When Waddingtons was taken over, a new base was simultaneously released around the same time as the Hasbro Takeover This has led to the collectors calling the base the Hasbro base. The base was in the design and testing phases long before Hasbro acquired Waddingtons. The Base redesigned was conceived by Trevor Spencer and his team as a response to the emergence of flat bases favored by professional players. While the base should rightfully be named after Spencer or his team, it became forever associated with Hasbro due to its release alongside the takeover (The Trevor Base or Subbuteo Flat base doesn’t sound as catchy.)

This new base heavily embraced the sliding game that was gaining popularity in the professional scene at the time, influencing how the game is played today.

The introduction of the Hasbro range complicated matters with a new numbering system, creating challenges for cataloging. Many references retained their old numbers but had “63” added to the front, while new teams were assigned numbers starting with “631.” For instance, Arsenal’s home kit, previously reference 774, retained the last three digits, becoming 63774, while the new kit released in 1996/97 became 63131. However, there were instances where this system was not consistently applied, such as Wimbledon’s Elonex kit remaining as reference 63749.

In the 1997/1998 season, new kits/refs were assigned numbers beginning with “633.” However, teams were occasionally sold with incorrect or old reference numbers, particularly prevalent in the Premier League range.

Anomalies include Newcastle’s reference 63277 (Newcastle Brown Ale kit) and the special edition England kit with reference 61246, which will be added to the uncatalogued section. Wimbledon will be included in the 631 page, possibly also on the old numbers 63xxx page.

Finally, after the attempted cancellation of Subbuteo in 1999, one final range of teams was released in 2000, covering the top clubs in the league at the time (and Tottenham;)). Unfortunately, the quality was not up to par. Subbuteo ceased production after this range in 2000, bringing an end to the original run of Subbuteo and for many Subbuteo hasn’t come close to reviving since…

For a more detail look and info on the Hasbro Range http://www.peter-upton.co.uk/sub24.htm