and three different boxes are now displayed here. The box shown left seems to be the earliest. Table Soccer is clearly stated but the word Subbuteo was only in a small oval underneath, looking like an afterthought. Under the oval are the words "trade mark". On the box shown right, the word Subbuteo had increased in size, and was placed more prominently. On this box Adolph also advised that patents were pending in Gt. Britain, Eire, Australia and South Africa, and that his bases were a British registered design. The contents read the same as the earlier set. 

The third version shown is a 1949-50 set. The lid was identical to the previous version in layout, but the obvious addition was a logo of a kicking footballer. On the contents list, the "T" bases were replaced by "goalkeeper bases", which meant that the goalkeepers swapped to standard bases at this time. Inside the set, the players became press-out card instead of cut-out. There was a nice catalogue/list in this set, showing the arrival of celluloid figures. Everything was becoming more professional and standardised. At this point, Adolph reached full time production. 

The Early 1950s "Red Box" Flat Editions.

By 1953, Peter Adolph was producing three different versions of his football game for three different budgets. (as well as cricket, rugby, and racing games). This meant the standard box set could no longer be Set A. The new version of the small original set was renamed the "popular outfit", and had a nice new orange and black label to match the larger sets (although the red box remained the same). 

A step up from this was the Combination set. This still lacked a pitch, but had celluloid teams, and the deluxe metal goals (set N) which came already assembled with real nets rather than paper ones. If you imagine two deluxe goals side by side, then that is about the size of the original box for this set, as illustrated. Later the combination box was extended in length so the range had a more unified feel. I have seen a red box version of this bigger box, with a label to match the Super set shown above.

Top of the range was the aforementioned Super Set. This was supplied with a pitch, and had the players already assembled and displayed for the first time.

Mid 1950s-1962 "Blue Box" Flat Editions

This was a later 1950s re-box. Again, the boxes were red, but the tops/labels were altered to blue (with white sides featuring the product name and logo for the first time (this was a new kicking logo used extensively in the 1960s). As usual there were three sets in the catalogues. Here the I've illustrated the inside of a Super set just to show how nice a set this was (the interior was identical on the red box version).

In addition to these standard sets, the Subbuteoworld site illustrates an additional version of the blue box Super set with an extra layer featuring many of the items from the A-Z range. This seems to be a combination of Super Set, and the basic accessory outfit (Set A mark 2). Sets have also been sighted with just the referees (set P) included.

The blue box sets seem to last until around 1962, when the new OO scale sets were first introduced. The flat editions then moved into green boxes to match the new sets. The final versions of these sets had plastic goals rather than metal ones. Whilst the big sets had the standard plastic Set N, the popular set had to put up with a pair of cheap all-plastic goals, which were narrower than the ball. Despite the small size of these goals, the popular set gained a deeper box, so that they would fit.

1960's "Green Box" flat editions

Despite the arrival and success of the OO scale Continental Editions, the flat sets were still offered as a cheaper alternative in the 1960s, and the Combination and Super Set were still on the 1976 price list. These final versions of the flat era were re-boxed to match the 1960s continental sets, and also used the plastic goals from these sets. The Popular Outfit box changed size again, becoming shallow once more, but with an increased width to allow for the other items (and the paperwork no longer needed to be folded to fit the box).

The first OO scale sets, and a nice range of editions for every budget were produced. The standard range varied little from these first sets for the next decade. In 1967, a display edition cost 28/11, a club set was 59/11 and a floodlighting set 89/11. When the international set was introduced it was 119/6.