We finally got round to playing Subbuteo Angling.
It promises a ‘game of skill. No dice. No magnets.’ Plus an authentic experience of fly fishing.
Although the game hasn’t been in the collection long, it’s actually from the 1970s.
The board is heavily monopoly influenced – your Cast and Splash cards replace Community Chest and Chance while passing through or landing on the Master Tackle Shop nets you some tackle or bait of your choice.
As you move around the board, you collect everything you need for your fishing expedition – permits, hook, line, bait, keep net, rod, reel and float. If you want to hang on to the heavier fish you’ll also need a landing net and some ground bait will get you an extra cast. As you can imagine this all takes a considerable amount of luck.
You determine your moves and the weight of the fish you catch with the ‘dicer’. You drop the metal ball in the top and the dicer drops it randomly in a numbered tray. No dice though!
Once you have accrued everything, you then need to land on a water square. If you have the right permit for that square (there are some that allow free fishing) you may turn over a cast card.
Some cast cards result in broken lines and lost hooks but many will yield a beautifully illustrated fish. However, you can only catch it if is listed in the waters you are fishing and if you have used one of its preferred baits. You then need to weigh it and if it’s just a tiddler, you toss it back!
Despite playing for an hour my son only successfully caught two fish. I caught none. But…. all of that said I really didn’t want to stop till I’d got a big fish secured in my keep net!
This is in no way, shape or form a game of skill but it is hilariously good fun. The fishermen figures as pawns are adorable and I love the retro-ness of it all.
It’s not one that will hit the table regularly but me and Edward had a brilliant laugh playing this and I’m really glad I finally freed it from its box.
It is available to play at any of my events – -just get in touch to request it.
