Balyna football

Balyna usually made magnetic football games, but this one uses paddles to move the players. Advertised as "Outdoor Games Played Indoors", the set contains:

• a cloth football pitch with two attached metal surround pieces behind the goals
• 2 surround pieces for the length of the pitch
• 2 metal goalposts with 4 metal clips for attaching to the surround
• 22 football players in "distinctive colours" - usually flat, plain white plastic figures on either red, blue, green or white bases
• 2 plastic "DIRECTORS" (paddles) used to flick the players about
• 2 plastic pucks which are used as the ball
• rulebook, endorsed by Stan Mortensen (!)

The game when set up covers an area approximately 18"x23.5", making it ideal for tabletop use. It has quick setup time, although the metal surrounds and goals have extremely sharp edges and corners - health and safety would have a field day with it!

The game is a peculiar mix of Subbuteo (though you flick with the paddle rather than your finger) and tiddlywinks, and is surprisingly fast and fun; however, it is not as good as Subbuteo, which went on to become the dominant football game.